Carnitas-- Olé!

I finally decided: If forced to eat one cuisine for the rest of my life, I would choose Mexican food. It is nearly perfect...if you exclude tacos de cabeza from consideration. But otherwise, the mix of spicy, sweet, fresh, fried, salty, crunchy, meaty, savory and mmmmmmmm tip the fare into flawless territory. (Okay, maybe not quite flawless. Two more blechs: escamoles and huitlacoche. But I forgive those, Mexico, because the rest of your eats come from heaven.)

Hosting a Mexican exchange student provides me with opportunities to prepare meals with Latino flare, even if I come up short of authentic. And one of my favorite dishes to make is carnitas.

Seriously, you gotta try these.

Carnitas (from chef Roberto Santibanez of Fonda in New York)

4 lbs fatty pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 cups water
1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 orange, cut into 2 pieces
1/4 cup pork lard or vegetable oil
8 garlic cloves, peeled (I used only 2, 'cause that's how I roll)
3 bay leaves
1 Tbs sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp dried oregano (preferably Mexican), crumbled
2 tsp fine salt, or 4 tsp kosher salt

1. Throw all of that into a 6-to 7-quart heavy pot (I like to used my enameled cast-iron dutch oven). Couldn't be easier, right? Hmmmm, but what to do with the remaining sweetened condensed milk? If you take a page from our exchange student's book, you will use it as banana dip. I whole-heartedly approve.

2. Bring to a boil and skim off any meat foam that develops. Meat foam. Gross. Lower the heat and boil vigorously, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is evaporated; 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If you're like me, you will help children with homework during this time and completely forget to "stir occasionally." But you'll find out why this may work in your favor during the next step....

3. Preheat oven to 450F. Discard bay leaves and orange pieces. Transfer pork and fat to an ovenproof dish (if necessary) and brown the pork for 20-30 minutes. If, on the other hand, through your lack of stirring in the previous step, you caramelized some of the pork pieces on the bottom of your pot, you will have no need to brown the top. (You run the risk of burning the pork with this method, however. Fortunately, I caught mine in time.)

4. At this point, you can shred the pork and serve it immediately. Or, it will hold 2-3 days in the refrigerator. (Gently reheat it before using.)

Carnitas are pretty versatile, but our favorite way to eat them is in warm corn tortillas with cotija cheese, cilantro and pico de gallo. If you really want a gut-buster, add a side of refried beans and rice to your plate.

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Sweeties

If you read my page "Backyard Soup?" you know I toyed with the idea of writing a food blog.

Mmmmmm...foooooood....

But instead, I chose to create a blog where I could post anything I wanted, anytime. Well, today I selected a culinary theme. Below you'll find a recipe for creme-filled chocolates-- perfect for your valentine!

I'd like to thank my chefs du jour (daughter, Ru, and her friend) who created these delectable little treats while I acted as photographer (and head taste-tester).

The chefs.

Enjoy.

Chocolate Creams Deluxe
(Original recipe from The Ultimate Candy Book by Bruce Weinstein.)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light cream
1 Tbs light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1 Tbs vanilla extract
20 oz semisweet chocolate chips (or use milk chocolate if you prefer)
Butter, for greasing the pans
The patience of Job (do not substitute)

Wait a sec.... There aren't supposed to be maraschino cherries in this picture. And where's the butter and cream??! I am inept.

1. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan. Butter a large cookie sheet and line with wax paper. Set both aside. Don't attempt to use cooking spray here. (Butter = love. Cooking spray = you're not that into him.)

2. Prepare fondant: Combine the sugar, cream, corn syrup, salt and butter in a heavy tall-sided saucepan. (I'm not kidding, folks. You cook these items in a little saucepan and you're going to have one heckuva mess to clean up. One word: spillover.) Place the pan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves completely and the syrup comes to a boil.

Big pan. That's what you need to learn from this picture.

3. Attach a candy thermometer to the inside of the pan and cook the syrup, without stirring, until it reaches 240F (soft ball). Immediately pour the hot syrup into the greased 9x13-inch dish. Let the syrup cool undisturbed until the bottom of the pan feels lukewarm to touch.

Lukewarm means tepid. Don't rush.

4. Add the vanilla. Using a heavy wooden spoon, stir the lukewarm mixture until it forms a ball. Some of the fondant may stick to the pan. (It also may seize into a hard mass and become impossible to stir.) This step requires patience, you might be at it for a while.... Tag-teaming helps.

Creeping optional, although highly recommended.

I'm not sure how this aids in the candy-making process....

5. In any case, seal the ball of fondant (even if rock hard) into a 1-gallon Ziploc bag, removing as much air from the bag as possible. Allow it to rest 1 minute before continuing.

Quit poking it! R-E-S-T!

6. With the fondant in the bag, roll the candy with the heel of your hand, pressing down toward the counter. Continue this light kneading until the fondant appears smooth and creamy and feels like a firm cookie dough; about 10 minutes. Shape into bite-sized balls and place on prepared cookie sheet.

"Help" from little brothers is optional.

7. Dipping the fondant: Melt 10 ounces chocolate in the top of a double-boiler (or bowl) set over hot water. When the chocolate has melted completely, remove from over hot water. Add the remaining 10 ounces of chocolate and stir until all chocolate is melted and smooth. Test the melted chocolate with a candy thermometer; its temperature should be 88-90F. If too cold, place back over hot water. If too hot, let cool until desired temperature is reached.

I...I can't....

8. Take a short singing and interpretive dance break.

FYI: plastic "measuring cup microphones" will work too. (Although use metal if at all possible.)

(Depicting the savagery of bonbons.)

9. Spear each piece of fondant with a toothpick and dip into melted chocolate. Gently tap the toothpick on the edge of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. If you're two distracted teens, you will skip that tip and just let chocolate run all over the place. No matter. Return dipped candy to wax paper. You can then add a drop of chocolate to mask the hole made by the toothpick. (Distracted teens will ignore this as well.)

Ru, experimenting with alternate dipping techniques.

For the love of chocolate, why couldn't they dip the fondant balls in order? WHY?!?

10. Let the chocolate creams deluxe sit uncovered at room temperature overnight. (Ha! As if they will stay unmolested that long!) If any remain come morning, store them in layers, separated by wax paper, in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

11. Clean up your royal mess.... Oh wait, I guess I'm the photog AND maid service.

Sigh.