Pambazo Yucateco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5-quart Dutch oven or clay cazuela with a tight lid
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting the pan
• •High-powered blender for the recado
• •Glass jar with lid for the pickled onions
• •Two sturdy forks for shredding the cochinita

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the recado

   Break the recado rojo into a blender. Add the naranja agria juice, garlic, allspice, cumin, oregano, melted lard, and salt. Blend until completely smooth and the color of red brick. The marinade should be thick enough to coat a spoon and stain it orange. If your recado is hard and dry, blend a little longer. A good recado rojo from a Mérida market is soft and yields easily. If yours is crumbling, the brand is wrong.

   Recado rojo is not a powder and it is not a dry rub. It is a paste of ground annatto seed bound with spices and bitter orange. Brands from the Yucatán, La Anita and El Yucateco among them, are the standard. Substitutes do not exist for this dish.
2. 2

   Marinate the pork

   Place the pork chunks in a deep bowl. Pour the recado marinade over the meat and rub it into every surface with your hands. The pork should look painted, every piece coated in deep red-orange. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. The naranja agria does double duty here: it tenderizes the meat and carries the spices into the muscle. Don't rush this. The marinade is half the dish.

3. 3

   Soften and line the leaves

   Pass each banana leaf over an open gas flame for a few seconds per side, holding it by the edges. The leaf will turn from matte to glossy and become pliable. This is what happens in the pib pit when the leaves hit the hot stones. Line a heavy Dutch oven or cazuela with two layers of leaf, letting the ends drape generously over the sides. You will fold them over the meat to seal it in.

4. 4

   Wrap and slow-cook the cochinita

   Pile the marinated pork into the leaf-lined pot. Scrape every bit of marinade from the bowl over the top. Pour in the water or broth. Fold the banana leaves over the meat to enclose it completely. Cover the pot with a tight lid. Cook in a 300°F oven for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the pork pulls apart with a fork. This is the home cook's pib. It is not the underground pit, but it is the honest substitute. The banana leaves hold the moisture, the achiote, and the citrus inside, and the meat braises in its own juices.

   Don't peek. Every time you open the pot you let the perfume out. The banana leaf is a sealed system. Trust it for the full four hours.
5. 5

   Cure the pickled red onions

   While the cochinita cooks, make the cebollas encurtidas. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Drop the sliced red onion in for exactly 10 seconds, then drain immediately. This blanching takes the harsh bite off but keeps the crunch. Transfer the onions to a glass jar with the naranja agria juice, salt, oregano, and habanero slices. Press them down so the juice covers them. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. They will turn bright magenta as the acid works on the pigment. This is what gives a Yucatecan plate its color.

6. 6

   Shred the cochinita

   Pull the pot from the oven. Open the banana leaves carefully. The meat should be sitting in a pool of deep red-orange juice, glossy with rendered fat. Shred the pork directly in the pot using two forks, working it back into the cooking liquid. Don't drain it. The juices are the seasoning and they need to soak back into the meat. Taste for salt. The pork should be assertive, citrusy, faintly bitter from the achiote, and unmistakably perfumed by the leaf.

7. 7

   Prepare the pan

   Heat a comal or heavy skillet over medium. Split each pan de huevo or pan francés horizontally. Brush the cut sides with the melted manteca de cerdo. Lay the rolls cut-side down on the comal and toast until the bread turns golden and the lard soaks into the crumb. This is the Yucatecan pambazo, not the Mexico City one. We do not dip this bread in chile sauce. The bread is toasted on the comal with lard and that is the treatment it gets. Así se hace y punto.

8. 8

   Build the pambazo

   Pile a generous mound of cochinita on the bottom half of each toasted roll. Spoon some of the juices over the meat so the bread soaks. Top with a heavy tangle of pickled red onions, the magenta against the orange-stained pork. Add a few slices of habanero on top for the cooks who want the heat at the front of the bite. Close the sandwich and press down lightly. Eat immediately, while the bread is still warm and the juices haven't run all the way through. The Peninsula has its own grammar, and this is the sentence.

Chef Tips

• •Naranja agria, the sour orange, is the acid this dish was built on. If you can find them at a Mexican or Caribbean market, use them. If not, the mix of regular orange juice and lime is a working compromise, but you are missing the slight floral bitterness that the real fruit carries. A compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Recado rojo from a Yucatecan brand is non-negotiable. La Anita and El Yucateco both make versions sold in the small foil-wrapped bricks. Do not substitute powdered annatto or paprika. The recado is a complete spice paste, not just a coloring agent.
• •Banana leaves are sold frozen at most Mexican and Asian markets. Pass them over a flame before using or they will crack when you try to fold them. If you absolutely cannot find them, parchment will hold the moisture but you will lose the green, grassy perfume that defines pib cooking. Tell your cook that and let them decide.
• •The bread matters. Pan de huevo or pan francés from a Mexican panaderia has a soft crumb and a thin crust that takes the lard and the juices without falling apart. Supermarket dinner rolls collapse. Brioche is too sweet. A baguette is too crusty. Find the right bread or wait.

Advance Preparation

• •The cochinita pibil can be made two days ahead and refrigerated in its own juices. Reheat gently on the stove with a splash of broth. The flavor deepens overnight.
• •The cebollas encurtidas are better the next day and keep for a week in the refrigerator. Make them ahead. Make extra. They belong on every Yucatecan plate you will ever set.
• •The pork can be marinated up to 24 hours ahead. Past that, the citrus starts to break down the texture of the meat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 415g)