Making Carnitas

[Ranger]

Lunch

[Gus]

Originally Posted by Sol

I agree. I definitely would use a pig's head. That is if I could get one. I would have to order it from a butcher shop here and it would come frozen for I don't know for how long. I would want one that had just been slaughtered. Now, if someone is squeamish or cannot obtain a pig's head, then one can rely on a roast. I would prefer a rump roast or whatever looks good to me.
For flavor, I would steam the meat as long as possible in water with garlic, a bit of cumin, and salt. I would let the water steam out and kind of fry the fat off of the meat. The meat at that point would melt in one's mouth.
For pozole, you want the texture of the hominy and really not the meat. I would want fresh hulled maize for the hominy. Where I live, I have to get the stuff in the bag. At least I can get the seasonings around here.
The spices and chili you add are also important. The region of Mexico from which my parents are from, pozole and menudo should be red. In Sonora, these are white. It they are white, you add dinely chopped onions, cilantro, lime, and powdered chile pequin to menudo or pozole as condiments. If the menudo or pozole is red, then you can add more chile if you want, onions, cilantro, lime, and a tiny bit of oregano.

Looking for a fresh pig's head? Try calling your local FFA office if there is one nearby. Our school has a very active program, and they usually raise animals and auction them to support the program. Our class actually slaughters animals to learn about them. If you time it right, you can probably score yourself a nice melon.

[james]

OMG, Riss, that was a great link, thanks!

Everyone should understand carnitas better.

[Ranger]

We'll be in Colorado next week, the people we are going to visit own a slaughter house / butcher shop. I plan to make that part of my trip report. They told me they are doing eight animals a day, this could be beef, pork, buffalo and/or lamb. There are a few wild type they do but I don't know if any are in hunting season.

[Rissask]

You are welcome James.

Originally Posted by Ranger

We'll be in Colorado next week, the people we are going to visit own a slaughter house / butcher shop. I plan to make that part of my trip report. They told me they are doing eight animals a day, this could be beef, pork, buffalo and/or lamb. There are a few wild type they do but I don't know if any are in hunting season.

Now THAT will be interesting!
When we were in Sayulita last summer, on Saturdays several families would turn their yards into roast pollo shops for the day. You could buy a small roast chicken, bag o rice, bag o slaw, bag o runny salsa, and a few fresh tortillas for 50 pesos- steal of a deal!

On the way to the beach the one Saturday morning, we passed by one house and they were killing the chickens, so we stopped to watch. I had seen that lots of times, but Don hadn't, he was like "They really DO run around after their heads are cut off!" City boy.

It is certainly different from the hidden and sanitized version of meat-getting we see here.



PS: I want Sol to come live with me and be my full time chef, por favor.

[Sol]

Originally Posted by Gus

Looking for a fresh pig's head? Try calling your local FFA office if there is one nearby. Our school has a very active program, and they usually raise animals and auction them to support the program. Our class actually slaughters animals to learn about them. If you time it right, you can probably score yourself a nice melon.

Great idea!!! Thanks!

[Sol]

Originally Posted by Ranger

We'll be in Colorado next week, the people we are going to visit own a slaughter house / butcher shop. I plan to make that part of my trip report. They told me they are doing eight animals a day, this could be beef, pork, buffalo and/or lamb. There are a few wild type they do but I don't know if any are in hunting season.

If you get a beef head and you want to prepare the meat, you can put the whole head in the oven for about 8-10 hours or overnight at 250-275. Get a huge pan and cover the head with foil. You can make some great barbacoa this way. It's not like what is prepared in a pit, but it tastes great. Same with the pork and buffalo.

[Sol]

Originally Posted by Rissask

You are welcome James.


Now THAT will be interesting!
When we were in Sayulita last summer, on Saturdays several families would turn their yards into roast pollo shops for the day. You could buy a small roast chicken, bag o rice, bag o slaw, bag o runny salsa, and a few fresh tortillas for 50 pesos- steal of a deal!

On the way to the beach the one Saturday morning, we passed by one house and they were killing the chickens, so we stopped to watch. I had seen that lots of times, but Don hadn't, he was like "They really DO run around after their heads are cut off!" City boy.

It is certainly different from the hidden and sanitized version of meat-getting we see here.



PS: I want Sol to come live with me and be my full time chef, por favor.

[Ranger]

Originally Posted by Sol

If you get a beef head and you want to prepare the meat, you can put the whole head in the oven for about 8-10 hours or overnight at 250-275. Get a huge pan and cover the head with foil. You can make some great barbacoa this way. It's not like what is prepared in a pit, but it tastes great. Same with the pork and buffalo.

That sounds good by me. I watched a food show called "After Hours with Danille" who is a very prominent chef in NY. He would get a bunch of chefs and food writers together after the restaurant closed and cook up amazing stuff. He did a whole pig head which he actually steamed for quite a whil, then took the skin off carefully, layed it out then all the cheek, snout, brain etc. and rolled it into "head cheese" it looked great. I do buy headcheese, makes a great sandwich.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by jamnkats

Rolly's site is AMAZING. I've had it bookmarked for eons - he has such a wide variety of information there. The housebuilding project was fascinating.

Doña Marta's Kitchen is pure, unadulterated food porn. I would sell a child to live in her kitchen for a week.

Rolly recently had a serious heart issue and spent some time in the hospital in Lerdo. He was incredibly impressed with his medical care. I'm not sure if he wrote about it on his site but it was quite involved cardiac care. I'm sure he'd love any emails anyone would like to send him thanking him for his amazing website.

Oh wow, glad he is okay. That is a really interesting site. I will send him an e-mail with a link to here!