Bright and early Friday morning, Toño removes the meat from the refrigerator.

He takes out only the amount he expects to sell today.  He cooks fresh each morning.

The preparation begins by removing excess fat and striping the shoulder meat from the bone.

The shoulder and loin are cut into 3" chunks. The ribs are cut with a band saw into 2 or 3 inch widths.

A copper cauldron is used for cooking the carnitas.  Steel vessels are used for cooking other things.

The removable cauldron of rendered pig fat is set in a firebox over a wood fire.

The ribs and other meat are gently  slipped into the very hot oil.

After 90 minutes of cooking, the copper vessel is removed from the fire box.

The hot oil is ladled out and strained into a can for reuse later.

With the oil removed, the drained carnitas is removed and placed in an enclosed glass display case inside the shop where it will be sold by the kilogram.

I was the first customer of the day.  I bought one kilo of ribs for $100 pesos, about 9 US dollars, or about US$4.13 per pound.

Very good eating.