Tacos de Cochinita Pibil

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart Dutch oven or deep clay cazuela with a tight lid
• •High-powered blender for the recado
• •Cast iron comal for the tortillas and habaneros
• •Banana leaves (about one large package, thawed)
• •Hand-woven cotton servilleta to keep the tortillas warm

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the recado

   Break the block of recado rojo into a blender. Add the naranja agria juice, garlic, salt, allspice, oregano, cumin, cloves, and melted manteca. Blend on high until you have a smooth, deep red marinade the color of brick. The achiote will stain everything it touches, your blender, your cutting board, your fingers. That stain is the dish. Do not be afraid of it.

   Naranja agria is the sour orange that grows all over the Peninsula. If your mercado does not have it, the mix of orange, white grapefruit, and lime gets you close. Do not use plain orange juice. It is too sweet and the dish loses its backbone.
2. 2

   Marinate the pork

   Place the pork chunks in a large bowl or zip-top bag. Pour the recado marinade over the meat. Turn each piece so every surface is coated in red. Cover and refrigerate overnight, at least 8 hours, ideally 12 to 24. The achiote needs time to penetrate the muscle. A quick marinade gives you stained meat, not flavored meat. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Prepare the banana leaves

   Pass each banana leaf carefully over an open gas flame for a few seconds per side, or warm them on a hot comal. They will turn from matte to glossy, soften, and release a green, grassy smell. That smell is the Peninsula. The leaves become pliable and stop cracking when you fold them. This is not optional. The banana leaf is what makes this cochinita and not roast pork.

4. 4

   Line the cazuela

   Heat the oven to 325F. Line a heavy Dutch oven or deep cazuela with overlapping banana leaves, letting them drape generously over the sides. You want enough leaf to wrap completely back over the top. Traditionally, this is done in a pib, a stone-lined pit in the earth, and the women of the Peninsula have cooked it that way for centuries. The home oven is a compromise. The banana leaf is not.

5. 5

   Pack and wrap

   Scrape the marinated pork and every drop of marinade into the leaf-lined pot. Spread it in an even layer. Fold the overhanging banana leaves back over the meat one by one, tucking them in so the pork is fully enclosed in a green packet. Cover the pot tightly with its lid or with foil pressed against the leaves. The pork will steam in its own juices and the achiote. No liquid escapes. No air gets in.

6. 6

   Slow-cook until it falls apart

   Slide the pot into the oven and forget about it for three and a half to four hours. Do not open it. Do not check on it. The leaves are doing the work. You will know it is ready when you can smell the achiote and banana leaf through the kitchen and a fork sinks into the meat with no resistance. Pull the pot out and let it rest, still covered, for 20 minutes.

7. 7

   Pickle the onions

   While the cochinita rests, make the cebolla morada encurtida. Put the sliced red onion in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water for 10 seconds, then drain. This takes the raw bite off without cooking the onion. Return to the bowl with the naranja agria juice, salt, and oregano. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. The onion will turn bright pink, almost neon. Pickled onions are not a garnish on this dish. They are half the recipe.

   Make these pickled onions a day ahead if you can. They get better, sharper, and pinker. They keep in the refrigerator for a week and you will find reasons to put them on everything.
8. 8

   Make the habanero salsa

   This is the Yucatecan salsa called ixni-pek or salsa de chile habanero, depending on whose mother taught you. Roast the habaneros directly over a flame or on the comal until the skins blister and char in spots. Drop them, still warm, into a small bowl with the naranja agria juice and salt. Mash them roughly with the back of a spoon, leaving the seeds. The habanero is not for show. It is the heat that defines Yucatecan food, fruity, sharp, immediate. Handle with care and wash your hands twice.

9. 9

   Shred the cochinita

   Open the banana leaves at the table if you can. The smell when the packet opens is the whole dish in one breath. Shred the pork with two forks right in the pot, mixing it back into the achiote-stained juices that have pooled at the bottom. That liquid is sauce. Do not drain it. The meat should look wet, red-orange, and stained through, not dry.

10. 10

    Build the tacos

    Warm the corn tortillas on a dry comal until they puff and pick up a few brown spots, about 30 seconds per side. Stack them in a cloth servilleta to keep them warm. Each person builds their own taco: a generous spoonful of cochinita, a tangle of pink pickled onions, a small spoonful of habanero salsa if they can take it. Lime on the side. Eat with your hands. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your recado rojo from a Yucatecan brand if you can find one. La Anita and El Yucateco both make blocks that are sold across Mexico and in well-stocked Mexican groceries abroad. The recado is the dish. Do not try to make it from scratch with random achiote powder unless you know what you are doing.
• •Banana leaves are sold frozen in most Mexican and Asian markets. They are non-negotiable for this dish. The leaf is what gives cochinita its specific perfume and what distinguishes it from a regular braise. If you cannot find them, wait until you can. Do not substitute parchment or foil.
• •Cochinita pibil is better the next day. Make it on Saturday for Sunday breakfast. The achiote settles into the meat and the flavors marry overnight. Reheat it gently in the same banana leaves, in a covered pot with a splash of the reserved juice.
• •Do not serve cochinita on flour tortillas. Do not put cheddar or sour cream on it. Do not call it a burrito. The Peninsula has its own grammar and these things are not part of it.

Advance Preparation

• •The pork must marinate overnight, ideally 12 to 24 hours. Plan for it.
• •The cochinita can be cooked one day ahead and refrigerated in the banana leaves with all its juices. Reheat gently in a 300F oven, still wrapped, for about 30 minutes.
• •The cebolla morada encurtida keeps for one week in the refrigerator and only improves after the first day.
• •The habanero salsa is best made the morning of serving. After two days the chile turns muddy and loses its bright fruit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)