Carnitas tacos

Cut the pork shoulder into roughly two to three inch cubes, shreddable but not perfect. Cooking in chunks lets the gaps fill with fat and juice instead of roasting a whole shoulder in a mostly empty pot.

Toss the cubes with the salt, dried oregano, onion powder and pressed garlic until evenly coated.

Refrigerate one hour so the salt dissolves and is reabsorbed; going straight to the oven makes the meat blander and the liquid saltier.

Snuggle the cured pork into a heavy bottomed Dutch oven with as little space between the chunks as possible.

Add the chicken stock, the cinnamon stick, the bay leaves and the juice and quarters of the orange; lid on.

Cook in a preheated 250F oven for three hours total, flipping the meat at the halfway mark.

Test with two forks: it should shred with a little effort but not fall apart, because it carries on cooking in the liquid.

Lid back on and rest about an hour off the heat; the fibres relax and soak up the cooking liquid.

Chill in the fridge at least four hours, preferably overnight, so the melted collagen sets as gelatin and the meat holds together when seared.

Next day, fish out the pork, discard the mushy oranges, and separate the rendered fat from the gelatinous pork gold at the bottom of the pot.

Shred the pork to a mix of chunks and thready bits; the thready parts crisp and the chunks hold the juice. Discard any piece of pure fat.

Mix in 150 g of pork gold so every piece is coated in both rendered fat and gelatinous juice.

Preheat a large non-stick pan over medium-high; add about four tacos worth without crowding and press flat with a spatula.

Leave 90 seconds without stirring to build a crisp layer, flip, press again and give another 90 seconds. Cook only until 30 to 40 percent is golden brown or the pork dries out.

Optional: a small splash of pork gold at the end, which reduces and steams the pork one last time.

Build on hot flour tortillas with salsa, finely diced rinsed white onion and fresh cilantro, and serve straight away.