In LA carnitas tacos are a way of life. You can get 'em at any Mexican food truck or restaurant worth its Jalapeño peppers, but why limit the soft, flavorful, and spicy shoulder cut of pork to being stuffed between a corn tortilla with salsa?
At the glamorous Faith and Flower downtown, Chef Michael Hung -who hails from the Michelin-starred La Folie in San Francisco, takes carnitas skills to new heights in the form of a crispy, thin pizza with pork confit, roasted garlic cream, Parmigiano, pickled carrots, radish, and chili verde. Hung learned to make carnitas from Gonzalo Guzman, co-chef of Nopalito in San Francisco, and actually ate his first carnitas taco in the Mission district. The method begins with Berkshire pork shoulder salted overnight. The next day, the pork is fried in duck fat with brown sugar, cinnamon, star anise, coriander, chiles, onion, and garlic until it's tender and golden brown. Towards the end of the cooking process, beer is added (preferably Negro Modelo) as well as whole milk, which adds a deeper flavor, reminiscent of brown butter, and for the finale it’s pickled by hand. I'm sold.
Adam Fleischman and Umami Burger in Los Feliz has created a Carnitas Burger, which consists of a special ground pork patty with bacon fat and carnitas, topped with more house made carnitas that has been braised in a mixture of chiles, onions, thyme Jalapeno, orange juice, cumin, and bay leaves for three hours. Finally, it’s topped with guajillo sauce, jalapeño sour cream, and tortilla crisps – so consider this a spicy alternative to the truffle’d burger on your next visit.
Chef Drew Coleman had us at fluffernutter sandwiches, but The Must downtown has also created one of the most sought after rice dishes on the dining scene. It features carnitas that is braised for four hours, then cooked for six hours in orange juice and beer, then roasted and fried in the rendered fat and juices for two hours – got that? The end result is mixed with avocado, cilantro, Jalapeno, salsa verde and onions then topped with a fried egg and called the Cholo Fried Rice which is a hybrid of an Asian-Mexican creative piece of genius in the kitchen.
Photo courtesy of The Must
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