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FijiFlavors · Quiroga
Pork slowly cooked in its own lard in large pots until tender inside and golden outside, served in tacos. Quiroga, near Lake Pátzcuaro, is called the capital of carnitas: families in the town have been making them for more than a century.
Traditional dish from Quiroga, Michoacán
Also known as: carnitas estilo Michoacán, carnitas michoacanas
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Carnitas — Quiroga, Mexico
Carnitas are made from several parts of the pig, such as ham, rib, loin and skin, slowly cooked in their own lard in large copper or steel pots. The long cooking makes the meat tender inside and golden outside. Then it is chopped to order and served on corn tortillas with onion, cilantro, lime and sauces.
Michoacán is considered the birthplace of carnitas, and Quiroga is the town most associated with them. The municipal file from the State Council of Population of Michoacán lists carnitas as the top typical food of the municipality. In Quiroga, called the world capital of carnitas, at least a dozen families dedicate themselves to production, some for more than a century.
Carnitas stalls cluster around the main square, with the pots in plain view. Customers choose the part of the pig they prefer—lean, with skin or mixed—and order by the kilo or in tacos. Many travelers stop in Quiroga on the route between Morelia and Pátzcuaro just to eat carnitas.
The certification mark Carnitas de Michoacán protects the identity and characteristics of the preparation in the state. The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property granted the mark to the Secretariat of Economic Development of Michoacán on December 9, 2025; use of the badge depends on complying with its rules.
Quiroga , Michoacán
Quiroga is called the capital of carnitas; families in the town have been preparing them for more than a century. Ciudad2526 confirmed after PartA.
Pork (ham, rib, loin, skin and other parts); pork lard; salt. To serve: corn tortillas, onion, cilantro, lime and sauces.
In tacos, with the meat chopped to order, or by the kilo to take away and assemble tacos at the table. You request the preferred cut: lean, cuerito (skin), rib or mixed.
All year round, especially at lunchtime and on weekends, when Quiroga’s stalls are busiest.
Your questions
Families in the town have prepared carnitas for generations, and the stalls around the main square make Quiroga the stop most associated with the dish in Michoacán.
In tacos or by the kilo, choosing the part of the pig: lean, with skin, rib or mixed.
Yes. The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property granted the certification mark Carnitas de Michoacán to the Secretariat of Economic Development of the state on December 9, 2025. Use of the badge depends on complying with its rules.
Flavors of Mexico
Layers of corn tortillas with black beans and shredded cazón, cooked with epazote, topped with tomato sauce and habanero chile. Despite the name, it does not contain wheat bread. It is considered a symbol of Campeche cuisine.
Salted, dried beef — tasajo — cooked in a thick sauce of ground pumpkin seeds, with tomato and rice. It is the celebratory dish of Chiapa de Corzo, served especially during the January Fiesta Grande, the Parachicos festival.
Tacos of pork seasoned with a chile adobo, roasted on a vertical spit (the trompo), and served in a corn tortilla with pineapple, onion and cilantro. They descend from the tacos árabes brought to Puebla by Middle Eastern immigrants and took their current form in Mexico City taquerías.
White fish taco coated in a light batter and fried until golden, served on a corn tortilla with cabbage, tomato-and-onion salsa, mayonnaise or cream, and lime. It originated around 1960 at the stalls of the Mercado Negro, the fish market at the port of Ensenada.
Sandwich made with birote bread, a hard-crusted loaf, filled with carnitas and drenched in tomato sauce, with a spicy chile de árbol sauce on the side. A symbol of Guadalajara’s cuisine, which dedicated a municipal day to it on September 10.
Corn tortillas dipped in a guajillo chile sauce and fried, filled with cheese and onion, served with boiled potato and carrot, lettuce and pickled chiles. A typical dish of the city of Guanajuato, which tradition links to the wives of the silver mine workers.
Broth of cacahuazintle corn and pork thickened with a green sauce made from pumpkin seeds, tomatillo and herbs, served with many accompaniments. Dish from Guerrero, where Thursdays are pozole day.
Thin, crispy batter cooked on a round griddle and rolled like a tube, filled with queso de bola, a cheese of the Edam type. A street sweet from Mérida, created by a family of ice-cream makers in the city and sold at night from carts in the plazas.
Whole fish butterflied open, seasoned with a chile sauce and grilled over coals secured in a double-wire grill, the zaranda, which gives it its name. An official publication places its origin on the island of Mexcaltitán, on the northern coast of Nayarit.
Milk-fed kid opened, salted and slowly roasted on an iron stake beside the embers, in the shepherds’ style. It is the best-known dish of Nuevo León, present on the state’s traditional gastronomy routes, from Monterrey to the northern municipalities.
The darkest of Oaxaca’s moles: a thick sauce of chiles toasted almost to the point of burning, including the chilhuacle negro, with chocolate, seeds and spices. A celebratory dish of the state, prepared mainly in the Valles Centrales.
Poblano chile stuffed with a meat-and-fruit picadillo, topped with a white walnut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and parsley, in the colors of the Mexican flag. A seasonal dish from late summer, associated with the city of Puebla.
Thick, dark sauce made from several dried chiles, spices, seeds and chocolate, traditionally served with turkey. Tradition links its creation to the kitchen of the old Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla, the city that gives it its name.
Raw shrimp butterfly-cut and cured in lime with chiltepín chile, served with cucumber and red onion. It originated in the mountains of Sinaloa as a meat broth with water and chile and reached the coast, where shrimp took the place of meat. It is presented as the state’s most representative dish.
Freshwater fish with a long snout, grilled whole over coals and eaten with tortilla, lime, salt and chile amashito. It lives in the rivers and lagoons of Tabasco and is one of the state’s most representative dishes, with roots in pre-Hispanic cuisine of the southeast.
Distilled spirit from blue agave named after the city of Tequila, in Jalisco, surrounded by agave fields. It has a designation of origin since 1974, and the agave landscape and the region’s old industrial facilities are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Salad of romaine lettuce leaves with a dressing of egg, lemon, garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese, served with croutons. It was created in Tijuana by the Italian cook Caesar Cardini on July 4, 1924, according to Tijuanan historian José Fernando Escobedo de la Torre.
Red snapper cooked in a tomato sauce with olives, capers, garlic, onion, herbs and pickled chiles güeros or jalapeños. A coastal Veracruz dish, from the Gulf of Mexico, considered one of the country's best-known fish recipes.
Pork marinated in achiote and bitter orange, wrapped in banana leaf and slowly cooked in an earth oven, the pib. A Sunday family dish from Yucatán that combines the pig brought by the Spaniards with a Mayan cooking technique.
