Of all the life lessons Mexican cuisine has in store, maybe the most important, the most ephemeral, resides in carnitas. The slow-cooked pork dish is traditionally served on weekends as a reward for the week’s work. Could there be a better reward than pork bits, slicked in a fatty sheen, soaked in the residue of a long hot bath in lard, being hacked fresh from a pig heap by a little guy with a big knife?
For in-the-moment tacos we might actually prefer the Don’s pastor—big, saucy chunks of seasoned pork, with hefty onion and cilantro essence. Yet it’s really about what happens later. There are two thick, beautiful salsas - one red, deeply smoky and piquant and a verde that bursts with jalapeno freshness. Get one of each to go, along with a half pound of carnitas. The key to happiness is something to look forward to. Especially if you can look forward to later on in the night, and the moment of standing at the refrigerator, dunking lard-fried pork into awesome sauce, forgetting Monday will ever come again.
