That's interesting. Although molé means "sauce", in its usual meaning in English, it refers to complex fruit sauces, often with chocolate, that are from the Southern part of Mexico. Carnitas is more of a Central Mexico kind of thing. It's not that the two don't combine, but it's certainly not necessary. Think of carnitas as pulled pork and molé is any interesting sauce you love in that land of sauce that you live in.

Carnitas are traditionally made covered with lard, low and slow until they practically disintegrate, then heated in the fat so they crisp up. Kenji Lopez-Alt has plenty to say about it, and about alternatives to the "big bucket of lard". :) There are also ways of making beef and chicken carnitas. "Carnita" means "little meat", as in bits of meat. :)

Anyway, once you've cooked the carnitas, you can do anything you want with them, including plop them on a plate, but most often they're put into some kind of starch holder: burritos, tacos, tamales, etc., along with whatever kinds of sauce and toppings you like. You can make a "French" torta (sandwich) using a regular French sandwich roll, carnitas, charcutière sauce, radish slices, and cabbage. If you can't find good tortillas but and don't want to make them, you can make tacos using any flatbread, toasted on a skillet or griddle. Add pico de gallo, cilantro, and any vegetables you like (which might include cabbage and radishes, or more Norteamericano lettuce).

If there was a particular kind of dish your son wanted to make, I'm sure you can find recipes in English on the internet if you can describe it.

I've made this recipe. It isn't sous vide but will give you an idea about the flavors.

http://www.mykitchenescapades.com/2012/11/pork-carnitas.html

Thank you, girls. It's begrinning to become a bit clearer. OK so no mole. I'm happy to try and make tortillas so what do I serve with the meat and wraps.? Guacamole? Source cream?

Serious Eats has a recipe for Sous Vide Carnitas to try. Agree with plllog. I have never seen Carnitas with a mole sauce.

"what do I serve with...." side of beans is good. We like Cowboy Beans but refried works too. I also like to make a cabbage or lettuce/radish/carrot slaw, squeeze of fresh lime juice and a little avo oil or EVOO, this goes over the carnitas. Chips and salsa. Spanish rice. There's a few ideas. Just have some fun. Carnitas is serious eats here at the McKitchen!

That's it! I'm making this tonight. : ) I have everything i need. And some leftover Rouille from last nights Bouillabaisse.

Salsa, cilantro, we like a bit of feta. Radish slices. Lots of fresh lime. The rouille.

I have a few packages of flat packed sousVide pork shoulder in the freezer. Just pulled one out. (Still plenty for tamales and arepas.) ...that i never got around to making over the holidays.

White corn tortillas are not difficult to make. A good do-ahead day before. Or freeze.

I serve all elements in bowls at the table to make-your-own. Tortillas in a towel after heating up in a cast iron skillet, then into low oven to keep warm. I always serve a big leaf lettuce in a bowl as i like to have a lettuce wrap after a couple tortillas using the same fillings.

yum

Thanks for all the ideas. Yours sound much nicer and fresher than the website.

Yeah no kidding sleevendog, I got lost for about an hour on that Kenji Lopez-Alt site. Now I'm ready to make corn tortillas from scratch, nixtamalizing and all!! Crikey. And I GoodWill'd my tortilla press sometime last year as it sat dormant in the cupboard for years. Crikey [did I say that already??]

I used to make carnitas (my version) frequently before my brother moved in with me, as he does not eat pork. I always made a chili sauce that used Ancho, Guajillo, and Pasilla (dried) chilies, or any combination of those, plus Habanero chili, orange & lime juice (to simulate Mexican sour oranges), achiote paste, oregano, and stock from cooking the pork. Achiote is made from annatto, and so if you cannot find achiote, you can use annatto seeds and grind them. This will give it a Yucatecan flavor, which I prefer, but you can omit this as well. Mexican chili sauce does not have tomato in it - its flavor comes mainly from the chilies. If you really like chili sauce, you can try growing the chilies yourself, if they are difficult to find. I grow them even though I can buy them, but I also grow chocolate Habanero chilies, which I cannot buy, and they have the best and most complex flavor of the hot chilies.

I have three jars of mole paste in my freezer that I bought at Grand Central Market downtown, but I'm not really fond of it, and use only small quantities at a time. It is very popular in Oaxaca, which I used to visit every year to buy rugs that I sold in San Francisco, but for me, Oaxaca had the worst food in Mexico - at least in the 1970s and 1980s when I used to go there regularly. When I went back to Oaxaca in 2002, it had changed quite a bit and reminded me a lot of Santa Fe, NM, and the restaurants had improved quite a bit. When I first started going there, they were having guerrilla warfare (which I was unaware of, despite the presence of soldiers with bayonets on every street corner), and so everything was very inexpensive. Prices went up after the guerrilla warfare ended, and I missed seeing the soldiers. I grew up close to Fort Hood, and so seeing soldiers everywhere did not seem unusual to me.

I like to eat carnitas in a fresh corn tortilla, and top it with guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream. Yum.

Bless you, Lars, I can't get those ingredients here, but I love reading about your trips to Mexico.

Sheila, what is pico de Gallo?

Do you have a tortilla recipe?

Pico de gallo is fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro and chilies, usually with fresh lime juice squeezed over all. Garlic too of course, at least at my house. ;-)

Pico de gallo

Tortilla recipe - you can find it on the bag of masa harina you buy to make them. We recently got on a pupusa's kick. Pupusas

Wondering if you can get Masa?

Well, my meal was good. Except for the tortillas. I had just completed a sweep of the crisper drawer so i knew what i had...

We had an ice storm yesterday so no going out. Could not find my tortilla press, (i think i left it at the farm 100 miles away), no biggie, so i pulled out my pastry board to roll out but no Masa (?). I always have Masa. Found a small pack in the freezer but i like fresh.

-Frozen tortillas are decent if you thaw, wet them, rub with oil, cut, then into an over to make chips.

Made pico, cubed and sauced pork then under the broiler...

1 cup Masa

1 cup hot water

pinch salt, 1 tbsp melted butter (or any oil)

-combine Masa and 3/4 cup hot water, salt and butter

-mix together with hand. Should feel not too sticky or dry

-use remaining water if needed, rest at least one hour before rolling or pressing. Have a bit of flour handy. A freezer zip-lock cut open helps to press between.

Somehow, "sous vide" and carnitas don't mesh in my mind.

Carnitas (around here and in central Mexico) are the bits of meat, connective tissue and fat from trimming other cuts, slowly cooked unseasoned until the fat is rendered out and the remaining bits are crispy and browned and tender. Then you pile them in a tortilla and top with whatever you want,

Sliced avocados, chopped tomatoes and onions and sour cream is one topping.

Pico de Gallo ... a mix of finely chopped onions, tomatoes, fresh green chilis and cilantro is a popular topping.

I've seen "Carnitas Caprese" ... carnitas with basil, tomato and a bit of fresh mozzarella cheese.

"Mole" as others have noted is a complex sauce. I made it once and it's a 2-day process. However there are some good commercial versions for sale in the Mexican food section of many supermarkets.

*********

The carnitas as sold at Chipotles and other chain restaurants are just sautéed chunks of meat with onions and bell peppers ... not at all the carnitas of traditional Mexican cooking.

Next question lol what's Masa?

Masa is pretty much the same thing as fine corn flour, although typically is is white, like grits, although yellow versions are sometimes used. If you cannot find masa or corn flour, you can grind grits (or cornmeal, for yellow masa) to make masa. The Vitamix blender (or similar) will do this. If you cannot find grits, you can use polenta and grind that.

Masa is ground nixtamalized corn...field corn, not sweet corn.

There is fresh masa (wet but made from dried corn) and dried masa (available in sacks like flour & cornmeal).

Masa is more nutritious than cornmeal and has a subtle, earthy flavor much different/ much more 'rounded' than just plain ground corn. (At least the dried product does; I've never tasted fresh masa.)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/corn-tortillas-recipe.html

w.dailymotion.com/video/x1g494_good-eats-tort-illa-reform-part1_fun

Here's a link to corn masa that is commonly available here in the US:

http://www.mexgrocer.co.uk/Masa-Harina/

Hominy grits have also gone through the nixtamlization process, and so if you can find those, you can grind them to make masa.

ci_lantro is right. Masa Harina is made from dried fresh masa (dough). While it will never be as good as fresh masa, it's infinitely better than store-bought tortillas.

As far as making pork carnitas, pork butt is my choice. Depending on size, I like to cut in in chunks the size of a chicken thigh. Season with salt and pepper and place in roasting pan. Sprinkle with cumin seeds and add a few bay leaves. Quarter a couple of oranges (peel and all) and wedge between the chunks of pork. Cover with melted lard and roast slowly for 5/6 hours. (think duck confit)

After roasting, remove meat to carving board and shred.

Get a comal (griddle) screaming hot and add the shredded pork. Use a bench scraper to chop and turn the meat as it caramelizes. After the browning is complete, add a small amount of chile sauce such as Lars described and toss to coat. Serve on warm tortillas.

• as mentioned earlier, bitter orange is used in Mexico. It's almost impossible to find here. As Lars mentioned, you can add lime juice. You can also use a little grapefruit juice to replicate the flavor.

• You can find masa harina at mexgrocer.co.uk or thru Amazon.

Okay, seeing as "here" in this case is the French seaside, I will repeat myself. Any kind of flatbread you can buy or make will be fine. Grill pita and roll it like a gyros sandwich. Make some "(American) Indian" fry bread, top, fold and eat warm. Use fougasse (maybe not the olive kind), socca, thin pizza shell, etc. Perhaps if you have a large Middle Eastern population, you can find lachuch or salouf. Or wheat flour tortillas.

Carnitas are very portable.

Mary gave you a good recipe for the pico de gallo. However, I do not use as much jalapeno pepper as she does. Be sure to discard the seeds, and to mince the peppers since they are too hot otherwise.

The link I provided ships to France ...

Love Carnitas! As a So Cal native with a weekend home in Baja California, I've had my share of authentic preparations, however none served with amole ...
Some great ideas here, just to add... I find Serrano peppers much more suited than Jalapenos for Pico De Gallo (aka Salsa Fresca)

Thank you- you've all been very informative. I really love this forum as the best best place to learn!

Plllog's right. Here is Breton seaside. No grits. No Masa. No immigrant population apart from a few Brits, I try to eat locally so I hope I don't offend anyone as this won't be authenic!

Sous vide pork as at the serious eats site. I'll make flatbread, pico de gallo and take it from there. I'll let you know.........

To quote another conversation about the right way to make a traditional dish -- "right" is the way one's mother made it. In this story, you're the mom. :) This will be authentic, French, sous vide carnitas, and I bet it will be awesome!

And this coming from the mother of authenticity, lol. (smiley face, smiley face, wink, wink)

When most of use here want to use a new bit of produce or stumble on an unfamiliar recipe or product like 'masa harina' or would like to get closest to an original taste like a corn tortilla we ask and research. Only then, when not possible because of location, we can create similar. No rules.

I don't see anyone saying their way is the most authentic. I found the different methods useful. Like markb's chopping method on a griddle.

Google 'masa harina' for the explanation and understanding. Then make naan, pita, or any soft flatbread. But, you can make a corn tortilla if you wanted to. Just is not necessary if your personal rules/choices prevent that.

I actually prefer flour tortillas to corn That is why pitas or flatbread was suggested. They are similar, but somewhat thicker.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

3 Tablespoons olive oil

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Stir in water and oil. Turn onto a floured surface and knead 5 to 6 times. Divide dough into eight portions. On lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 7 inch circle.

In a large skillet or griddle coated with cooking spray, cook tortillas over medium heat for 1 minute on each side or until very lightly browned. Keep warm.

My point, actually, was that carnitas is a preparation of meat that benefits from being paired with a starch, but that it's used in so many dishes it doesn't require being made only in a particular Mexican style. Open up and lightly smash a baked potato and top with carnitas, sauce and vegetables, and you'll have something good too. The only reason not to use regular sandwich bread is that it may be too soft.

Pillog, Yes, Yes, Yes! You can do most anything with cooked pork. I don't use sous vide, just because I really don't need another cooking method. I do like to cook pork several ways, crock pot, grill, smoker, oven, or stove top. I want the pork fully cooked, fat rendered out, and very tender. I actually like it unseasoned and pulled apart with bones and gristle removed. This I then freeze in one to one and half pound packages which I can then season and use in any dish be it carnitas or pulled pork or soup. Pork on top of a baked potato with mushrooms, broccoli, and cheese is heaven. Top with either white sauce or barbecue sauce.

Sleeve, that's why I got in there with an apology in advance! LOL

Sherry, I'll try your recipe for the tortillas. I think this is going to be fun. Thank you all.

Steven that is great! I had no idea how to convert cups to grams for my recipe.

I do have a scale and I want to try your recipe.

Well, this is Carnitas à la Bretonne LOL

I cooked the meat à la serious eats

It's looks great Islay. Made me hungry for carnitas!!

YUM!

Islay, when you say "coriander", are you referring to leaves or seeds? In the U.S., coriander refers to the seeds and cilantro refers to the leaves. Do you ever use the term "cilantro" or does "coriander" refer to both seeds and leaves where you live?

Your tortillas look like the lavash I tried to make! Did they come out crisp?

Coriander here is both the seeds and the leaves. I used the leaves. Yes, My "tortillas" were a bit crispy - some were nice and soft and I prefered the taste and texture to the commercial ones we get here.

Islay, I did the same thing the first time I made the tortillias. They cook a lot faster than you think. I must admit lots of times I just buy ready made, but they don't taste quite as good. Err on the side of not done. They will be done. You just want them to set. Everything looks fantastic. I am going to have to cook Tex-Mex tonight!

Looks really good! Especially your meat. Success.