“We currently work with 15 different cuts of pork…but we also specialize in the not common parts of the pork, like the uterus, the tongue, the snout.” Today, Bon Appétit spends a day on the line with Chef Giovanni Cervantes, co-owner of Carnitas Ramirez in NYC. This taqueria has mastered the art of pork tacos, finding ways to use a whole pig, from nose to tail.
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00:00Carnitas Ramirez is a taqueria that focuses on pork.
00:04We currently work with 15 different cuts of pork,
00:08like the ribs, pork butt, shank,
00:11but we also specialize in the not really common parts of the pork,
00:15like the uterus, the tongue, the snout.
00:18The way we concentrate on the pork,
00:20it just gives us the room to get into the subtleness
00:23of working with one thing only.
00:26Being a co-owner means a lot of different roles,
00:29but most particularly I'm concentrated in the kitchen
00:32and offering to people experience
00:34that it would be as close as we can to Mexico.
00:42Good morning, everybody.
00:44My name is Giovanni Cervantes.
00:45I'm one of the co-owners and one of the taqueros
00:47here at Carnitas Ramirez.
00:49It's 7 a.m. and we have a lot of work to do,
00:51so let's go.
00:53This is our main dining room.
00:55As you can see, it's counter service.
00:57Later on, as soon as we're ready to open,
00:59we're going to lay out pretty much like a full park here
01:02with many more parks.
01:04We knew that when we opened,
01:06it was going to be like an educational experience
01:08also for everybody that comes into the restaurant.
01:11There's definitely a lot of people that we're not used to
01:13all these different cuts,
01:15but we help them out in different ways.
01:17So we have a really nice pork mat right here
01:21in our main dining room.
01:23We have all the different cuts that we're doing today.
01:26We also write down in this window all the names,
01:30also with its translation.
01:32Our QR code is right there.
01:34That gives you just pictures of every single taco
01:37in its best expressions.
01:39So the first thing we do in the morning,
01:41somewhere around 7 a.m.,
01:43we're going to put lard on both casos.
01:45We have these two casos here.
01:47They're basically made to put as much meat as you can.
01:49This is where we only sear our meat,
01:52and this is when we simmer our meat.
01:54So this is low temperature, long time,
01:57and this is where the actual meat gets cooked.
02:00And this is only for searing.
02:02We have about 15 different cuts of the pig
02:05that we're going to work with.
02:07The first tacos that I always suggest people to try
02:10is the surtida.
02:11It's literally like 15 different parts of the pork
02:14in a single bite.
02:16I feel like that's the Carlitos experience at its max.
02:19You just have all the flavors condensing one taco.
02:23We have meat scattered right here.
02:26We write at what time we put every cut,
02:28and these are all the cuts that we're going to work with today.
02:31So we're going to start filling these casos with lard.
02:34The meaning of carnitas is pork cooked on its own fat.
02:38So depending on how you keep your lard
02:41and what components you add to your lard,
02:45they're going to define the flavor of your product,
02:49in this case, your carnitas, at the end.
02:51In that sense, we're very purist
02:53because we only add salt and some garlic into our lard.
02:57That's our mother lard, so it's the same lard
02:59we've been using since the day we opened.
03:01The lard, it's the most important component
03:03of our product here.
03:05The reason we keep using the same lard
03:08is because we believe that this is what's going to
03:12bring all the flavor to our carnitas.
03:15There's crazy stories,
03:16and people pass their lard through generations.
03:19If, like, your grandpa dies, they give you their lard.
03:22At the end of the night, we filter this lard,
03:25put it back into the buckets so we can clean this kitchen
03:29so everything gets ready and fresh to start every morning for us.
03:33Depending on the day, we decide how much lard we really need.
03:36Like, if we are doing a small batch, this one was in the fridge.
03:40This is a different quality of manteca.
03:43It has to be really hot,
03:44so the more we use it, the more darker it gets.
03:47That's why this one, at the end of the week,
03:50it's just time to get a new one, replace it.
03:53Every Wednesday that we open,
03:54we start with a fresh lard on this cassava.
03:58It's about 7.15 right now,
04:00so we're going to take you downstairs.
04:02We're going to start with our maciza,
04:04which is our pork butt.
04:09Welcome to our prep kitchen.
04:11This is the dungeon.
04:12Here with Robby, Roberto,
04:14he's cleaning up his tomatillos for the salsa verde.
04:17This is our walk-in fridge.
04:19These are the ribs that we're going to use for our first batch.
04:22This cut of pork is pork butt.
04:24In Mexico, we call it cabeza de lomo.
04:26It's basically really meaty, rich in fat, sort of cut.
04:31Very soon, we're going to start searing these pieces.
04:33Let's go.
04:35We're going to check temperature.
04:36As you can tell, it's like at 340, 345 right now,
04:40so that means it's way ready.
04:43This is our pork butt.
04:45That's the first one that goes,
04:47precisely because it takes the most time.
04:49We're going to give it a good sear.
04:51That's going to help us with color.
04:53That's going to give it some texture as well.
04:55I like my carnitas to be just the right amount of chewy.
05:00The searing part also helps with that.
05:02Mostly the cuts that are the meatiest
05:04are the ones that definitely we're going to give them a good sear,
05:07and then we're going to put it right into the simmering cazo.
05:10Here is our meat schnitzel.
05:12So we have the maciza, which is this meat.
05:14We put it in at 730, and we put eight pieces.
05:18This is sort of the control that we have
05:20in case something goes wrong at the end of the batch.
05:24If we notice that something needed a little more time to be cooked
05:29or less time to be cooked, we go back to this.
05:32We see at what time we put it,
05:34and then we need to make adjustments.
05:36¿Cómo lo ves?
05:38¿Jala ya, no?
05:41I just touched base with Saul.
05:43Make sure the searing is on point.
05:47We think it is.
05:49As you can tell from the beginning how much this changed.
05:52This is all raw, so it's basically just an outlayer
05:56that has been seared.
05:58All this heat needs to penetrate,
06:00so that's when we're going to put it into this cazo.
06:03And this is where they're going to be for the next four hours.
06:06So this one is just so ready, man, so beautiful.
06:10You can tell all the brightness.
06:13All these golden colors are just telling me that it's ready to cook.
06:19Let's go downstairs, pick up that lengua.
06:25It's 8 a.m.
06:27This meat is just so sturdy.
06:29They need a lot of time to break down, and they make really soft.
06:32So that's what we're going to do next.
06:34This is our lengua.
06:36It takes so long to be done, but it's needed.
06:39We're also going to get some buche, which is our stomach.
06:42It's super strong, so they need a lot of time to break down,
06:46and they make really soft.
06:48They don't need to get seared,
06:50so they go straight into our madre cazo.
06:52So I'm just going to go and put the lengua right there.
06:56But they all have different timing.
06:58This is the stomach, and after spending here two hours and a half,
07:02they just get really soft and really delicious.
07:05This liquid is pretty dense, so you cannot really see through.
07:09It's almost like fishing.
07:11Maybe by the end of the day, something gets a little hidden,
07:14and we find it, and we took it out,
07:16and we thought we were running out of lenguas.
07:19And guess what? There was a lengua right there.
07:25It's 8.15. We're back at our prep kitchen.
07:28This is the time I usually come and check out with Roberto
07:31how he's doing with the salsa.
07:33It's salsa verde cruda, which means none of these ingredients are being cooked.
07:38They're just raw.
07:39So we have tomatillos, onions, cilantro, garlic, avocado chunks blended.
07:45So as you can see, it has a lot of texture.
07:49It's crunchy, juicy, acidic flavor that kind of remains,
07:52and it stays in your mouth,
07:54and it contrasts really, really nice with the carnitas.
07:57It's pretty good, Roby. Gracias. A huevo.
07:59And let's go upstairs and check out our meat.
08:03So it's around 9 a.m. right now.
08:05We have our next batch of different cuts that we're going to add into our pot.
08:09These are ears.
08:11These are really, really nice, crunchy,
08:13but there's also some chewiness of the skin.
08:16The meat part is very minimal.
08:18It's more of a flavor and texture experience with this.
08:21We also have our tails.
08:23Tails can come in, like, different shapes.
08:25We have our uterus here.
08:27So this is another organ that takes a while to get done.
08:31And we have the cheeks.
08:33These are, like, I would say it's really nice.
08:36Like, it's a really meaty, kind of a unique flavor cut.
08:39So the reason that these guys are in this basket
08:41is because these are the smaller cuts that we deal with.
08:45It's going to help us out to keep it all together.
08:48So when it's ready, we just grab it, and we know it's good to go.
08:53It's 10.45.
08:55We're still missing a few things.
08:57All our meat's already in the casserole,
08:59and it's going to keep boiling for another hour.
09:01What is happening right now, Belen is making our sesadillas,
09:04which is our brain taco.
09:06It's just such a unique flavor.
09:07It's difficult to describe.
09:09It's velvety.
09:10That's just what means for me is pleasure.
09:13It comes like that in a much more smaller tortilla.
09:16We like it, like, to keep it tiny.
09:19So it has, like, about a spoon of brains.
09:22These brains have been precooked already,
09:24and they have some epazote and some garlic as well.
09:28So basically, what she's doing is, like,
09:30enclosing these brains into these tortillas.
09:35With the help of these toothpicks, everything, like, keeps together.
09:38So the chicharron, we make it once a week.
09:40We put all our leftovers together.
09:43That's where you can see all these different, like,
09:46kind of, like, patterns and textures and colors.
09:49We can see some ears here.
09:51This more, like, reddish part, that's the uterus.
09:54And all these, like, brownish parts are just, like, meat.
09:58And it's just fresh and delicious,
10:00like in a different shape, some sort of, like, sausage.
10:03It's already cooked, but we're going to blend it and break it down.
10:06So as you can tell, it was only, like,
10:08a quick time that Belen put it into the griddle.
10:11Now that meat is ready to assemble.
10:14We call it gorditas.
10:15This similar shape, it's also well-known in Latin America as arepas.
10:20It's a different masa. Arepas are made.
10:23This is just corn.
10:25They're called gorditas because they're chunky.
10:27I remember gorditas and chicharrón a lot growing up in Mexico City.
10:31That was one of my main meals, to be honest, like, when I was in school.
10:35This is the last procedures.
10:37One of them is our chicharrón or pork rinds.
10:41This is just pork skin.
10:43But the way it's been treated and dried out,
10:46it interacts this way with the lard at a higher temperature.
10:50And they're super easy to make.
10:52This usually only takes, like, five minutes, and they're ready to go.
10:55So these chicharrones, they're going to go two different options.
10:59We offer them as scrambles that we basically just chop them up
11:03and just put it as a topping on your taco.
11:06Or you can also just get it on a side,
11:08which, just like you're seeing it right now,
11:10we put it in a little bowl,
11:12and you can just snack it in between your taco bites.
11:16The shapes are right.
11:18Unpredictable.
11:19They can go in any forms.
11:21So this is like a, you know, a cooked raw one.
11:26Crunchy, amazing, fresh chicharrón bro.
11:29We're about 20 minutes, actually a little less, for us to get open.
11:35So right now Saul is taking all the meat out of the cazo.
11:39We're, like, organizing it.
11:41We have here our chicharrón carnudo.
11:43Over there we have our nana, which is the uterus,
11:46and the skin, which is our cuero.
11:49What Rob is doing on the other side,
11:51we toast that layer of the barriga.
11:54That's where the fat is and the skin.
11:57It just adds a little more different tone of flavor at the end,
12:00but also I love the way it looks after,
12:03when you have that kind of, like, contrast of colors in your taco.
12:07It works pretty well.
12:08For me, these are the best spots in the taqueria
12:10because you can obviously see all the action
12:13and you are, like, as close to the kitchen as you can be.
12:16And the sounds of the kitchen, you know,
12:18when we yell the names out, when we're talking to each other,
12:21you're just part of that experience.
12:25We're just a few minutes before opening.
12:27Everything is laid out here.
12:29We're basically just making tortillas, so we have a batch in advance.
12:32So I'm just going to go to the kitchen,
12:34make sure everybody is ready over there.
12:39Thank you guys for going with me.
12:42We open at noon, so let's go.
12:44See you guys later. Bye-bye.