Chef Lupita
Chayotes Rellenos al Horno con Queso de Bola
Yucatán's baked stuffed chayotes, filled with a recado-stained picadillo of raisins, capers, and toasted almonds, crowned with grated queso de bola until the top browns in patches.
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Chef Lupita
Calabaza Pibinal
Yucatan's calabaza de Castilla buried in the pib after the cochinita comes out, slow-cooked in piloncillo, canela, and naranja agria until the embers and the banana leaf finish the work the Maya cooks intended.
Chef Lupita
Plátanos al Horno con Naranja Agria
Yucatecan ripe plantains baked whole in their blackened skins, split open and glazed with naranja agria, manteca, and piloncillo. The sweet, sour answer to a plate of cochinita pibil.
Chef Lupita
Calabacitas con Epazote Yucatecas
Yucatán's everyday squash, sautéed in lard with chile dulce, tomato, and a late-added handful of epazote that turns a plain side into a dish you remember.
Chef Lupita
Moros y Cristianos Yucatecos
Yucatan's one-pot rice and black beans, built on lard, epazote, and a whole habanero, with the dark bean broth giving the grains their color and their backbone.
Chef Lupita
Papas en Escabeche Yucatecas
Yucatán's pickled potatoes, simmered with recado blanco, sour orange, and roasted chile xcatik until they drink the escabeche. The side that anchors a Valladolid table.
Chef Lupita
Ibes Guisados al Chiltomate
Yucatán's white milpa bean, ibes, simmered with epazote and finished in a fire-roasted chiltomate of charred tomato and whole habanero. The honest weeknight pot of the peninsula.
Chef Lupita
Arroz Blanco con Elote Yucateco
Yucatán's white rice with sweet corn kernels, toasted in lard with garlic and onion. The quiet base that holds up against the peninsula's bold achiote-stained stews.
Chef Lupita
Verduras al Pibil
Yucatan's pib applied to chayote, calabaza, and camote, rubbed with recado rojo, sealed in banana leaf, and slow-roasted until the vegetables take on the deep earth flavor of achiote and the grassy perfume of the leaf.
Chef Lupita
Papas al Chiltomate
Yucatan's everyday side of soft potatoes simmered in chiltomate, the charred tomato-habanero salsa that anchors the Maya kitchen, perfumed with epazote and finished in a clay cazuela.
Chef Lupita
Espelón Guisado Yucateco
Yucatán's Sunday potaje of tender espelón cowpeas, calabaza, chayote, papa, and repollo, built on a sofrito of tomate, chile dulce, and recado rojo, perfumed with charred habanero and epazote.
Chef Lupita
Frijol Negro con Chaya Yucateco
Yucatan's everyday pot of black beans simmered with chaya, epazote, and a whole unsplit habanero, finished with lard bloomed in onion and garlic at the very end.
Chef Lupita
Frijoles Refritos con Manteca y Epazote Yucatecos
Yucatán's refried black beans, slow-cooked with whole epazote and habanero, then fried hard in pork lard with white onion until they pull away from the pan in a dark, glossy sheet.
Chef Lupita
Arroz con Chaya Yucateco
Yucatán's pale jade rice, long-grain fried in lard and cooked through with a puree of blanched chaya leaves, white onion, and garlic. The Peninsula's everyday side dish.
Chef Lupita
Camote Frito Yucateco
Yucatán's white sweet potato fried in manteca until the edges turn deep gold and the centers stay starchy and earthy. The quiet side that anchors a poc chuc lunch in Merida.
Chef Lupita
Yuca Frita con Naranja Agria
Peninsula yuca boiled until the edges split, fried in hot lard until the crust cracks, and dressed at the platter with naranja agria, habanero, and salt. A Maya kitchen staple, eaten the moment it leaves the pan.
Chef Lupita
Plátanos Machos Fritos Yucatecos
Yucatán's sweet counterpoint: ripe black plátano macho sliced on the bias and pan-fried in pork lard until the edges caramelize into mahogany and the centers turn custardy. The plate is not complete without it.
Chef Lupita
Espelón con Chaya Frita
Yucatán's espelón, the native black-eyed cowpea of the milpa, sautéed with chaya, white onion, habanero, and pimienta gorda in lard. A Maya pairing the peninsula has cooked for centuries.
Chef Lupita
Chaya Frita Yucateca
Yucatán's everyday Maya green, boiled to neutralize its alkaloids, then sautéed in lard with white onion, garlic, tomato, and a whole pricked habanero for perfume.
Chef Lupita
Papas con Chorizo de Achiote Yucateco
Yucatán's weeknight skillet of waxy potatoes fried in the deep red fat of chorizo de achiote, perfumed with a whole habanero and finished with sour orange. The side that sits next to cochinita and steals the plate.
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