Artscape is America’s largest free arts festival, attracting more than 350 thousand attendees over a period of three days in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to featuring over 150 fine artists, fashion designers, and craftspeople, with visual art exhibitions both on and off-site—outdoor sculpture, art cars, amazing photography, live concerts and much, much more—the festival also features one of our own personal favorite artistic mediums—FOOD.  

Yup, much to your delight, a delicious, international menu of food and beverages will be available throughout the festival site, including a custom creation courtesy of our pals at Modelo. They’ll be serving up batches upon batches of masterfully crafted Beer Braised Carnitas Tacos, as part of their #TourdeSabor.

Because, well, tacos are food, and food is art. Therefore art is food, and thus, tacos are art (an obvious deduction). The tacos served at the festival will incorporate tender, slow-cooked pork shoulder braised in Modelo Especial, combined with the bold flavors of sweet onion, oregano, fresh garlic, and oranges for a citrus-sweet finish.

We recreated the recipe for all to see and be inspired by, regardless if you’re able to make Artscape this year or not. And we even added our own artistic touch, too—a generous dosage of sauteed cactus, and hot-as-hell pico de gallo, of course.

Taco ‘bout a work of art!

 Photo by Marc Kharrat

Modelo Beer Braised Citrus Cactus Carnitas

Yields 2 tacos

Modelo Especial

Pork shoulder, cut into 3” cubes

Oranges, quartered

Sweet/Red Onion

Garlic, whole

Oregano, dried

Chicken Stock

Cactus, diced (optional but recommended)

Salt

Sugar, granulated

Tortillas

Pico de gallo (tomatoes, red onions, lime juice, cilantro, and salt to taste)

1)   On medium-high heat, brown the pork in a large pot. Add oranges, quartered onions, oregano, and garlic and continue to cook until onions are softened. Cover mixture with equal parts Modelo Especial and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 4-7 hours or until pork can be pulled apart by fork.

2)   Remove pork from pot and let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pull apart with a fork.

3)   On medium-high heat saute the cactus until brown. Deglaze with Modelo and add sugar. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has a developed a sticky syrup texture. Add salt to taste.

4)   Top with pico de gallo.

Created in partnership with Modelo