Mukbilpollo (Hanal Pixán Buried Tamal)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart cazuela, Dutch oven, or clay pib pot
• •Large heavy stockpot for cooking the meats
• •High-powered blender for the recado marinade
• •Wooden spoon for the kol
• •Kitchen twine
• •Open gas flame or hot comal for passing the banana leaves

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the recado marinade

   In a blender, combine the half cup of recado rojo, the sour orange juice, peeled garlic, oregano yucateco, allspice, black pepper, cumin, and one tablespoon of the salt. Blend until completely smooth. The marinade should be the color of brick dust and smell sharp from the citrus and warm from the pimienta gorda. This is the recado that gives Yucatán its color. Without it, you are making something else.

   Sour orange (naranja agria) is the soul of Yucateco cooking. If you cannot find it, the orange-lime-vinegar mix gets you close. Do not use plain orange juice. The acid is what makes the achiote sing.
2. 2

   Marinate the meats

   Place the chicken, pork shoulder, and pork ribs in a large bowl. Pour the recado marinade over the meats and rub it into every surface with your hands. Your hands will turn orange. That is part of the work. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours, ideally overnight. The recado needs time to penetrate the meat, not just coat it.

3. 3

   Cook the meats and reserve the broth

   Transfer the marinated meats with all their marinade to a heavy stockpot. Add four cups of water and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Simmer partially covered for about one hour and fifteen minutes, until the chicken and pork are tender but not falling apart. They will finish cooking inside the pib. Strain and reserve the broth. Pull the chicken meat from the bones in large pieces. Cut the pork shoulder into rough chunks. Keep the ribs whole.

   Do not overcook the meats here. They go back into the masa and bake for another hour and a half. If they are falling apart now, they will be dry by the time you serve.
4. 4

   Make the kol

   In a saucepan, whisk the half cup of masa harina into one cup of cool reserved broth until smooth. Stir in two more cups of broth, a pinch of salt, and a few leaves of epazote. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of a loose gravy, about ten to twelve minutes. The kol is what binds the filling. It is what separates a mukbilpollo from a dry tamal. No me vengas con atajos. The kol takes ten minutes. Make it properly.

5. 5

   Prepare the filling

   In a wide skillet, melt two tablespoons of the lard over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook until soft and translucent, about five minutes. Add the diced tomato and the sliced chile xcatic. Cook for another five minutes until the tomato breaks down and releases its juice. Stir in the reserved meats, the kol, and a generous handful of torn epazote leaves. Season with salt to taste. The filling should be moist and saucy, the color of a deep terracotta. Let it cool slightly while you prepare the masa.

6. 6

   Stain and beat the masa

   In a large bowl, combine the masa with the remaining lard (about one and a quarter cups) and the two tablespoons of recado rojo dissolved in a little warm broth. Work it together with your hands until the lard is fully incorporated and the masa turns a uniform orange-red. Add salt and enough warm broth to bring the masa to the consistency of soft cookie dough: pliable, slightly tacky, but holding its shape. Beat it for a full five minutes. The lard has to be worked in. La manteca es el sabor and in mukbilpollo it is also the tenderness.

7. 7

   Prepare the banana leaves

   Hold each banana leaf, one at a time, over an open gas flame or a hot dry comal, moving it across the heat for about ten seconds per section. The leaf will turn from matte to glossy and become pliable instead of brittle. This is non-negotiable. An unflamed banana leaf will crack and split the moment you fold it. Lay two leaves in a cross pattern inside a large deep cazuela or Dutch oven, leaving plenty of overhang on all sides to wrap the top later.

8. 8

   Assemble the mukbilpollo

   Spread about two thirds of the masa across the bottom and up the sides of the lined cazuela, building a thick masa shell about three quarters of an inch deep. Spoon the meat and kol filling into the center, mounding it generously. Tuck whole epazote leaves throughout the filling. Take the remaining masa and pat it into a flat disc the size of the cazuela opening. Lay it over the filling like a lid and seal the edges to the bottom masa shell with your fingers. The filling should be completely enclosed.

   In Yucatán, the pib is buried in an earthen oven lined with hot stones, covered with leaves and dirt, and baked for hours. We are using an oven and a heavy pot. The intent is the same: slow, sealed heat that steams and bakes at once.
9. 9

   Wrap and seal

   Fold the overhanging banana leaves over the top of the masa, one section at a time, until the tamal is completely wrapped. Tuck the edges in tight. Tie the bundle with kitchen twine, crossing over the top in a tight cross pattern to hold everything together as it bakes. Cover the cazuela with its lid or with heavy foil sealed at the edges.

10. 10

    Bake the pib

    Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the covered cazuela in the oven and bake for one and a half hours. Do not open the oven for the first hour. The mukbilpollo needs the sealed heat to cook through evenly. After ninety minutes, check by inserting a thin knife through the banana leaf into the masa. It should come out clean and the masa should feel firm and set. If the knife comes out wet, return it to the oven for another fifteen minutes.

11. 11

    Rest before serving

    Pull the cazuela from the oven and let it rest, covered, for thirty minutes. This rest is critical. The masa needs to settle and the juices need to redistribute. If you cut into it the moment it leaves the oven, the kol will run out and the masa will collapse. Patience is part of the recipe. So is reverence. This is the dish you make for the dead. They have waited a year. You can wait thirty minutes.

12. 12

    Serve at the family table

    Untie the twine and fold back the banana leaves at the table. The smell that rises is achiote, pork, epazote, and burned leaf, the smell of Hanal Pixán in every household across the peninsula. Cut wedges directly from the cazuela like a deep savory pie. Serve with pickled red onions, xnipec habanero salsa, and hot corn tortillas. The first plate goes on the altar for the souls. The second plate goes to the eldest at the table. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your recado rojo at a Yucateco market if you can, or make it from scratch with whole achiote seeds, garlic, sour orange, and Mayan oregano. The supermarket brick of achiote paste is a compromise, not an upgrade. It will work, but you will taste the difference between a real recado and a commercial one.
• •Fresh masa from a local tortilleria is always better than masa harina. If you have access to a Mexican market with a fresh masa counter, ask for masa para tamales, which is coarser and richer than masa for tortillas. La masa fresca cambia todo.
• •The chile xcatic is a pale yellow Yucatecan chile with moderate heat and a fruity flavor. If you cannot find it, a güero or banana pepper is the closest match. Do not substitute jalapeño. The flavor profile is wrong for the peninsula.
• •If you have access to a backyard fire pit and a few hours of patience, dig the pib properly. Heat river stones in a wood fire for two hours, place the cazuela on the stones, cover with banana leaves, then with a thick layer of dirt. Bake for three hours. This is how Doña Elvia taught me and there is no oven version that matches it.

Advance Preparation

• •The meats can be marinated in the recado up to 24 hours ahead. Overnight is ideal, the longer the recado works, the deeper the color and flavor.
• •The kol can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat gently with a splash of broth before assembling the filling.
• •The fully assembled mukbilpollo can sit, wrapped and tied, in the refrigerator for several hours before baking. Bring it to room temperature for thirty minutes before it goes into the oven.
• •Leftover mukbilpollo keeps refrigerated for three days. Reheat wedges wrapped in foil in a 325°F oven for twenty minutes. The flavor deepens overnight.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 460g)