carnitas

Spanish carne means meat, from Latin caro, carnis — flesh. The diminutive suffix -itas in Mexican Spanish creates carnitas: little meats, dear little meats. The diminutive is not describing small portions. Mexican Spanish uses diminutives as a form of affection — puppy becomes perrito, water becomes aguita, the beloved food becomes the little thing you love.

Carnitas is pork — specifically, pork cooked in lard at low temperature for hours until it becomes tender and shreddable, then crisped at high heat. The technique is from the state of Michoacán in western Mexico, where it developed as a way to use the entire pig. The Mexican state of Michoacán is considered the carnitas capital; the town of Quiroga hosts an annual carnitas festival.

The cooking method is called confit in French cuisine — meat cooked submerged in its own fat at low temperature. French confit, particularly duck confit, became fashionable in European haute cuisine. Carnitas, doing the same thing with pork in Mexico, remains street food. The technique is identical; the cultural context is entirely different.

Carnitas arrived in American food culture through Mexican immigration, first in California and Texas, then nationally. The taco revolution of the 1990s and 2000s brought carnitas to American restaurant menus. The word required no translation: carnitas stayed carnitas, the affectionate diminutive intact in English menus.