Mexican food, where art thou?

It's no secret to any of my friends that I love Mexican food. Unfortunately, living in London meant that for decades, Mexican food was resigned to the sort of thing you only ever saw on TV, like palm trees. Without any substantial Mexican population in London, and no real taste for it from the masses, the only experience of Mexican food I had ever had in this country was the hopelessly tragic foray by Taco Bell into the British market with their single, lonely outlet in Earls Court back when I was a youngster. The silver lining on that particular disappointment was that I at least got to see mongoloids shooting condiments out of what appeared to be a delicatessen minigun. I'm told you're not actually supposed to see them do that, which made the whole thing even more sad. In fact, if it hadn't been for my american friends in high school expounding the wonders of burritos and tacos, I would have thought Mexican food was a slightly scary vision of food from the future (thanks Demolition Man).

Blissfully, that situation has now changed. With London's revitalised foodie credentials has come a swathe of Mexican food joints across the city, from good to bad, cheap to overpriced, authentic to wtf. You have the trendy, always packed Wahaca (Oaxaca for the purists), which does a mean carnitas taco as well as a seriously moreish jalapeno cornbread. My only issue with Wahaca is the nagging, ever-present feeling that I am paying steak prices for tacos that you traditionally get out of the back of a truck. The food is great, the atmosphere is fun, and the margaritas are strong - I just wish the waiting time and bill matched the authenticity of the food.

Another good, albeit pricey, dive into Mexican fare is El Camion Mexicano on Brewer Street, which has an awesome menu and a fun diner type feel. Their real USP however, is the wall of Chilli Sauces:

There are some lovely sauces up here, and there are some that will melt your face off. Ask the waiter for a good time and brace yourself. Do not, under any circumstances, do what this French girl did when we visited and claim that you can take the hottest thing they've got. You will get schooled (if the school you went to was the ninth circle of hell).

Ultimately though, in my humble and sheltered opinion I think Mexican food is best enjoyed wrapped snugly in tinfoil over a plastic basket  so that you don't get the torrent of juices all over you. There's something wondrous about the unfussiness of it all, a freshly toasted tortilla and tangy hotsauce taking you away to a happier place, away from tourists and looting. Many places in London have sprung up to offer such delights, though they vary in success: newer places like Tortilla (too ricey) miss the mark, whereas old reliables like Mexicali and El Burrito manage to keep things simple and decent quality. For my money, my favourite remains Benito's Hat, where the combo of rice, pinto beans and salsa verde just works perfectly, no matter what meat you go for. Keep an eye on the guac however, the price seems to jump on a daily basis (who knew avocadoes were so volatile?)

As you can probably guess, this endless love of Mexican cuisine inevitably led to me trying out some dishes at home. Those El Paso ads with the kid dancing with his fajitas only make me want to inflict violence, so I avoided things like that. Instead, I hunted around for something a bit more authentic, a bit more earthy. I eventually found a recipe for carnitas, which at the time was entirely alien to me, but when it comes to slow-cooked pork there's not much convincing needed. 

Originally I just printed off the recipe from a random website, but several years ago I rewrote it for a recipe book that we gave to my friends Jojo and Isabel for their wedding. So you get my version.

Carnitas is a Mexican street food, basically a spiced pulled pork that you can stuff into tortillas or tacos, and is superb for small groups. Obviously with more people you're going to want a bigger joint, but this will happily feed a group and it tastes great the next day. The recipe looks immense, but it's split over two days and not actually that time consuming at all - as it's a slow cooker you can put it on in the morning and not worry about it for most of the day.

Not So Authentic Carnitas

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

1 – 1.5kg pork shoulder
1 orange, quartered
1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup Pepsi, plus
more Pepsi, as needed
3/4 cup groundnut oil

Fuego spice mix
1/4 cup paprika
2 teaspoons cayenne
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons white pepper
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic granules
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons oregano 

Agua Negra marinade
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

Directions

Firstly prepare the Fuego spice mix by combining all ingredients, mixing well. This handy little spice mix can be stored in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

For the Agua Negra Marinade, combine all ingredients with a whisk and set aside. The marinade can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Cut the pork shoulder into 3 inch cubes, try not to trim too much of the fat off as this keeps the meat lovely and juicy. Dust the meat with 1-2 tablespoons of the Fuego spice mix and press to adhere well.

Squeeze the juice from the orange into a fairly large airtight tupperware container - add the peels, garlic, pepper, 1 cup of pepsi and 1 cup of the marinade and mix to combine well. Add the seasoned meat cubes, cover with more marinade if needed, and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the meat from the marinade (reserve marinade) when you are ready to cook. Heat the groundnut oil in a large heavy pan over high heat until the oil is smoking; add pork and brown completely on all sides- about 10-15 minutes. If you’re like me, you’ll want a few burnt bits on them.

Out of the frying pan...

Toss the meat into your biggest pot or casserole dish, and add the rest of the marinade and top off with some Pepsi. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 4 hours or until you literally can’t wait any longer. You want to check on it occasionally to add additional Pepsi to keep meat covered and stop it drying out. Obviously the longer you cook it the better it’ll be, so give it as much time as you can – I let it cook for five hours and it was to die for!

Five hours later.....

When you’re ready to eat, remove the meat from the sauce and let rest for a few minutes. The cubes should be a lovely dark caramel colour and smell fantastic. Take a couple of cubes per tortilla (depending on how big they are) and shred them with two forks. At this point, they should literally be falling apart, so you won’t have any problems. You can just just put the meat straight into a tortilla (or your mouth), but I like to place the shredded meat into an oven proof dish with a spoonful of the sauce and shove under the grill for a few mins to get some nice crispy bits on the meat.

Heat some nice big flour tortillas in the microwave, about 15 seconds on max power per tortilla. I find that because of all the juice, it works best if you actually use two tortillas for each wrap – otherwise it just tends to get messy real fast.

Make your tortilla – I typically go for grated cheese, meat, pico de gallo and guacamole (in that order!), but you can honestly use anything you like. I’d say the Pico and the cheese are an absolute minimum.

Pico is basically a proper homemade salsa, and honestly you’ll never go back to the jarred stuff once you’ve had it. The freshness of the lime and coriander really does change it completely. I’ve put the recipe for it just below.
Eat, enjoy, get seconds!

I know the sour cream is a crime, but it was amazing. The double wrap is for all the sauce that tastes like happiness

PICO de GALLO

3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 small red onion, chopped fine
1-2 small fresh chillis for heat, seeded and minced
Good bunch of fresh coriander, chopped fine
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, cover and shove in the fridge for several hours to let the flavours meld. I tend to make this once I’ve put the meat on to simmer, so it’s got more than enough time. This keeps for a day or two max.