More widely known as Seville oranges, the bitter citrus originated in SE Asia before traveling west to India and Iran, where it was called narenj. Introduced to Spain by the Moors (who also gave Spanish the word for orange, naranja), the fruit traveled to the New World with the conquistadors. It thrived along the Gulf coast, and naranja agria, typically shortened to naran’agria, became a key ingredient in the cooking of the Yucatan.

Since they can be hard to find here, I use Mexican cookbook author Patti Jinich’s substitute, a blend of equal parts grapefruit, orange, lime juices with vinegar to match the acidity of the Seville oranges. But I added banana vinegar instead of distilled white vinegar for a little more flavor in the marinade.

I like to use pork shoulder, more flavorful than the tender cuts like loin. Sometimes I buy the country style “ribs,” which are really shoulder cut into rib-like shapes, then freeze the pieces for about 20 minutes and slice them in half lengthwise. But it’s easier to just ask the butcher to cut some boneless shoulder about ½ inch thick.