Hungry in Berlin

As a native Californian, I speak culinary Spanish (with an emphasis on the Mexican dialect). Four years of college in San Diego proved that a person can gladly and happily live on rice and beans (and salsa and tortillas) alone. And although my Heimstadt gave birth what has come to be known as the “San Francisco burrito” (see Dolores in Mitte for an up-market, but not totally authentic, version), nothing beats a homemade feast of carnitas, frijoles refritos, handmade tortillas and smoky, spicy salsa. Us gringos celebrate Cinco de Mayo (Mexican military victory over the French, 1862; gradually morphed into a “hooray for all things Mexican” celebration in the U.S., sponsored by Corona) with food. I’m going to focus on the proteins in this post — how to make carnitas, or boiled-then-fried pork shoulder, and refried beans. See “part dos” for a how-to on flour tortillas and chipotle salsa — with ingredients that can be found all here in Berlin.

So the first thing you should know about “authentic” Mexican food is that it is not low-fat. Lard (in all its glorious, flavorful goodness) can be substituted with healthier oils, but really — it doesn’t taste nearly as good. The one thing German markets have in common with Mexican markets is the prevalence of Schweinschmalz. You’ll find this in the refrigerator section of your local supermarket; it comes wrapped in rectangular blocks like butter, usually with a picture of a happy pig on the front. It’s cheap, and one block will do. If you are vegetarian, you can use vegetable-based shortening — Biskin is a common brand. The healthiest vegi option (one that is also trans-fats free), however, is olive oil.

For the beans: We like black beans, which you can find either at bio stores (Schwarzebohnen; see this earlier post for the difference between black beans and soy black beans) or at larger wholesalers like Mitte Meer (canned (no pre-soak needed) or dried — they even have canned refried beans). But that’s the California in us talking. Pinto beans are much more traditional (and a tad harder to find here, unfortunately.) Mitte Meer carries a Brazilian brand of pinto (the beans are tan-colored and striped) that should work well. One cup of dried beans is about good for two people. Soak the dried beans overnight in a large bowl with a lot of water. When you’re ready to cook, drain the beans, add to a large pot with at least three times as much clean water, and boil on medium heat until they’re tender to the bite.

Once the beans are cooked, drain them, keeping about a half-cup of the cooking water. In the now empty pot, add a tablespoon of lard, one large chopped onion, a clove or two of chopped garlic, a teaspoon of cumin and either a dried or fresh hot pepper (if no whole pepper, use paprika and cayenne pepper instead, to taste) and cook over medium heat until the onions are soft. Toss the beans and the water back in; mix well and get it bubbling. After about 10 minutes, take the pot off the heat. If you’ve got an immersion blender, give the bean mixture a couple short blasts; if you don’t, get in there with a fork (this is harder work) a potato masher or some other mashing tool, and mush the beans into a paste. How smooth or chunky the beans are is up to you — with a blender, you can make a finer puree. Put the pot back on low heat and adjust the seasonings to taste and cover; if they get too clumpy or dry, add a little water. Stir occasionally to keep the beans from sticking to the bottom of the pan (which is a serious pain to wash.) Serve warm with sour cream or shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

The carnitas are a little more labor intensive but certainly worth it. The basic concept is this: pork slowly stewed in a flavored liquid until it’s literally falling apart, then shredded or cubed, and then either deep fried or broiled until crispy. It’s intensely flavorful (crispy outside, juicy inside) and awesome on top of refried beans and wrapped in a tortilla.

You’ll want to look for the cheapest hunk of pork at the store — pork shoulder or butt is ideal (Schulter or Dicke Schulter; it’s a cheap piece of meat with a layer of fat, and usually costs no more than 2 Euro a kilo.) Trim a little of the fat off, but not a lot — fat is yummy. Cut the meat into large hunks that will fit into your largest, deepest pot (whatever you cook your pasta in, for example). Toss the meat in the pot and cover with water, or — this is where your imagination comes in — any flavorful liquid that will give more flavor to the meat. Some traditional options include tequila, beer or rum; even orange or lime juice. Toss in a couple whole pepper corns, one or two bay leaves, a roughly chopped onion and a couple of garlic cloves, dried or fresh chilies, a teaspoon or two of cumin…and boil this gently all over low-medium heat until the meat is cooked through and falling apart. You’ll know it’s done when you can easily shred the meat with a fork. Remove the pork and let it cool a bit; toss the cooking liquid.

Now this is the part where the purists will scream. I don’t have a deep-fryer at home (and thank the goddess for that, I’d be eating donuts daily) but perhaps you do; if so, you rule. After the pork is cooked and shredded, quick fry the pork in batches and you’ve got carnitas. If you’re like me and don’t have a deep-fryer, try this. Spread a thin layer of lard in a shallow oven-proof dish (casserole or pie pan) and loosely pile in the shredded pork. Turn your broiler on high and get the oven good and hot. Put the pan as close to the heat source in the oven as you can, and keep an eye on it; when the pork starts to brown, take the pan out and mix the pork around a bit (mixing it in the now liquefying lard and exposing the non-browned pieces to the heat) and put it back in the oven. Once you’ve done this two or three times you should have a perfectly browned and steaming pan of carnitas, ready to eat. Another option would be to rough chop the cooked pork into cubes and pan fry the cubes in lard on the stove top.

There’s thousands of online carnitas recipes, and everyone’s got their own version. While what we’ve offered here may not be as “authentic” as most Mexican food purists would like, hey — we live in northern Europe! If we were in Rosarito we’d be slugging back the Bohemia and not arguing at all.

Next, “part dos”: hot chipotle salsa (you can buy canned chipotles here in Berlin; we’ll tell you where) and how to make your own flour tortillas (with video!)

Tags: beer, black beans, burritos, carnitas, cinco de mayo, ingredient, market, mexican, pinto, recipe, refried beans, salsa, tortillas, vegetable

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