Quiroga industry

One of our weekend trips was to Quiroga, a relatively small town on the banks of Lake Patzcuaro. We entered it from the Tzintzuntzan side and the first thing that I see is a 6 story high skyscraper of a hotel.

Wow, I see some tall buildings in Morelia, but here that's quite impressive for the land around the banks of the lake. Most of all the villages are all comprised of small tiny villages, usually a one or two tope town, but here a multilevel hotel......
I should have stopped and checked out the "Penthouse" suite, if they have one?
I wonder if they have an elevator?

Anyway, as most towns in Mexico part of the main drag is reserved for the mandatory hawking of useless trinkets , bobbles and beads along with the sombreros , mugs with over-sized mammaries.
Quiroga sports all of those and more.

But an interesting observation is the preponderance of carnita stands, makes one think that the main product of this little high-rise town is carnitas.

In one block I counted over a dozen,and they all seemed to be selling Carnitas. Not the usual stands like tacos, corn cobs or even chopped fruit in a cup.....

Do people far and near come here just for Carnitas?

Lined up on the main intersection were no less than a dozen Carnita stands..... take your pick, do you want Pedro's, Lala's, Don Carlos's, Lety's, Mario Contreras', Carmelo's or the myraid of others available.

How does one pick the ultimate stand?

Is it by the number of people or flys around it?

I usually look for something that I think was cooked the same day.
Some appeared to have been cooked or dried out too long.
Some looked too picked over, with only the big hunks of delicious fat.
I hope you understand that to have tasty carnitas you have to have the right combination of meat and fat...yep fat.... Something with a little moisture still in it. And moisture is fat...nice gobs of fat and flavor. Fat.... yep..Lard, Grease, anyway you want to call it.

Ok, it's not the most healthy thing to eat, but once a month or so I don't think it will instantly plug up all your arteries.....

A little carnita meat, some avocado a little onion in a nice tortilla and sprinkled with some salt...
Ok, sprinkled with a lot of salt, is about the best thing that you can taste.....

Unless it's Lengua. I personally enjoy Lengua.

I wonder what village has the Lengua stands abound?



Ok, if you are wondering what I am talking about, Carnitas are Pork butt or shoulder, that is cooked in it's own fat, to which more lard or fat has been added. Kind of like a Duck Confit.
Lengua is Beef Tongue, which is slow cooked usually boiled to which spices are added, to the point of being able to be tender and then sliced and used in tacos or sandwiches.