Calabaza Pibinal

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart clay cazuela or Dutch oven with a tight lid
• •Sharp paring knife for cutting the calabaza lid
• •Sturdy spoon for scooping the seeds
• •Wooden skewer for testing doneness
• •Banana leaves passed over an open flame to soften
• •Small clay olla or saucepan for the piloncillo syrup

Instructions

1. 1

   Understand the pib

   The pib is the Maya underground oven. Stones heated for hours in a pit of hardwood embers, the cochinita pibil lowered in wrapped in banana leaves and buried under earth for half a day. When the pig comes out, the pit still holds enormous heat, and the calabaza goes in to finish overnight in the dying embers. That is pibinal: what the pib makes after the meat is gone. If you have a backyard, hardwood, and patience, build the pib. If you do not, your home oven set very low will mimic the residual heat. It will not be the same. I will not pretend it is. But it will teach you the dish.

2. 2

   Prepare the calabaza

   Wash the calabaza de Castilla and pat it dry. Cut a circle around the stem like you would for a Maya version of a jack-o-lantern, lifting off a lid about four inches across. Scoop out the seeds and the stringy interior with a spoon. Save the seeds. Toasted with salt, they are pepitas, and they cost nothing. Rub the inside cavity with a thin layer of manteca and a pinch of salt.

   Use a real calabaza de Castilla if you can find one. The flesh is dense, deep orange, and lower in water than American carving pumpkins. A kabocha or red kuri squash is a closer substitute than a sugar pumpkin if calabaza de Castilla is not at your mercado.
3. 3

   Build the piloncillo syrup

   In a small clay olla or saucepan, combine the chopped piloncillo, canela, cloves, star anise if using, the cup of water, and the juice squeezed from the naranja agria. Drop the spent orange halves in too. Set over medium heat and stir until the piloncillo dissolves completely. Simmer for ten minutes until it thickens slightly into a dark, fragrant syrup. The cinnamon will smell warm and woody. The orange will cut the sweetness so it does not flatten on the tongue.

4. 4

   Fill the calabaza

   Set the prepared calabaza upright in a heavy clay cazuela or Dutch oven lined with one of the banana leaves. Pour the piloncillo syrup into the cavity, spices and orange halves and all. Replace the cut lid. Drape the second banana leaf over the top and tuck it down around the sides. The banana leaf is not decoration. It holds the moisture and gives the calabaza the faint green-grass flavor that pib cooking leaves behind. Without it, you have baked pumpkin. With it, you start to have pibinal.

5. 5

   Slow-roast the calabaza

   Heat your oven to 300F. Place the cazuela on the middle rack and roast for three to three and a half hours. Do not open the oven for the first two hours. You are imitating the buried heat of the pib, which once sealed does not get opened until the cook decides. After two hours, check. The skin should be deeply darkened, almost mahogany in places. The flesh through the lid should yield easily to a wooden skewer. If it still has resistance, give it another thirty minutes.

6. 6

   Let it rest in the cazuela

   Pull the cazuela from the oven and let the calabaza rest, covered with its banana leaf, for at least twenty minutes. The syrup inside will continue to be absorbed by the flesh as it cools. Skip this rest and you lose the layer of dark, spice-stained sweetness that should soak into the meat of the squash. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo, and resting is part of the work.

7. 7

   Serve at the table

   Lift the calabaza onto a serving platter, banana leaf and all. At the table, scoop the soft, dark-orange flesh out with a spoon, taking some of the syrup pooled in the cavity with each portion. Spoon it into small clay bowls. Pour cold leche bronca or a drizzle of thick crema over the top. The contrast of the warm caramelized squash and the cold dairy is how it has been eaten in Yucatecan villages for generations. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •If you can find true calabaza de Castilla at a Mexican mercado, use it. Outside Mexico, kabocha or red kuri squash gives you the dense, low-water flesh that holds up to long slow cooking. American sugar pumpkin is a compromise, not an upgrade. It will go watery on you.
• •Piloncillo is non-negotiable. The dark mineral flavor of unrefined cane sugar is half the dish. White sugar gives you sweetness without depth. If piloncillo is hard to find, dark muscovado is the closest substitute. Brown sugar with a tablespoon of molasses is the last-resort version.
• •Toast the saved pumpkin seeds with sea salt in a 350F oven for fifteen minutes. Serve them on the side with the pibinal. Nothing in a Maya kitchen gets thrown away.
• •If you have access to a wood-fired pizza oven or a smoker, finish the calabaza in there for the last thirty minutes after the oven roast. The trace of hardwood smoke is the closest you will get to a real pib at home.

Advance Preparation

• •The piloncillo syrup can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it back to a gentle simmer before filling the calabaza, so the cold syrup does not shock the cooking time.
• •Pibinal is better the day after it is made. Refrigerate the whole calabaza in its cazuela, and reheat covered in a 300F oven for thirty minutes. The flesh absorbs more of the spiced syrup overnight.
• •Banana leaves can be bought frozen at most Mexican and Asian markets. Thaw them and pass them quickly over a gas flame until the color brightens and they turn pliable. Brittle banana leaf will crack and let the moisture escape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 280g)