Cook's Country

-Today on "Cook's Country," Christie makes Julia showstopping Pork Carnitas, Jack challenges Bridget to a tasting of lard, and Julia makes Bridget the ultimate Shrimp Tacos.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Chicago may be known for its deep-dish pizza and delicious hot dogs, but a report in 2017 revealed that Chicago is also home to the most authentic Mexican food in the United States.

-It was the dangerous environment of the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s that really spurred this northern migration.

Now, some people settled in the Southwest, but many single male workers called solos migrated up north to Chicago's meat-packing industry.

-And these immigrants opened specialty markets and restaurants to give people a taste of home, serving comfort foods like mole, tamales, and carnitas.

-Now, many immigrants settled in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, where restaurants like Carnitas Uruapan cooked carnitas the old-fashioned way.

-Which means using the whole hog and cooking in vats of hot lard while stirring with wooden paddles until the meat is silky and juicy.

-Sounds so good, and we get to make pork carnitas today with Christie.

So we'll head into the kitchen and see how it's done.

-There are a variety of styles when it comes to carnitas.

Some add a little citrus into the mix, usually orange juice, and a few recipes I've seen actually add cola to the cooking pot.

But today, Christie is going to cook them the old-fashioned way with just three basic ingredients.

-That's right, Julia.

Carnitas is simply pork shoulder that's cooked low and slow in hot fat.

-Yeah, it's kind of halfway between a braise and a deep-fry.

-Right, and at Carnitas Uruapan, they insist on doing it properly and traditionally with lard.

So I have two pounds of lard here -- -And that's store-bought lard?

-Store-bought lard.

And I'm going to cut it into eight pieces.

It's very easy to cut, super soft.

And we're cutting it up because we want it to melt pretty quickly.

I'm just going to scoot this into my Dutch oven, put it over medium-low heat, and let this melt.

It's important to buy good-quality lard.

If you're not sure what high-quality lard is, you want to avoid any lard that has citric acid in the list of ingredients, because it's going to impart a sour flavor that just tastes unnatural.

-Mm-hmm.

-Now, let's talk about the pork, because that's the star of the dish.

Now, you'll see carnitas made from several different cuts of pork, sometimes multiple cuts in the same dish -- so, pork shoulder, ribs, even pork belly -- in any combination.

We decided to streamline it and keep it a little simpler.

So we're just starting with a pork butt, which is actually cut from the shoulder.

Since we're cooking this in fat, we don't have to trim it.

-Ooh-hoo!

That's easy prep.

-All the fat -- Exactly.

All the fat goes right into the pot.

So I am going to cut this into two-inch pieces so it cooks a little more quickly.

They don't have to be perfect, just about the same size.

I have a 4-pound piece here.

This is going to serve about 8 to 10 people.

-[ Laughs ] Not in my house.

-[ Laughs ] All right, as you mentioned, you can find carnitas seasoned all different ways.

Carnitas Uruapan made just simple porky carnitas, and we loved it.

And that's what we wanted -- just a clean flavor of pork and a little salt.

So I have 1 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt, and before I put the pork into the fat, I'm going to sprinkle it all over with the salt.

-Worth noting that if you were going to use table salt instead of kosher salt, you'd use about half the amount.

-Okay, that looks good, well-seasoned.

Going to check my lard.

All right, looks like my lard is fully melted.

-Mmm!

-So now we're ready to go swimming.

-[ Chuckles ] -Carefully.

Carefully.

All right, and I just want to make sure that the pork is as submerged as I can get it.

All right, now I'm just going to increase my heat to medium-high.

I want to let this come to a vigorous simmer.

We want to get it nice and hot, and then we're going to transfer it to the oven.

-Okay.

-So our mixture is bubbling vigorously, but now we're going to move it in the oven so that we can get even heat and hands-off cooking because it's going to be 2 1/2 hours... -Ooh, okay.

-...until we have really nice, super tender meat.

So I have the oven set to 300 degrees.

It'll be in there for 2 1/2 hours till it's nice and tender.

Ha!

-Oh, goodness, that is pretty.

-Look at that.

You see all that beautiful browning?

The real test is, is it tender?

So I have my trusty spider here.

I'm going to carefully scoop up one piece, and we'll just test it with a paring knife.

Well, that kind of slides in like butter.

-[ Laughs ] It sure does.

-I think we're good.

But this is super hot right now, which makes it really difficult and not so safe to strain and transfer.

So we're just going to let this hang out for about half an hour.

In the meantime, we have other things to do.

-Okay.

-So let's move over here.

We're going to make a super easy tomatillo salsa, starting with a 28-ounce can of tomatillos that I've drained and divided in half.

-Okay.

-To this half a can, I'm adding a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, and we'll just stir this to make sure that they're nice and coated.

All right.

Now, I'm just going to place these on my rimmed baking sheet that I've lined with aluminum foil for easy clean up.

Just give them some space.

Now, I have my oven racks at 6 inches from the broiling element, and the broiler's on.

So we're going to pop these in and let them broil till they're spotty brown and the skins have started to burst.

So we're just going to pop these in for 7 to 10 minutes.

Ah.

Perfect.

Take a look at these.

-Oh!

-Nice spots, and you can tell that they've started to burst.

Lots of juices in there.

It's going to be great.

-And they're good and hot.

-They are piping hot right now, so we're going to use the food processor for the whole recipe.

So I'm just going to transfer them into the food processor bowl now, and we'll let them cool there.

Julia, the tomatillos have cooled completely, so we can work on some of the other ingredients for our salsa.

-Okay.

-I have a small onion here, and I'm just going to give it a chop.

These don't have to be super small.

We just want to give it a head start.

So that onion is just going to give us a nice savory base of flavor.

Now, we want to add a little bit of heat.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I have a jalapeo.

We're just gonna cut the stem off, cut it in half.

We're going to scoop out these seeds.

You can use a paring knife or even a spoon.

So if you wanted a slightly hotter salsa, you could save some of those seeds and throw them back in.

Now I'll just give these a rough chop.

So now we built some savory depth, I'm going to add a garlic clove that I've minced to kind of stay along that vein.

Some freshness, I have 1/2 cup of cilantro leaves, I'm going to add 3 tablespoons of lime juice -- that's about two limes -- and the other half of those tomatillos.

I'm going to add 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt.

I have two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

Now, we don't want this to be completely smooth, we want to have a little bit of chunkiness left behind, so I'm going to pulse this about 16 to 18 times, and we'll check it.

So that's 16.

-Yes, it was.

-Let's check this.

-Mmm, that looks pretty good.

-It looks pretty good to me.

So we'll just transfer this to a bowl.

It makes about 2 cups, and you can make this ahead of time, too, if you wanted to.

It'll be fine in your refrigerator for about two days.

Now, last but not least, we've got to taste it, make sure that it's balanced.

Wow.

It's awesome.

It doesn't need a thing.

Julia, our salsa's all ready.

We have our toppings.

-Mmm.

-Now it's time to deal with this pork.

Now, I'm going to strain it.

You can use a slotted spoon, or I really love using a spider for this because it really lets a lot of the fat drain.

-Yep, I'm with you.

-Look at how brown the outside is.

-I want you to appreciate the amount of willpower I'm having right now as you put these beautiful pieces of pork right in front of me.

-[ Chuckles ] -Now, we eat carnitas in tacos, so the meat has to be in fairly bite-size pieces.

These are huge chunks.

So I'm just gonna kind of cut through this.

We're not looking for perfect pieces, but we do want bite size, kind of a blend of some of the crispier outsides and the more tender insides.

Now, we need to taste this to see if it's seasoned properly.

-You don't have to ask me twice.

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Mm-hmm.

-A little more salt?

-Just a little bit.

-Just a hair.

-Now, let's set up these tacos.

-Ho-ho.

Don't be shy.

-That's good.

So there's our pork and a drizzle of the salsa and a little finely chopped onion, some fresh chopped cilantro, and a drizzle of lime juice just for a little shot of brightness.

-Oh, carnitas.

[ Both laugh ] I'm gonna do a little fold in the end.

You ever do that?

-Oh, that's smart.

-Mm-hmm.

-Almost like heading into burrito territory?

-Hmm.

Mmm!

Mmm!

-Mm-hmm.

-I just got chills.

This is so good.

The flavor of that tomatillo sauce, which is really impressive, mixed with that rich carnitas is the perfect combination.

-It's super fresh, super tangy.

-Perfectly cooked, a little silky on the inside, crisp on the outside.

Christie, hats off to you.

This is the best taco I've ever had.

Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-So if you want to make classic carnitas, cut 4 pounds of pork butt into chunks, season with salt, then submerge in lard and cook in a 300-degree oven until it's fall-apart tender.

While it cools, broil some tomatillos and use a food processor to make a delicious salsa.

Serve with tortillas and fresh cilantro, and you're in for a treat.

From "Cook's Country," the best recipe for Pork Carnitas.

This is blowing my mind.

-[ Chuckles ] -Mmm!

[ Cheers and applause ] -They say that lard is making a comeback, but I say it never really went away.

Jack's here, and he's going to tell us all about lard and which one we should buy.

-When I think, like, who would be president of the I Love Lard club... Bridget!

-Who would be?

Who is.

[ Both laugh ] -So, this tasting was designed for you.

These are beautiful cat-head biscuits -- Southern recipe that are big biscuits made with lard.

Lard has gotten a bad rap.

If you go back 100 years ago, the average American was consuming 14 pounds of lard a year.

We're now under 2 pounds.

Crisco ended up basically being marketed as -- because it wasn't an animal product, it was vegetable -- as the healthy alternative.

It now turns out all that science has basically been debunked.

And I'm not going to make an argument that lard is health food, but lard is probably better than shortening.

Now, there was a range of flavors.

Think about all of the uses for lard, and so that's everything from frying pork for carnitas to making strawberry rhubarb pie, in which case, actually, a porky lard, most people would say "No, thank you."

The big advantage, I think, of lard is the texture.

Because its melting point is considerably higher than butter, it stays solid longer in the oven.

-Right.

-And so you get more flakiness, more tenderness.

And basically, the results of the tasting follow the melting point -- the higher the melting point, the better it did in the biscuit test.

And so that was a key factor, and that's basically how it's processed.

Slow cooking, slow heating, slow cooling gives you this nice crystal structure that then melts slowly.

The other thing about using lard as opposed to butter is that it's 100% fat.

Butter is 20% water, 80% fat, roughly.

All of that water can activate gluten in the flour.

And so lard, when you're using it in biscuits or in pie dough as opposed to butter, you just get incredible tenderness.

The top-rated brands that we liked the most were the ones that were not hydrogenated.

That said, there were several that were hydrogenated that did well but that had the higher melting point, and that basically the combination of hydrogenation and a low melting point ended up pushing the brands to the bottom of the rankings.

Anything that's jumping out at you?

-I would say that this one is the most tender.

It feels moister, as well.

[ Sighs ] You know, I would be really happy with any of these.

I would say, I mean, I love the crust on this one.

I'm trying to get away from the visuals and everything, but...I'm going to pick this one.

I think it has more flavor.

I think that was probably the one that people liked the least because it has more flavor to me.

-So this is the porkiest.

It was actually at the bottom of the rankings.

It's Armour.

They're all recommended.

-Right.

-We loved all of these lards.

-You're being very kind.

-Yeah.

Yes.

So -- -That's a good cooking lard.

Maybe not great for baking?

-Well, if you want an apple pie that has notes of bacon... -Mm-hmm.

Who doesn't?

-You want notes of bacon in everything.

-Just lose the apple.

[ Laughter ] All right, and then this one.

-That's the John Morrell -- the favorite supermarket option.

Some of these are only mail-order.

Lard is now so hip and cool that people are actually mail-ordering lard from super high-end premium lard farms.

We felt like, well, we should also be really clear about what are the supermarket options.

-I gotcha.

And this one, I thought was the most tender.

-So this was the favorite overall from the expert panel.

The studio audience loved this, as well.

It's U.S. Dreams.

It's a mail-order-only brand.

It has the highest melting point of any of them, which made it very tender.

You were having trouble here 'cause honestly, you loved them all.

-I kind of do.

Well, there you go.

Our winner was U.S. Dreams lard.

It's $11.99 for a pound, or you can go with the supermarket best-buy option, and that's $1.69 for a pound of John Morrell Snow Cap.

Big difference in price.

[ Applause ] The coastal areas of Mexico are famous for their seafood tacos, and one in particular takes juicy shrimp and mixes it with tomatoes, chiles, creamy cheese, and it all gets tucked into a crisp corn tortilla.

And that's what we're making today.

And Julia is gonna show us all about it.

-That's right.

They're called Tacos Gobernador.

And as the story goes, there's a chef in Mazatln that named these in honor of the governor of the state of Sinaloa.

So they're very regal tacos.

And as you said, they're filled with a fresh tomato sauce and cheese and shrimp.

So let's get started on the sauce.

We have two fresh tomatoes, and I'm simply going to take the cores out using a paring knife.

Here's the second one.

Now we're just going to chop them up.

So I'm just going to slice these tomatoes into planks, slice the planks into long batons.

There we go.

That's two tomatoes.

Now we're ready to move on to an onion.

And this is just a small onion.

We're just going to dice it finely.

So in order to chop an onion finely, you want to cut it three different times.

The first time, you want to cut it towards that root end, but not through it, 'cause that root end will really hold all those onion layers together.

The second cut, it's a horizontal cut right through the center, and that's the dicey one.

If you happen to go all the way through, that's okay.

Just set it off to the side and cut it later.

-That's the dicey one.

-That is the dicey one.

Yep.

-Very nice.

-All right.

Next, we have a jalapeo -- just a little bit of heat.

We're gonna chop this up into a fine mince.

Yes or no to the seeds?

Some or all?

-I'm pro-seeds.

-You're pro-seeds.

So, that means I'm going to scrape all these seeds right into that bowl, 'cause the seeds are where all the heat is.

I'm gonna take these bigger pieces out and just chop them up.

All right, so to cut the pepper up into a nice mince, I'm going to slice it lengthwise into long pieces and then crosswise into a nice mince.

All right.

I'm just going to turn the skillet on, 'cause we're actually going to cook this mixture over medium-high heat.

And in this 12-inch skillet, I have just a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

So we'll let that heat up for a few minutes while we finish our sauce mixture.

-Sounds good.

-So to round out the flavors, I'm going to add 2 minced garlic cloves.

I have a tablespoon of fresh lime juice.

This next ingredient, it's a little weird.

It's 2 tablespoons of ketchup.

So a lot of the traditional recipes we found added tomato paste, which adds a deep, hearty flavor and a nice, round base for the sauce.

But some we found use ketchup.

And actually, we liked the flavor of the ketchup better.

Now we're going to add just a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

If you notice, I'm just stirring all this stuff together in a bowl.

All right, so here, we have the pan.

You can see that oil is shimmering.

So in goes our sauce mixture.

Okay, we're going to let this cook down.

I'm gonna keep my eye on it for about five minutes or so.

You're gonna see a lot of the juices of the vegetables come out and then start to evaporate, and the shape of the tomatoes will start to soften a bit.

-Okay.

-In the meantime, let's talk about the star ingredient -- the shrimp.

This is a pound of shrimp.

So, obviously, these have been peeled and deveined, and now I'm just going to cut them up into 1/2-inch pieces.

Now, these are 26/30s.

That means there's 26 to 30 shrimp per pound.

All right, so I'm just going to finish chopping up this shrimp while that sauce finishes cooking, and that takes about 5 minutes.

All right, so you can see this sauce has cooked down.

All right, so now I'm going to turn the heat down to medium.

We're going to add the shrimp right to the skillet, stir them in.

We're going to let these cook for about two minutes -- again, over medium heat.

Now, they won't cook through completely, they'll just start to turn opaque because they're going to finish cooking in the taco.

-We want them to stay nice and juicy and tender.

-That's it.

All right.

So let's work on the taco itself.

So traditionally, this recipe is cooked a lot like a quesadilla.

The tacos are cooked in a skillet, 1 or maybe 2 at a time, which takes a long time if you're feeding more than 1 person.

-Yeah, and you end up eating alone.

-That's right.

So we found a way to make these tacos in the oven and they still get just as crisp, but it's easier and you get them all done at the same time.

-Love it.

-All right, so, first, I want you to put some oil on a rimmed baking sheet -- vegetable oil.

-All right.

I think I can handle that.

-Yeah, and then you want to spread it around.

All right, so now we're going to lay these corn tortillas, about six of them.

-All right.

-Right flat on the baking sheet, and then we're gonna brush them with about a tablespoon more oil.

-Mmm.

-And this is going to help them really get a nice, fried, crisp texture.

So now we're going to put a little cheese on top.

-Mmm!

-This is 8 ounces of Monterey Jack, which has a little bit of flavor but it's really just a good melter.

By putting it on the bottom, it acts almost as a little barrier for the shrimp that go on top, to help prevent some of those juices from dripping down onto the tortilla and making it soggy.

All right.

That looks pretty good.

Now let's take a look at our filling.

So it's been about two minutes since we added the shrimp, and you can see they're opaque, but they're not fully cooked through, which is perfect.

I'm going to transfer the mixture to a bowl, stop it from cooking.

-And I'm going to take the bowl, get a spoon, and walk off.

-All right.

Time to assemble.

-All right.

-You're just going to spread the filling evenly over the cheese.

Of course, we'll start with a modest amount of shrimp on each taco, and we can go back and even it out.

-Gotcha.

-All right, so these are ready for the oven.

Now, the heat of the oven and the oven rack are very important here.

It's a rippin'-hot oven -- 450 degrees -- and it's on the lowest rack.

That means that oven heat's going to be directed right onto the bottom of the sheet pan so it can help crisp up those tortillas.

-Love it.

-We have to cook them one at a time, and they're going to cook for about 7 to 9 minutes.

What you're looking for is that bottom tortilla is good and golden crisp.

-All right.

-Hoo-hoo!

These are beautiful, if I say so myself.

So in order to check the doneness of these tacos, you want to slide a spatula underneath, Oh, you see that?

Nice and crisp.

We're going to top them, then fold them.

-Great.

-So a little bit of shredded lettuce.

And this is iceberg lettuce.

-Fresh and crunchy.

-Mm-hmm.

All right, a little bit of avocado.

You could use your fingers.

-Beautifully diced here.

-A little bit of cilantro.

And this is optional -- this is hot sauce.

It's up to you whether you want to do hot sauce or not.

[ Chuckles ] "I'll show you hot sauce," she says.

All right.

Last but not least, we're going to fold them up now.

Using a spatula, you can kind of loosen them from the sheet.

You fold them over.

Let that melty cheese help anchor them.

You arrange them in a nice dish.

And a nice tall dish like this really helps the taco stand up.

All right, so all this filling and topping and folding, you want to do pretty quickly, because they will start to get firm and start to crack.

-This one has a little of that frico -- that fried cheese.

Oh, yeah.

-Oh, that's the little gift these tacos give you -- a little bit of a cheesy edge.

And this is why we love this recipe, 'cause you can serve them all at once.

Some limes here and some extra hot sauce, if you're in the mood.

I like to put a little bit of fresh lime juice on there.

-I'm taking your lead.

-Mm-hmm.

[ Laughing ] Oh, yeah.

Gov'nor?

-[ Laughs ] Governor?

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

-I can see a lot of times where these would come in real handy.

-Right?

[ Laughs ] -Fried, corn, crispy, cheesy, plump shrimp.

-Mm-hmm.

When you think about it, ketchup, shrimp, and cheese doesn't sound like an amazing taco filling, but it really is.

I mean, it has the spice, it has the heat thanks to our chile seeds, and it just has flavor that's fresh and bright.

-And these do not taste like ketchup at all.

-Mnh-mnh.

-But there's a really nice, bright flavor in there.

-The sweetness, you get that vinegar hit.

-The shrimp are so tender -- so, so tender.

And I love this assembly method, too.

-Yeah, you can just drop this on the table, and it's taco night.

-Thanks, Julia.

I see you have a column for you and a column for me.

-[ Laughs ] I'm already on number 2.

-I noticed that.

I got to catch up.

You're going to want to make these tacos at home and it starts with a quick-cooking sauce.

Take fresh tomatoes, jalapeos, lime juice, and a bit of ketchup and then cook chopped shrimp in the sauce for just a couple of minutes.

Top corn tortillas with Monterey Jack, put the shrimp mixture on top, and bake.

Garnish with avocado, fold them over, and serve.

So from "Cook's Country," delicious, juicy, and fresh shrimp tacos.