Carnitas Tacos

How to make it

1. Cut the pork shoulder into rough chunks about 5 cm and pat them dry. Then rub them on all sides with the salt, so the meat is salted all the way through before it meets the fat — salt penetrates poorly once the pieces are sitting in fat. ⏱ 10 min
   Chef's tip Keep the chunks at the full 5 cm and don't cut them any smaller. Small pieces give up their juices and collapse into mush over the two hours, instead of holding on to a juicy interior.
2. Melt the lard in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, until it is completely clear and liquid with no white lumps left.
3. Add the salted meat pieces to the clear fat in a single layer, so they are just barely covered. Squeeze the juice from the orange halves over the meat, tuck the squeezed halves and the bay leaves in among the pieces, and turn the heat down until the fat only bubbles lazily along the edge of the pot.
   Chef's tip Meat sitting proud above the fat cooks unevenly and dries at the exposed edges. Use a pot narrow enough that the pieces sit in one snug layer rather than adding more lard.
4. Let the meat cook in the lazily bubbling fat, uncovered, for 2 hours, until it is so tender a fork slides in without resistance. The fat must never froth up — too much heat will dry out the strands instead of making them tender. ⏱ 2 h · passive
   Chef's tip Hold the fat around 90 °C — a lazy bubble every second or two along the rim. A rolling boil drives moisture out of the muscle fibres faster than the collagen can melt, and you get dry shreds instead of tender ones.
5. Fish out the orange halves and bay leaves and turn the heat up to medium-high. Let the meat brown in its own fat for 15 minutes, turning it regularly, until the edges are crisp golden-brown and the pot is sizzling loudly. ⏱ 15 min
   Chef's tip Listen for the sizzle to shift from soft to sharp and crackling — that's surface water gone and browning starting. Turn only every few minutes; constant stirring keeps a crust from forming.
6. Lift the meat pieces out with a slotted spoon and let them drip for a moment. Then pull them apart with two forks into coarse strands, so crisp brown edges and juicy inner pieces are mixed together — carnitas should never be shredded uniformly fine. ⏱ 10 min
7. Meanwhile, boil the tomatillos and serrano chiles in a small pot of water for 10 minutes, until the tomatillos have changed from bright green to dull olive-green and the skin starts to crack slightly. ⏱ 10 min · passive
8. Pour the cooked tomatillos and chiles into the blender with the garlic, the cilantro leaves from the handful, and the salt, and blend in short pulses to a thick salsa with small visible pieces still left. Taste and add more salt if the acidity from the tomatillos stands out too sharply.
   Chef's tip Pulse, don't purée — over-blending whips air into the tomatillos and turns the salsa pale and foamy instead of glossy green.
9. Finely chop the white onion and coarsely chop the leaves from the bunch of cilantro, and toss them loosely together in a small bowl, so the mixture stays light and not packed down. Cut the limes into wedges and place them in a separate bowl.
10. Warm the corn tortillas a couple at a time in a dry skillet over high heat, about 30 seconds on each side, until they smell of toasted corn and can be folded without cracking. Stack them as you go in a clean kitchen towel, so the steam keeps them pliable. ⏱ 10 min
11. Set the shredded carnitas out in a warm bowl and place the salsa, onion-cilantro mixture, lime wedges, and wrapped tortillas alongside, so everyone can build their own taco: a good handful of meat, about 60 g, on a double-layered tortilla, a spoonful of salsa, a sprinkle of onion and cilantro, and a squeeze of lime over the top. The tortilla is doubled because the bottom one absorbs the fat that seeps through, so the taco doesn't fall apart. Eat the taco with your hands right away, while the edges are still crisp.