Carnitas

In Mexico, a cazo de cobre is a special hand-hammered copper pot reserved for cooking special dishes, such as carnitas and calabaza en tacha (see my recipe for Calabaza en Tacha Flan). The town of Santa Clara del Cobre in the state of Michoacán is famous for its copper pots. There you can see artisans—almost always men—making these cauldrons exactly as they have been made for generations. As with so many of Mexico’s culinary traditions, there is a practica