A mulita is the taqueria answer to a grilled cheese: two corn tortillas with melted cheese and crisp carnitas pressed between them, griddled until the cheese runs out the sides and fries into a lacy edge. The pork braises low in the oven with orange and garlic, gets crisped hard in a skillet, then SoCal Cremosa Fuego is folded through it so the heat is inside the mulita, not on top of it. A Fuego crema on the side handles the dipping. Braise the pork the day before and game day is ten minutes at the griddle.

Ingredients

Carnitas

• 2½ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 orange, halved
• 1 small white onion, quartered
• 5 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup SoCal Cremosa Fuego

Mulitas

• 24 small corn tortillas
• 4 cups shredded Oaxaca or Monterey Jack
• ½ small white onion, finely diced
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Fuego dipping crema

• ¾ cup Mexican crema or sour cream
• 3 tablespoons SoCal Cremosa Fuego
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Pinch of salt

To serve

• Pickled red onion
• Thinly sliced radishes
• Lime wedges

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 325°F. Put the pork in a Dutch oven and toss it with the salt, cumin, oregano and pepper. Squeeze the orange halves over the pork and drop them in. Add the quartered onion, garlic, bay leaves and water.
2. Cover and cook in the oven 2½ hours, until the pork pulls apart with a fork.
3. Lift the pork out and shred it. Skim 3 tablespoons of fat from the top of the pot and save it, along with ¼ cup of the cooking juices.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium high with 1 tablespoon of the saved fat. Spread the pork out in an even layer and leave it alone 4 to 5 minutes, until the bottom is deep brown and crisp. Stir, add the saved cooking juices, and take the pan off the heat. Fold in the Cremosa Fuego.
5. Whisk the crema, Cremosa Fuego, lime juice and salt together.
6. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium and brush it lightly with the saved pork fat. Lay down as many tortillas as fit. Cover each one with 3 tablespoons of cheese, then ⅓ cup of carnitas, a pinch of diced onion and cilantro, and 2 more tablespoons of cheese. Set a second tortilla on top.
7. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, pressing down with a spatula, until the bottom tortilla is golden and the cheese is melting out the sides and starting to crisp on the griddle.
8. Flip and cook 2 minutes more, until the second side is golden and spotted. Repeat with the rest, brushing the griddle with more fat as needed.
9. Serve the mulitas whole or cut into wedges, with the Fuego crema for dipping, pickled red onion, radishes and lime wedges.

Tips

Let the cheese spill. The cheese that runs out and fries on the griddle is the best part, so take the cheese all the way to the edge of the tortilla.

Corn tortillas, not flour. Two flour tortillas make a quesadilla. Corn is what makes it a mulita.

The pork is better on day two. Braise it Saturday, crisp it and fold in the Cremosa Fuego right before the game, and the hard part is already done.

Feeding a crowd. Hold finished mulitas on a rack in a 200°F oven so the bottoms stay crisp while you griddle the rest.

Short on time. Two pounds of store-bought carnitas work. Crisp them in a skillet and fold in the Cremosa Fuego the same way.

Cremosa Fuego goes in twice on purpose. Folded through the pork it puts the heat inside the mulita, and in the crema it hits again on every dip.