Mexican · Michoacán · main

Carnitas Michoacanas en Cazo de Cobre

Carnitas Michoacanas en Cazo de Cobre reads richness 9.0, umami 7.0 and sweetness 5.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Mexican · Michoacán main, about 4 hr 50 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 7.4 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 5.0 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 0.8 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.1 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 9.2 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 3.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 9.0 · Umami 7.0 · Sweetness 5.0 · Salinity 3.8 · Allium 2.9 · Smoke 1.8 · Earthy 1.1 · Herbaceous 0.9 · Warm Spice 0.7 · Bitterness 0.7 · Nutty 0.7 · Sourness 0.6

What's in it (12)

• pork shoulder roast — 2000 g
• pork belly — 500 g
• pork skin — 300 g
• pork lard — 1500 g
• salt — 30 g
• skin — 100 g
• regular milk — 120 g
• condensed milk — 60 g
• garlic — 3 g
• bay leaf — 1 g
• dried mexican oregano — 1 g
• corn tortillas — 2400 g

Time & effort: about 4 hr 50 min (4 hr 5 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 356.3 kcal, 12.3 g protein, 19.1 g fat, 34.8 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. Carnitas are a confit, not a braise and certainly not a roast. The pork cooks submerged in its own fat at a temperature low enough that the surface barely moves, and everything about the texture depends on holding that line.
2. Salt the shoulder, belly and skin and let them stand 30 minutes.
3. Melt the lard in a wide, heavy pot — copper if you have it, which is what they use in Quiroga — and bring it to 90 to 95°C. At that temperature a piece of pork lowered in should release a slow, lazy stream of small bubbles. A rolling fry means the fat is too hot and the meat will be stringy.
4. Slide the pork in and cook it at that bare tremble for 2½ hours, moving it now and then so nothing sticks to the bottom.
5. Add the orange quarters, garlic, bay and oregano and give it 45 minutes more; the orange skin perfumes the fat and cuts the richness.
6. Now the Michoacán trick: pour in the milk and the condensed milk. The sugars and milk solids will settle onto the meat and, over the last 20 minutes, lacquer it a deep mahogany that plain fat alone never produces.
7. Raise the heat to bring the fat to about 150°C and let the pieces crisp for a final 15 minutes, until the edges are dark and brittle and the inside is still juicy.
8. Lift out, drain well, and chop coarse — a good plate of carnitas has some maciza, some fatty belly and some crackling skin in it. Serve with tortillas, onion, cilantro and salsa.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Kol Dolmer (Old World Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) — Eastern European
• English Ham — British
• Jajangmyeon (짜장면) — Korean
• Toad in the Hole — British
• Kholodets — Russian

Keep reading: what richness, umami, sweetness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.