Recado Rojo

Annatto seeds soaked overnight before grinding, because nothing will break them down dry, then pressed into a brick.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 60 g annatto (achiote) seeds
• 1 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 8 cloves
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 8 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 4 tablespoons sour orange juice, or 3 of orange and 1 of lime
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar

Method

1. THE ANNATTO SEEDS ARE SOAKED OVERNIGHT BECAUSE NOTHING WILL GRIND THEM DRY. They are small, almost perfectly hard, and faintly waxy, and a domestic spice grinder simply rattles them about and heats up; a pestle bounces them out of the mortar. Twelve hours in warm water and they swell, soften and stain the water deep orange, and then they crush to a paste between stone and stone. The soaking water goes in too -- it is carrying most of the colour. Attempted dry, the result is gritty and the grit never goes away, and it will be in every cochinita for a month.
2. THE OTHER SPICES ARE TOASTED AND GROUND DRY, SEPARATELY. Allspice, pepper, cumin, cloves and cinnamon go on a dry pan for a minute until they smell, then into the grinder while the annatto soaks. They grind perfectly well dry and would be ruined by soaking, so the two halves of this paste are made by two different methods and joined at the end.
3. THE GARLIC IS ROASTED IN ITS SKIN AND NOT USED RAW. Eight cloves raw would make the paste sharp and would also make it spoil within a week. Charred on the dry pan until soft inside, it goes sweet and mellow and the paste keeps for months.
4. IT IS MADE INTO A STIFF BRICK, NOT A SAUCE. Only six tablespoons of liquid go into the whole quantity, which is barely enough to bring it together. Pressed into a block, wrapped tight and kept in the fridge, it is cut off in lumps as wanted and each lump is let down with citrus at the time of use. Made loose, it ferments.
5. IT IS LET DOWN AT THE POINT OF USE AND NEVER RUBBED ON AS A LUMP. This is the mistake that makes achiote dishes come out patchy: a piece of the brick pushed onto meat stays a piece, too strong on the outside and absent a centimetre away. Mashed into citrus juice until it is a smooth thin liquid first, it goes on evenly.
6. The annatto seeds covered with 200 ml of warm water and left to soak OVERNIGHT, at least 12 hours. They will swell and the water will go deep orange.
7. The allspice, peppercorns, cumin, cloves and cinnamon toasted on a dry pan 1 MINUTE, until fragrant, then ground DRY to a powder with the oregano.
8. The unpeeled garlic charred on the same dry pan 8 minutes, turned, until blackened in patches and soft inside. Squeezed out of its skins.
9. The soaked annatto ground WITH ITS SOAKING WATER, in batches, to a smooth paste. This takes several minutes and the grinder may need scraping down.
10. TESTED between finger and thumb: it must be SMOOTH with no grit at all. If it is gritty, grind again.
11. The ground dry spices, the roasted garlic and the salt worked into the annatto paste.
12. The sour orange juice and vinegar added a spoonful at a time, only until it comes together as a STIFF paste. No more.
13. Pressed into a block about 2 cm thick, wrapped tightly and kept in the fridge.
14. Cut off in lumps as needed and MASHED INTO CITRUS JUICE until smooth and thin before it goes anywhere near meat.
15. Keeps 3 months in the fridge and freezes indefinitely.

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