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Tuxtla Gutiérrez's cantina botana of pork head simmered with laurel and thyme, dried overnight, then fried in manteca until the ear, skin, and cartilage crackle under your teeth.
Chiapas, the Central Depression around Tuxtla Gutiérrez, is where carraca de puerco belongs. Not the highland tamal table of San Cristóbal, not the coast, and not Michoacán carnitas. This is a Tuxtla cantina botana: pork head, ear, snout, cheek, skin, cooked until tender, dried, and fried in manteca de cerdo until the cartilage cracks cleanly under your teeth.
I learned the method from a señora near Mercado Juan Sabines, the kind of cook who checks the ear with her fingers and knows by touch whether it will fry crisp. Her seasoning was plain because the pork was not weak: garlic, white onion, laurel, tomillo, orégano mexicano, pimienta gorda. The chile sat on the side in a small molcajete, chile simojovel when the vendor had it, because not every Chiapas dish throws chile into the pot.
The lesson is drying. Simmer the head until it surrenders, then chill it uncovered so the skin tightens. Wet skin spits in the lard and stays rubbery. Dry skin blisters. La manteca es el sabor, and here it is also the tool that turns economical cuts into a botana people fight over.
Serve it on a red-brown barro platter from Chiapa de Corzo, lined with a piece of hoja de plátano if you have one, with lime halves, warm corn tortillas, and the salsa on the table. No flour tortillas. No sour cream. This is Tuxtla's carraca. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Tuxtla Gutiérrez sits in the Central Depression of Chiapas, historically Zoque territory, between the highland Maya kitchens and the Grijalva basin. Carraca de puerco grew from the colonial pork economy after pigs arrived in Chiapas in the 16th century, when head, ear, snout, and skin became valuable market food in the hands of cooks who knew how to handle collagen, cartilage, and lard. Unlike carnitas michoacanas, which center whole-pig confit in copper cazos, Tuxtla's carraca focuses on pork head parts simmered with laurel and herbs, chilled, then fried in manteca and eaten as a cantina botana with lime and salsa.
Quantity
4 pounds
including ear, snout, cheek, skin, and cartilage, sawed into large pieces by the butcher
Quantity
enough to cover by 2 inches
Quantity
2 tablespoons, plus more to taste
Quantity
1 medium
quartered
Quantity
1
halved crosswise
Quantity
3
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Quantity
4
Quantity
4
Quantity
1 tablespoon
divided
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
for finishing
Quantity
2 pounds
or enough to come halfway up the pork pieces
Quantity
6
stemmed
Quantity
6
husked and rinsed
Quantity
2
unpeeled
Quantity
1/4 cup
Quantity
8 to 10
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
1
passed over a flame to soften, for lining the platter
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cleaned pork head piecesincluding ear, snout, cheek, skin, and cartilage, sawed into large pieces by the butcher | 4 pounds |
| cold water | enough to cover by 2 inches |
| sal de grano | 2 tablespoons, plus more to taste |
| white onionquartered | 1 medium |
| head of garlichalved crosswise | 1 |
| bay leaves | 3 |
| black peppercorns | 1 teaspoon |
| whole allspice berries | 4 |
| fresh thyme sprigs | 4 |
| dried Mexican oreganodivided | 1 tablespoon |
| dried thymefor finishing | 1/2 teaspoon |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo)or enough to come halfway up the pork pieces | 2 pounds |
| dried chile simojovelstemmed | 6 |
| tomatillos (miltomates)husked and rinsed | 6 |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 2 |
| finely chopped white onion | 1/4 cup |
| lime halves (optional)for serving | 8 to 10 |
| warm hand-pressed corn tortillas or tostadas (optional) | for serving |
| finely diced white onion (optional) | for serving |
| chopped cilantro (optional) | for serving |
| banana leaf (optional)passed over a flame to soften, for lining the platter | 1 |
Ask the butcher for cleaned pork head pieces with ear, snout, cheek, skin, and cartilage. At home, rinse them well under cold water and scrape away any bristles. If a patch of skin still has hair, pass it quickly over a gas flame and scrape with the back of a knife. Do not replace this with pork shoulder. The ear and snout are not decoration. They are the carraca.
Put the pork head pieces in a heavy pot and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Add 1 tablespoon of sal de grano, the quartered onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, black peppercorns, allspice berries, fresh thyme, and 2 teaspoons of the dried Mexican oregano. Bring to a gentle simmer, then skim the gray foam that rises. Cook 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the cheek is tender and the ear can be pierced with a knife but still holds its shape. A hard boil tears the skin and clouds the broth. Keep it patient.
Lift the pork pieces onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Strain the broth and save it for beans or rice. Let the pork cool until you can handle it, then refrigerate uncovered at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. This is not dead time. This is the step that makes the skin blister instead of turning rubbery in the lard.
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile simojovel for 10 to 15 seconds per side, just until fragrant and a shade darker. Do not burn it. Put the toasted chiles in a small bowl and cover with hot water for 10 minutes. On the same comal, roast the tomatillos and unpeeled garlic cloves until the tomatillos soften and blister in spots and the garlic turns tender.
Peel the roasted garlic and grind it in a molcajete with 1/2 teaspoon sal de grano. Add the soaked chile simojovel and work it into a rough paste. Add the roasted tomatillos one by one and crush them into the chile. Stir in the finely chopped white onion. This salsa should be rough, smoky, and direct. A blender will make it smoother, but the molcajete gives it teeth.
Remove any large bones from the chilled pork. Cut the cheek and snout into 1-inch chunks and slice the ears into thick strips. Keep the skin and cartilage attached where you can. Pat everything very dry with towels and season lightly with sal de grano. Do not add the oregano yet. Herbs burn in the lard and taste dusty.
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide, high-sided cazuela or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. You want enough fat to come halfway up the pork pieces. If using a thermometer, aim for 350F. If cooking by eye, a small piece of skin should bubble hard the moment it touches the lard. La manteca es el sabor, and vegetable oil will not give you the same finish.
Fry the pork in small batches, 6 to 9 minutes per batch, turning with a spider or slotted spoon. The skin should bubble, the ear strips should curl at the edges, and the cheek meat should turn deep golden brown. Do not crowd the pot. Crowding drops the temperature and gives you greasy pork instead of carraca. Transfer each batch to a wire rack, not paper towels, so the bottom stays crisp.
While the carraca is still glossy from the lard, toss it with the remaining dried Mexican oregano, the dried thyme, and a final pinch of sal de grano. Line a clay platter with the softened banana leaf if using, then pile the carraca generously. Serve immediately with lime halves, warm corn tortillas or tostadas, diced white onion, cilantro, and the chile simojovel salsa. Squeeze the lime at the table so the skin stays crisp. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
1 serving (about 260g)
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