Cochinita pibil

Ingredients

Pork and marinade

• 2 kgpork shoulder, in large chunks
• 100 gachiote paste
• 300 mlsour orange juice, or 200 ml orange with 100 ml lime
• 6 clovesgarlic
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspdried oregano
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 2 tspsalt
• 2 tbspwhite vinegar

To cook

• banana leaves
• 100 glard

Pickled onion

• 2red onions, thinly sliced
• 200 mlsour orange or lime juice
• 1habanero, sliced
• 1 tspsalt
• 1 tspdried oregano

To serve

• corn tortillas
• habanero salsa

Directions

1. Dissolve the achiote paste completely in the sour orange juice, mashing it against the side of the bowl. Left in lumps it stains the meat unevenly and leaves gritty patches through the finished dish.
2. Blend in the garlic, cumin, oregano, pepper, salt and vinegar.
3. Marinate the pork overnight, turning it once.
4. Soften the banana leaves by passing them over a flame until they turn glossy and pliable, which stops them splitting when you fold them.
5. Line a deep dish or a heavy casserole with the leaves, leaving plenty overhanging on every side.
6. Add the pork with all of its marinade and dot the lard over the top.
7. Fold the leaves over to seal the meat completely, then cover tightly with a lid or foil.
8. The leaf is not decoration. It is the cooking vessel, and it perfumes the meat with a green, faintly tea-like note that nothing else provides. Cooked in foil alone you get achiote pork, which is good, and not cochinita pibil.
9. Cook at 150°C (300°F) for 4 hours, until the pork shreds under the least pressure from a fork.
10. Meanwhile pickle the onion: pour boiling water over the slices, drain them immediately, then cover with the citrus juice, habanero, salt and oregano and leave for at least an hour.
11. Open the parcel, shred the pork coarsely, and mix it back into all the juices collected in the dish.
12. Serve in warm corn tortillas with the pink pickled onion and habanero salsa.

Technique

• Pib means earth oven in Yucatec Maya, and this is the domestic version of a dish that was buried in the ground with hot stones.
• Sour orange is the correct citrus and the orange-and-lime blend is the standard workaround.
• Pigs arrived with the Spanish and replaced the game the method was originally built around.

Substitutions

• Annatto seeds ground with garlic, cumin, oregano and pepper if you cannot find recado rojo.
• Baking parchment inside foil if there are no banana leaves, accepting the loss of that perfume.

Variations

• Pollo pibil, made with chicken and cooked in half the time.
• Served on panuchos or salbutes rather than plain tortillas.
• Piled into a torta with pickled onion and avocado.

History

Yucatec Maya cooked meat in a pib, an earth oven, wrapped in banana leaf with achiote; pigs arrived with the Spanish and replaced game.

Frequently asked questions

What is Cochinita pibil?

Cochinita pibil is a main from Mexico: yucatecan achiote pork slow-roasted in banana leaves. Yucatec Maya cooked meat in a pib, an earth oven, wrapped in banana leaf with achiote; pigs arrived with the Spanish and replaced game.

How long does Cochinita pibil take to make?

Cochinita pibil takes 30 min plus overnight marinating of preparation and 4 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Cochinita pibil?

Yes, within limits. Annatto seeds ground with garlic, cumin, oregano and pepper if you cannot find recado rojo. Baking parchment inside foil if there are no banana leaves, accepting the loss of that perfume.