I made carnitas for tacos for some coworkers and friends the other evening. Recipes were demanded. So here, go forth and make your own delicious tacos.

Ingredients

• 1 4–5 lb boneless pork shoulder (aka pork butt)
• 1 large onion
• 2–3 smashed garlic cloves
• 1 quart of chicken stock
• Water if needed
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Ancho chiles (dried poblano chiles)

Method

Using scissors, snip the stem-end of the chiles off. Shake out as many seeds as possible. Discard seeds and stems. Place the chiles in a small bowl of water for 20 to 30 minutes, or until soft.

Cut the onion into large chunks. Cut the pork shoulder into large chunks, approximately 1 1/2 inches.

Place garlic, onion, and pork into a large lidded pot. Sprinkle cumin, paprika, and oregano into the pot. Stir to coat evenly. Add bay leaf.

Remove the ancho chiles from the water. Add the chile water to the pot with the pork and onions. Split the chiles length-wise and wash out any remaining seeds. Roughly dice the chiles and add to the pot.

Add chicken stock to pot. If needed, add enough water to just barely cover all contents of the pot.

Place pot over high heat and bring stock to a rolling boil for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to simmer. Simmer for 3 to 5 hours, stirring occasionally, cooking away all the liquid.

Once all the liquid has evaporated or has been absorbed, the onions and pork should fall apart with gentle stirring.

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Spread the pork mixture into the pan and place in a 400º F oven until the meat is slightly crispy.

Note

Chicken stock will likely have more than enough salt to season the pork, however if you make your own stock or use salt-free stock, you may wish to season the pork with 1/4 tsp of salt in addition to the other spices.

I understand his pain, but his recipe is too dry. 3 parts gin to 1 part vermouth, people. At a 5 to 1 ratio, you may as well just drink gin on the rocks.

Also, don’t keep your vermouth at room temperature – unless you consume it quickly. Vermouth is wine. It spoils.

He is right that it’s hard to get a well made martini in many places. That’s because most bartenders are taught how to make Vodka martinis, which is basically just chilled and shaken vodka (fine if you like that sort of thing bro). They simply substitute gin when asked. This results in a cocktail that tastes cold, antiseptic, and like a waste of money.

Here in Portland, though, you can find many bartenders who know what they’re doing.

The Fixie cocktail

At my most recent cocktail party, a guest brought a gift of Ransom Old Tom Gin. Old Tom is a lovely old style gin with lots of infused flavor, very different from what you might expect. Malty, spicy, complex. It’s very good over ice with with a big lemon peel, though we failed to make a good cocktail with it that night.

After a little careful thought and meditation, I came up with this:

The Fixie

• 3 parts Ransom Old Tom Gin
• 1 part sweet vermouth
• 1/2 part Lillet Blanc
• Wide lemon peel for garnish

Stir the ingredients over ice for 30 seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon peel.

The vermouth balances out the gin (like any good martini) and the Lillet and lemon brighten the drink a touch so it’s not too sweet.

Smooth, slightly astringent, slightly sweet. Very sip-able.

I bequeath this cocktail to you, Portland, because I love you.

How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com on Vimeo.

It totally, mostly, works. (I had a few cloves left unpeeled. They were the strongest. The deserve to live.)

It also validates my opinion that vodka makes lousy martinis.

Vodka Nation | The Weekly Standard.

Now you’re cooking with comics..

The vegetarian and omnivore dishes look nearly identical, but are made from different ingredients.

Today I had a spontaneous day off drop in my lap. A Friday off is a good day for a decadent lunch, so I decided to try making steak tartare for the first time.

Surprisingly easy

There are basically three steps to making steak tartare (after you’ve brought home some beef from the store).

1. Prepare the beef by rinsing and salting
2. Grinding or cutting the beef into small bits
3. Season the beef

I rinse every cut of meat, poultry, or fish I bring home. I do this if the meat is fresh or the fish comes frozen in an individually sealed plastic pouch. You cannot know what has come into contact with the surface of any meat you buy, so wash it off thoroughly.

Michael Ruhlman’s article above instructs coating the beef in a heavy layer of salt and resting the salted beef in the fridge for about an hour.

Salted for safety and seasoning

This does two things:

• Any bacteria surviving on the surface of the meat are thoroughly destroyed
• The exterior of the beef is seasoned and partially cured

After an hour the salt had pulled a good amount of moisture from the meat. I rinsed and patted the meat dry with fresh paper towels. I could see the texture and color of the beef had changed. I cut the small sirloin steak into thin strips. I could see that about 1/8” of the exterior of the meat had been salt cured after only an hour.

I cut the wide flat strips into thin strips. Then I cut all the strips into tiny cubes.

Cut into strips

I flavored my tartare with some painstakingly browned and reduced onions I prepared earlier (think In-N-Out style onions), a few grinds of black pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. The beef needed no additional seasoning. The salty bits from the exterior of the steak had now been diced up fine and distributed throughout, seasoning everything nicely. This worked because my steak was relatively thin, about an inch, so there was plenty of surface area to be salted. A thicker cut may require a little additional salt.

Adding onion pepper and vinegar

Once I had everything mixed I packed it all into a 1 cup measure and stashed it in the fridge to wait while I prepared a libation, toast, and a poached egg.

Ready to rest in fridge

Aside: Cocktail on the side

At the ready, captain

If there was ever a dish which called out for a martini, steak tatare is it. I favor ‘classic’ martinis with 1 part vermouth to 3 parts gin. It’s OK. They’re big parts. A vodka martini would be acceptable with this dish, mostly because the vodka would be a good palate cleanser. Vodka is built to be colorless, odorless, and tasteless (like people who drink vodka martinis). It’s basically diluted pure grain alcohol. Alcohol works with foods sort of like salt does with foods – it brings out flavors that aren’t directly accessible by your tongue and saliva. Vodka, being tasteless, makes other things taste more like themselves. Imagine cooking with wine without the wine flavor. This is why you have vodka sauces, why vodka cocktails are typically made with bold fruits like tomatoes and lemons, and why vodka is served with caviar. If you like vodka, skip the martini, and just sip a shot straight from the freezer with some rich food.

Serving

I turned the tartare out onto a plate, topped with a poached egg, and added a buttered and toasted english muffin. I piled some cornichons on the side.

This dish was really fantastic. I’m generally pretty happy with what I make in the kitchen, but this was simply remarkable. Delicious, rich, but somehow not heavy. Simple and good.

(watch the butter. oh my god. the butter.)