Salbutes de Cochinita Pibil

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy Dutch oven or deep roasting pan with a tight-fitting lid
• •Tortilla press lined with plastic from a freezer bag
• •Deep heavy skillet or cazuela for frying
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan to drain the salbutes
• •Slotted spoon or kitchen spider
• •Instant-read or candy thermometer for the frying oil

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the recado rojo marinade

   Break the brick of recado rojo into a blender. Add the naranja agria juice, garlic, peppercorns, oregano, allspice, salt, and melted manteca. Blend on high until completely smooth and the color is a deep brick red. The achiote should dissolve into the juice and leave no chunks. If your recado is dry and stubborn, give it five minutes in the juice before you blend.

   Use a Yucatecan brand of recado rojo if you can find one. La Anita and El Yucateco are the standards. A recado made in another state is not the same paste. The Peninsula has its own grammar.
2. 2

   Marinate the pork

   Place the pork chunks in a large bowl and pour the marinade over them. Use your hands to coat every piece. The pork should be stained the color of dried blood and rust. Cover and refrigerate at least four hours. Overnight is better. The achiote and the sour orange need time to push into the meat. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Prepare the banana leaves

   Pass each banana leaf over an open burner flame, one side at a time, for a few seconds until the surface turns from matte to glossy and the leaf becomes pliable. This wakes up the oils and makes the leaf bend without cracking. If you skip this, the leaf will split when you fold it and the juices will leak out into the pan.

4. 4

   Wrap and slow-roast the cochinita

   Heat the oven to 325F. Line a Dutch oven or deep roasting pan with overlapping banana leaves so the leaves hang generously over the sides. Pile the marinated pork in the center and pour every drop of the marinade over the top. Add the cup of water. Fold the leaves over the meat like a package, tucking the edges in. Cover the pan tightly with a lid or with foil sealed at the rim. Roast for three hours, until the pork is fork-tender and the juices have turned dark and glossy. This is the home oven version of the pib, the underground pit where Yucatecan cooks have buried this dish for centuries.

   Do not lift the lid in the first two hours. Every time you open the pan, the steam escapes and the meat dries. The banana leaf is the seal. Trust it.
5. 5

   Pickle the red onions

   While the pork roasts, drop the sliced red onions into a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over them. Count to thirty. Drain. This takes the raw bite off but keeps the crunch. Return the onions to the bowl and add the naranja agria juice, salt, oregano, and peppercorns. Toss to coat. Let them sit at room temperature for at least one hour. The onions will turn from purple to a vivid magenta-pink. That color is how you know they are ready. Cebollas en escabeche are not a garnish on cochinita. They are part of the dish.

6. 6

   Shred the cochinita

   Pull the pan from the oven. Carefully unwrap the banana leaves, watching for hot juices. The pork should fall apart at the press of a fork. Pull it into shreds right in the pan and toss with all of those dark cooking juices. The juice is not waste. The juice is half the flavor. Taste for salt. Keep the cochinita warm while you make the salbutes.

7. 7

   Mix and press the salbut masa

   Knead the masa with the teaspoon of salt and enough warm water, a tablespoon at a time, to bring it to the texture of soft Play-Doh. The masa for salbutes is slightly wetter than the masa for regular tortillas. That extra moisture is what makes them puff. Divide into 18 balls about the size of a golf ball. Cover with a damp cloth so they do not dry out.

   Salbutes have no bean filling. That is what separates a salbut from a panucho. The panucho is split, stuffed with refried black beans, and re-pressed before frying. The salbut is just masa. Pure. Una sola tortilla. Do not confuse the two.
8. 8

   Press the tortillas

   Line a tortilla press with two squares of plastic cut from a freezer bag. Press each ball into a round about 4 inches across and slightly thicker than a regular tortilla. Thicker, not thinner. The thickness is what gives the salbut room to puff. Stack the pressed rounds between sheets of plastic so they do not stick.

9. 9

   Fry the salbutes

   Heat the lard or oil in a deep heavy skillet or cazuela to 375F. The fat should be at least an inch deep. Slide one tortilla in at a time, presser-side down. Almost immediately, push it gently under the surface with the back of a slotted spoon. The salbut will puff like a small pillow within ten to fifteen seconds. Flip it once, fry for another twenty seconds until the underside is pale gold, and lift it out onto a wire rack. Do not let them brown deeply. A salbut should be tender and pale, not crisp like a tostada.

   If a salbut refuses to puff, your masa is too dry or your oil is too cold. Add a teaspoon of water to the next ball and check that the oil is back to 375F before the next round. The puff is the point.
10. 10

    Build and serve

    Pile each warm salbut with a generous spoonful of cochinita pibil, including some of the dark juice. Top with shredded lettuce, a slice of tomato, two slices of avocado, and a heaping pinch of pickled red onions. Set the habanero rings and lime wedges on a side plate and let each person add their own heat. Eat immediately, two hands, no apologies. The salbut is meant to bend under the weight. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •The naranja agria is the soul of cochinita. If you cannot find sour orange, the mix of regular orange juice with lime is a working compromise but it is not the same flavor. Some Mexican groceries sell bottled sour orange juice (Goya makes one). Use it before you reach for the substitute.
• •Recado rojo is sold in 3.5-ounce bricks at any Mexican market. La Anita, El Yucateco, and Marin are the brands you want. If a brick is dusty and pale, it is old. Achiote loses its color and aroma over time. Buy from a store that moves product.
• •Do not skip the banana leaf, even if you are tempted to use foil. The leaf gives the meat a particular green, earthy aroma that nothing else replicates. Frozen banana leaves work fine. Thaw them, rinse them, pass them over the flame.
• •Salbutes are a last-minute project. The cochinita and the onions can wait. The salbutes themselves cannot. They go from the lard to the plate to the mouth within minutes, or they go soft. Fry them as you serve them, not before.

Advance Preparation

• •The cochinita can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated in its juices. Reheat gently with a splash of water so the meat stays moist. The flavor deepens overnight.
• •The pickled red onions should be made at least one hour ahead and can be refrigerated for up to two weeks. They get more vivid as they sit.
• •The masa for salbutes can be mixed up to four hours ahead and kept covered with a damp cloth at room temperature. Do not refrigerate the masa or it will tighten and refuse to puff.
• •The salbutes themselves must be fried at the moment of serving. They do not hold.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 425g)