Cochinita Pibil

Pork in sour orange and achiote, wrapped in banana leaf whose job is to keep the acid from drying the meat.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

the pork

• 2 kg pork shoulder, in large chunks
• 100 g recado rojo, as on its own page, or achiote paste
• 300 ml sour orange juice, or 200 ml orange juice with 100 ml lime juice
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 large packet banana leaves

to serve

• 2 red onions, sliced thin
• juice of 4 limes
• 1 habanero, sliced very thin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• corn tortillas, as on their own page

Method

1. THE BANANA LEAF IS THERE TO KEEP THE ACID FROM DRYING THE MEAT, which is a different job from the maguey in a barbacoa. There is a great deal of citrus in this marinade, and acid draws water out of muscle; left open in a tray the pork would braise in a liquid that keeps concentrating and come out stringy. Sealed in leaf, the steam has nowhere to go, stays saturated, and the meat cooks in its own vapour instead of in a reducing acid. The leaf itself contributes almost nothing to the flavour and is not meant to.
2. THE LEAVES ARE PASSED OVER A FLAME UNTIL THEY TURN GLOSSY AND GO LIMP. Thirty seconds a side. Straight out of the packet they are brittle along the central rib and split when folded, and a split parcel lets the steam out. The colour change from matt green to a darker gloss is the signal.
3. IT IS SOUR ORANGE AND NOT SWEET, AND THE SUBSTITUTION IS A REAL ONE. Sour orange is sharp and faintly bitter with very little sugar. Ordinary orange juice alone makes the dish sweet and the pork tastes of marmalade; cut with lime to about two parts to one, it comes close enough to be worth doing, and that is stated here rather than hidden in a bracket.
4. THE MARINADE NEEDS OVERNIGHT AND THE PASTE MUST BE LET DOWN FIRST. Achiote paste is a hard block and lumps of it rubbed onto meat stay lumps -- the inside of each lump never reaches the pork and the outside is too strong. Mashed into the citrus juice until it is a smooth thin liquid first, it penetrates evenly over twelve hours and stains the pork orange right through.
5. THE PICKLED ONION IS NOT A GARNISH AND IT IS MADE FIRST. The pork is rich, soft and deeply savoury and there is nothing else on the plate with any edge. Red onion in lime and salt for an hour is the whole counterweight, and a cochinita served without it tastes heavy within three mouthfuls.
6. The recado rojo mashed into the sour orange juice with the garlic, oregano and salt until completely SMOOTH and thin. No lumps.
7. The pork turned through it, covered, and left OVERNIGHT in the fridge, turned once.
8. The banana leaves PASSED OVER A FLAME 30 seconds a side, until they darken and go GLOSSY and limp.
9. A deep dish lined with overlapping leaves, leaving plenty hanging over the sides.
10. The pork and ALL the marinade tipped in, and the overhanging leaves folded over the top and tucked in. A final leaf laid on and the dish covered tightly with foil.
11. Cooked at 150°C for 4 HOURS.
12. The red onions covered with lime juice, the habanero and 1 teaspoon salt, and left AT LEAST 1 HOUR.
13. The foil and leaves opened and the pork TESTED: it should collapse under a fork. If it resists, another 45 minutes.
14. SHREDDED in the dish with two forks and turned through all the juices, which are not drained off.
15. Served with tortillas and a heap of the pickled onion.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes