Recipe: Making traditional tacos for Cinco de Mayo

A dish prepared by La Taqueria’s chef Cesar Madrigal.

Carnitas is a pulled pork dish from Mexico, traditionally enjoyed with fresh corn tortillas. The meat should be fork-tender after being cooked slowly in flavourful pork fat. Always serve it with cilantro, fresh diced onions and pickled onions to cut through the richness and brighten the juicy pork.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs skin-on pork butt or pork shoulder
• 1 ½ tbsp sugar
• 1 ½ tbsp salt
• 2 lbs rendered pork fat or lard

Method:

• Cut the pork butt into 2-3 inch pieces. Meanwhile, put the rendered pork fat into a large pot. On medium heat, melt the fat. When fully melted, add the pork pieces to the pot, making sure the meat is completely submerged at least an inch below the surface of the fat. Add the sugar and salt. On medium-high heat, gently bring to a low boil. Continue to cook on the stovetop until the meat is fall-apart tender (usually 1 to 1 ½ hours.) When fully cooked, carefully remove the meat from the fat, being careful not to splash the hot fat. Discard the fat.
• Serve the pulled pork with warm tortillas, chopped raw onions, cilantro, pickled onions and your favourite Mexican salsa.

Serves 4-6