Carnitas Update

Okay, folks. Here you go. This is a picture of the carnitas simmering. It's about 2 1/2 pounds of pork shoulder (Boston butt) cut into large chunks and simmering in water to which I've added two limes, half an orange, half an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, cumin seed, coriander seed, some fresh cilantro and some salt and pepper. The true Mexican way to do this is to simmer the pork in lard, not water but . . . well . . . I love lard but it just seems so excessive.

Once the pork is tender, remove it from the water and put it in a shallow pan and roast it at 325 degrees, uncovered, until it's browned and very tender. It helps if you cool the cooking liquid and scrape off the accumulated lard to spread over the pork. Alternately, you can add some of your own, but it's best to get it from someplace like a Mexican market where they have the bulk stuff they've rendered themselves. It's not hydrogenated, but no worries. If you don't have access to bulk lard just use the packaged stuff from Swift, Armour or Morrell.

Once your pork is done, just shred it and serve on fresh corn tortillas with lime wedges, chopped white onion, cilantro and your favorite salsa. I had an avocado, so I added a slice or two.

I made a simple salsa verde out of four tomatillos, one serrano chile, some onion, garlic, salt, pepper and cilantro. Just remove the husks from the tomatillos and the stem from the serrano and chop everything up. Simmer the whole thing with a little water (check evaporation from time to time) until everything is tender, then puree in a blender or food processor.

¡Muy Sabroso!