Tacos de Castacán con Queso

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart pot with lid for simmering the belly
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for charring and frying
• •Wide cast iron skillet or shallow cazuela for the lard
• •Volcanic stone molcajete for the habanero salsa
• •Sharp chef's knife and a wooden cutting board
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan

Instructions

1. 1

   Simmer the pork belly

   Place the pork belly in a heavy pot and cover with cold water by two inches. Add the salt, halved garlic head, halved onion, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam in the first ten minutes. Reduce the heat until you see lazy bubbles every few seconds. Cover partially and cook for one hour and fifteen minutes, until a knife slides through the meat with no resistance but the slab still holds its shape. You are not trying to shred it. You are softening it so it will fry properly later.

   A rolling boil tears the belly apart and clouds the broth. Keep it at a quiet simmer. The Yucatecan cooks call this 'a fuego manso,' tame fire.
2. 2

   Cool and slice

   Lift the belly out and lay it skin-side up on a sheet pan. Let it cool for at least thirty minutes, ideally an hour. The fat needs to firm up or the slices will fall apart in the lard. Once cool, slice the belly into strips about half an inch wide, cutting through the skin, the fat, and the meat in single pieces. You should have wide bacon-shaped strips with all three layers visible.

3. 3

   Char the salsa ingredients

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-high. Place the whole tomatoes, garlic cloves in their skins, and habaneros directly on the hot surface. Turn them every couple of minutes until the tomato skins are blackened and split, the garlic skins are scorched and the cloves inside are soft, and the habaneros are blistered and dark in spots. The smell will be sharp and a little eye-watering. Open a window. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado, this is how they do it in Mérida.

   Habanero burns your hands and your eyes. Do not touch your face. Wash the comal carefully or use a dedicated one. The capsaicin clings to cast iron.
4. 4

   Build the habanero salsa

   Peel the charred garlic. Pull the stems off the habaneros, leaving the seeds if you want it serious, or removing them if you want it manageable. Place the tomatoes, garlic, and habaneros in a molcajete with the salt and grind to a coarse paste. Add the naranja agria juice and work it in. Taste. It should be hot, smoky, and bright from the sour orange. If you do not have naranja agria, the orange-lime mix gives you the same balance. Do not skip the sour. The Peninsula runs on it.

5. 5

   Fry the castacán

   Melt the lard in a heavy cast iron skillet or wide cazuela over medium heat. The lard should be about a quarter inch deep. When it shimmers and a piece of onion peel browns in twenty seconds, you are ready. Lay the pork belly strips skin-side down in a single layer. Do not crowd the pan. Work in two batches if needed. Fry for four to five minutes per side, pressing the strips down with a spatula so the skin makes full contact with the hot lard. The skin will blister and turn deep amber. The fat will render further and crisp the edges. When the skin crackles under a fork and the meat side is dark mahogany, the castacán is ready. Lift the strips onto a wire rack.

6. 6

   Chop the castacán

   Move the fried strips to a wooden cutting board and chop them into rough half-inch pieces. Skin, fat, and meat together in every cut. Keep them on the warm side of the comal while you finish the tortillas. The mix of crackling skin and tender interior is the whole point. Even pieces of pure fat are welcome. La manteca es el sabor.

7. 7

   Warm tortillas and melt the cheese

   Heat the comal over medium. Warm each tortilla for about twenty seconds per side until soft and pliable, with a few darker spots. Pile a generous tablespoon of chopped castacán on the center of each warm tortilla. Top with a small handful of grated queso de bola. Set the dressed tortillas back on the comal, off direct flame, and cover loosely with a clean cloth for thirty seconds. The cheese should melt against the hot castacán and the warm tortilla, not turn into liquid gold. Queso de bola is dense and salty and behaves nothing like Oaxaca string cheese. It softens, it does not stretch. Así se hace y punto.

8. 8

   Finish and serve at the table

   Plate the tacos three to a portion on a Talavera plate or a simple white dish. Top each with a pinch of pickled red onion. Set the habanero salsa, lime wedges, and a side plate of sliced habanero on the table. Each person dresses their own taco. Eat them immediately. Castacán waits for nothing. Once the skin loses its crackle and the cheese sets cold, you have a different dish.

Chef Tips

• •Queso de bola is non-negotiable. Edam is the same cheese under a different name and works perfectly. Do not substitute Monterey Jack or mozzarella. Those are stretchy cheeses, queso de bola is a salty dense cheese, and the whole character of the taco depends on that salt-and-fat collision. If you cannot find Edam, a young Gouda is the closest compromise.
• •Pickled red onions are easy and necessary. Slice one red onion into thin half-moons, blanch in boiling water for ten seconds, drain, and cover with white vinegar, a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of Mexican oregano, and a few black peppercorns. Sit for at least an hour, better overnight. They will keep two weeks in the refrigerator and you will use them on everything.
• •Naranja agria is sour orange, the bitter Seville-type orange that grows in every Yucatecan backyard. Latin markets often carry it. If you cannot find it, mix two parts orange juice with two parts lime juice and one part grapefruit juice. It is a compromise, not an upgrade, but it carries the same acidic profile that defines Peninsula cooking.
• •Do not skip the two-step cooking. Simmering then frying is the technique. Fry raw pork belly and you get tough, greasy meat. Simmer only and you have boiled pork. The crackle is the point and it only comes from frying the cooked belly in hot lard.

Advance Preparation

• •The pork belly can be simmered and cooled one day ahead. Refrigerate the slab, sliced or whole, and fry just before serving. The cold belly fries better than the warm belly because the fat is firm.
• •The pickled red onions should be made at least one hour ahead and keep for two weeks refrigerated.
• •The habanero salsa is best within a few hours of grinding. The naranja agria fades after a day. Make it the day you serve it.
• •Do not pre-assemble the tacos. Castacán loses its crackle the moment it sits dressed. Set everything out and let each person build their own at the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 185g)