Panuchos de Cochinita Pibil

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy Dutch oven or lidded roasting pan for the cochinita
• •Tortilla press lined with cut plastic from a freezer bag
• •Cast iron comal or heavy griddle
• •Heavy skillet for frying the panuchos in manteca
• •Wire rack for draining
• •Molcajete (preferred) or blender for the habanero salsa
• •Banana leaves from a Latin or Asian market, plus an open gas flame to soften them

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the recado

   Break the recado rojo into a blender. Add the naranja agria juice, the 8 garlic cloves, the oregano, allspice, black pepper, cumin, and 2 tablespoons of salt. Blend until you have a thick, brick-red marinade with no lumps. Taste it. It should be sour, earthy, and slightly bitter from the achiote. That bitterness is correct. It mellows in the pib. No me vengas con atajos: do not use packaged sazonadores in place of recado rojo. The brick from Yucatán is the recipe.

   If you cannot find naranja agria, the orange-lime-vinegar mix is the closest honest substitution. Bottled sour orange juice is acceptable in a pinch, but read the label and avoid anything with corn syrup or preservatives.
2. 2

   Marinate the pork

   Place the pork shoulder and pork belly in a large bowl. Pour the recado over the meat and rub it into every piece with your hands. Wear gloves or your fingers will be orange for two days. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. The achiote needs time to penetrate. Rushing this is the difference between cochinita that tastes seasoned and cochinita that tastes marinated through.

3. 3

   Wrap in banana leaf

   Pass each banana leaf over an open flame for a few seconds per side. They will turn from matte to glossy and become pliable. This is not optional. A stiff banana leaf cracks and lets the juices escape. Line a heavy Dutch oven or roasting pan with overlapping leaves, leaving plenty of overhang on all sides. Spoon the marinated pork and all the marinade into the center. Dot the top with the 1/4 cup of manteca. Fold the overhanging leaves over the meat to seal it into a closed package.

   In Yucatán they cook this in a pib, an underground pit oven heated with stones. You do not have a pib. A heavy lidded pot at 300F approximates the slow, sealed steam. The banana leaf does the rest.
4. 4

   Cook the cochinita low and slow

   Cover the pot tightly with the lid, or with foil pressed against the leaves and then a lid on top. Cook in a 300F oven for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. The meat is ready when it shreds with a fork and the juices in the bottom of the pot are deep brick-red, almost black, slick with rendered lard. Let it rest in the closed package for 20 minutes before opening. Pull the meat apart with two forks, keeping it bathed in its own juices. Cochinita without its juices is dry pork with achiote on it. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

5. 5

   Pickle the red onions (cebolla morada en escabeche)

   While the pork cooks, place the sliced red onions in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain. This is the Yucatecan move: a quick blanch takes the raw bite off without cooking them. Return them to the bowl. Add the naranja agria juice, the tablespoon of salt, the oregano, and the crushed allspice. Toss well. Press the onions down so the juice covers them. Let them sit at room temperature for at least one hour. They will turn bright magenta. That color is the visual signature of every panucheria in Mérida.

6. 6

   Make the black beans for refrying

   Drain the soaked black beans. Place in a pot with the halved white onion, smashed garlic, and epazote. Cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the beans are completely tender and the broth is dark and thick. Salt only in the last 15 minutes. Discard the onion and garlic. Mash the beans with their liquid until you have a thick, spreadable paste, almost like loose hummus. Not soup. Not dry. Spreadable. This is what goes inside the panucho.

7. 7

   Make the salsa de chile habanero

   Roast the habaneros on a dry comal over medium heat, turning often, until they blister and soften, about 5 minutes. Wear gloves. Habanero oil on your skin will remind you for a day. Transfer to a molcajete or blender with the naranja agria juice and salt. Mash or pulse into a coarse salsa. This is fire. Put a teaspoon on a panucho and you will know. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.

8. 8

   Mix the masa for the tortillas

   In a bowl, combine the masa harina with the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the warm water in stages, mixing with your hands until the masa pulls together. It should feel like soft playdough: smooth, slightly tacky, not sticky. If it cracks at the edges when you press it, add a tablespoon more water. If it sticks to your palm, add a tablespoon more masa harina. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest 15 minutes. The masa needs to hydrate fully or your tortillas will tear at the puff.

9. 9

   Press, cook, and puff the tortillas

   Heat a comal over medium-high. Divide the masa into golf-ball sized pieces, about 1 1/2 ounces each. Press each ball between two sheets of plastic in a tortilla press to a thickness of about 1/8 inch, slightly thicker than a regular tortilla. The extra thickness is what allows the panucho to be split later. Cook each tortilla on the comal for about 30 seconds on the first side, flip, cook 45 seconds on the second side, then flip back to the first side. Press gently with a clean cloth or fingers around the edges. The tortilla should puff up like a balloon. That puff is the panucho. No puff, no panucho. Set the puffed tortillas aside on a clean cloth, keeping them slightly warm but not stacked tightly.

   Not every tortilla will puff. That is normal. The ones that puff become panuchos. The ones that do not become salbutes or get eaten as a snack with salt and lime. A panucheria in Mérida runs the same way.

   The comal must be properly hot. Too cool and the tortilla dries out before steam can build inside. Too hot and the outside crusts before the inside has time to puff. Listen for a gentle hiss when the masa hits the surface.
10. 10

    Stuff the panuchos with bean paste

    While the puffed tortillas are still warm and pliable, take each one and use a small paring knife to cut a 2-inch slit along one side, opening the air pocket like a pita. Spoon about a heaping tablespoon of the mashed black beans inside and spread it evenly with the back of the spoon so it coats the whole interior. Press gently to flatten. The bean layer should be thin enough that the panucho still closes flat. This is what makes a panucho a panucho. Without the beans inside, you have a salbute. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and Yucatán has very strict definitions.

11. 11

    Fry the panuchos

    Heat 1/2 inch of manteca de cerdo in a heavy skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil will fry them, but they will not taste like a Mérida panucho. Fry the stuffed tortillas, bean side down first, for about 1 1/2 minutes per side, until the outside is golden, crisp at the edges, and the bean filling has heated through. Drain on a wire rack, never on paper towels. Paper traps the steam and softens the crust you just built.

12. 12

    Assemble and serve

    Place the fried panuchos bean-side up on a Talavera blue-and-white plate. Pile a generous portion of warm cochinita pibil on each one, making sure to drag the meat through its own juices before it lands. Top with a tangle of magenta pickled onions. Lay two slices of avocado across. Serve immediately with the habanero salsa and lime wedges on the side. The panucho is meant to be eaten with hands, in two or three bites, while the bottom is still crisp and the meat is still warm. Wait too long and the moisture from the cochinita softens the panucho. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Cochinita pibil is better the day after it is made. Cook it the day before, refrigerate it in its juices, and reheat gently. The achiote deepens, the fat sets and re-melts, and the flavor settles into something you cannot rush on the day of.
• •Recado rojo varies in quality. El Yucateco and La Anita are the brands I trust. Avoid any 'achiote paste' that lists corn syrup, MSG, or yellow dyes on the label. Those are sazonadores wearing a costume.
• •If you cannot get banana leaves, parchment paper inside a tightly sealed pot will give you a similar steam environment, but you lose the banana leaf's faint vegetal perfume. Tell your cook honestly that this is a compromise, not an equivalent.
• •Habanero handles like a chemical. Use gloves. Do not touch your eyes for several hours after working with it. If your salsa is too hot for your table, serve it on the side rather than diluting it. A panucho should be able to find its full heat at the table, for the diner who wants it.
• •Pickled onions should be made the day before. They taste flat the first hour and reach their proper magenta sharpness after 12 hours in the refrigerator. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado: they always have a jar going.

Advance Preparation

• •The cochinita pibil can and should be made one day ahead. Refrigerate in its juices and reheat gently before serving. The flavor only deepens.
• •Pickled red onions improve overnight and keep for up to two weeks refrigerated.
• •Black beans can be cooked and mashed up to three days ahead. Reheat with a splash of water to loosen.
• •Habanero salsa keeps for one week refrigerated, though the lime-bright top notes fade after day two.
• •The masa for the tortillas must be mixed and pressed the day of. Day-old masa will not puff properly and the whole panucho project depends on the puff.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 370g)