Carnitas Huevos Rancheros -- The Kitchen Does Not Mind Simple

March eighth. Ten years.

I drove to Salina. Same drive. Wyoming. Nebraska. Kansas. The same headstone. SPECIALIST DEREK ALLEN OWENS. The same words. I am still here, brother. Still trying.

Linda met me at the cemetery. She brought flowers. We stood together for ten minutes. She is grayer. Her hands shake a little when she lights candles. We do not say much. We do not need to.

I'm thirty-one. Derek will always be twenty-one. The gap widens every year and every year it gets stranger.

Ten years. Eight sober. The math is the math. I keep going.

Cooked a steak over the open fire when I got home Tuesday night. Salt, pepper, fire. The Montana sky. The cottonwoods. The Musselshell going by quiet. Patrick on the porch in his blanket. He waved when I drove up. The waving was the saying.

Mud everywhere. Two-mile driveway is a long mud track.

Cooked simple this week. The kitchen does not mind simple. The body does not mind simple. The work and the food and the dark sky.

Saturday I worked the chute. Vaccinations on the calves. Slow methodical work. The body knew what to do.

Drove the back roads Saturday. Did not think much. Came home. The truck was warm. The radio was off.

The wood stove ran hot for three days straight. The propane held. The bedroom was warm. The barn was cold but the cattle did not care.

Stopped at the hardware store in Roundup Wednesday. Sam at the counter asked about the cattle. I asked about his knee. We talked for ten minutes about nothing. Necessary nothing.

Tom Whelan came over Sunday afternoon. We sat. We did not say much. The cottonwoods moved in the wind. The river ran. The week held.

The biscuits were biscuits Sunday morning. Same recipe. Same skillet. Same butter and honey. Some things do not change.

Stood at the kitchen window with coffee at five-thirty AM. The yard dark. The horses in the corral. The work ahead. The standard morning.

Gary called Wednesday afternoon to check in. Nothing in particular. Just checking. We talked twelve minutes. He is the broth, even now.

Brought hay down from the upper barn Saturday. Three loads. Forty bales. The arms remember the work even when the head is not in it.

Cattle prices were down at auction. They will be up next month. Then down. Then up. The math is the math. The land is the land.

Heard a coyote Tuesday night close to the corral. Hank went to the door. I went out with the rifle. Did not shoot. The coyote moved on. The chickens kept their feathers.

Patrick on the porch in the afternoon. The cottonwoods moved. He watched. He nodded once when I came in. The nodding was the saying.

Two days of farrier work this week. Eight horses. The body is tired in the right way.

Took the truck to the shop in Billings Wednesday. New brake pads. The mechanic charged half what the dealer would. He always does. The shop is the shop.

Listened to the AM ag report Tuesday morning. Wheat futures up. Cattle prices flat. The talk was the talk.

Stood under the sky after dinner. The Milky Way was a band across. The work for tomorrow was set. The work after that. The work always.

The Tuesday meeting was eight regulars. Same as always. The coffee was strong. The room was the room.

Tuesday meeting in Roundup. Quiet room this week. Two new guys. Three vets, including me, sat on the back row.

The mail came late this week. Friday instead of Wednesday. The new carrier is figuring it out. He waved when he dropped the bills.

Sunday morning biscuits are Sunday morning biscuits, and I’ll never change that. But after a week that started at a headstone in Salina and ended with hay bales and farrier work and a fire-cooked steak under the Milky Way, I wanted something that could carry a little more weight at the breakfast table — something that still kept faith with the same rule: salt, meat, fire, done. Carnitas Huevos Rancheros is the version of that I come back to when the body needs feeding and the head needs quiet. It starts on the stove and finishes fast, and it does not ask anything of you that the week hasn’t already taught you how to give.

Carnitas Huevos Rancheros

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• For the carnitas:
• 1 1/2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp lard or neutral oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• For the ranchero sauce:
• 1 can (14 oz) fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 dried guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed
• 1/2 white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• To assemble:
• 8 large eggs
• 8 small corn tortillas
• 1/2 cup crumbled cotija or shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 avocado, sliced
• Sour cream, for serving (optional)
• Hot sauce, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Cook the carnitas. Season pork chunks with salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano. Heat lard or oil in a heavy skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high. Add pork in a single layer and sear 3–4 minutes per side until deeply browned. Pour in orange juice, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook 20–25 minutes until pork is tender and liquid has mostly reduced. Use two forks to pull the pork apart into rough shreds. Return to medium-high heat and let the carnitas crisp in the pan fat for 3–4 minutes, stirring once or twice. Set aside.
2. Make the ranchero sauce. Toast guajillo chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat for 30 seconds per side until fragrant. Transfer to a blender with the fire-roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, cumin, and salt. Blend until smooth. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium, pour in sauce, and simmer 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. Taste and adjust salt.
3. Warm the tortillas. Char tortillas directly over a gas burner or in a dry cast-iron skillet over high heat, 20–30 seconds per side. Stack and wrap in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm.
4. Fry the eggs. In the same skillet used for the carnitas (wipe out excess fat if needed, leave a thin coat), fry eggs over medium heat to your preference — sunny-side up or over easy both work well here. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
5. Assemble. Place two warm tortillas on each plate. Spoon a generous layer of ranchero sauce over the tortillas. Top with a heap of crispy carnitas, then lay two fried eggs on top. Ladle a little more sauce over the eggs. Finish with cotija, cilantro, and avocado slices. Add sour cream and hot sauce if you want them.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 610 | Protein: 42g | Fat: 34g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 5g | Sodium: 810mg