Tikinxic (Pescado Tikinxic de Isla Mujeres)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Hardwood charcoal grill with a lid
• •Sharp filleting knife for butterflying the fish (or ask your fishmonger)
• •High-powered blender
• •Kitchen twine or strips of banana leaf for tying
• •Long platter or wooden board for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the recado

   In a blender, combine the recado rojo, naranja agria, garlic, oregano yucateco, allspice, black pepper, cumin, salt, and melted lard. Blend until you have a smooth, deep-orange paste the color of a Mérida sunset. The achiote dyes everything it touches, your blender, your fingers, your cutting board. That stain is the visual signature of Yucatecan cooking. Welcome to it.

   If you buy recado rojo as a hard brick, soften it first by breaking it up with the sour orange juice in a small bowl before it goes in the blender. The motor will thank you.
2. 2

   Marinate the fish

   Lay the butterflied snapper flesh-side up on a sheet pan. Spoon the recado generously over the inside, working it into the flesh with your hands. Flip the fish and coat the skin side too. Every inch of the fish should be stained orange. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Longer than that, the lime in the sour orange starts to denature the protein and the texture turns chalky. This is not ceviche.

3. 3

   Prepare the banana leaves

   Run each banana leaf, one at a time, slowly over an open gas flame or a hot comal until the surface turns glossy and the leaf goes from stiff and dull to supple and dark green. Maybe twenty seconds per section. This step is not decorative. A raw banana leaf will crack the moment you fold it. A warmed leaf wraps the fish like fabric and releases its grassy perfume into the flesh as it grills. No me vengas con atajos. Skip the heating and the wrap will split on the grill.

   Wipe each leaf with a damp cloth before warming it. Banana leaves carry dust and sometimes a fine white powder from the wholesaler. The cloth takes care of both.
4. 4

   Build the fire

   Light a hardwood charcoal fire and let it burn down to glowing embers with a thin coat of white ash. You want medium heat, not roaring flame. Tikinxic is grilled over wood embers in Isla Mujeres, not blasted under a broiler. The smoke from the wood is part of the recipe. If you only have a gas grill, set it to medium and add a small foil packet of soaked wood chips. It is a compromise. Tell yourself the truth about it.

5. 5

   Wrap the fish

   Overlap two banana leaves on a sheet pan to form a bed wide enough to hold the fish with room to fold. Lay half the onion, tomato, and pepper slices in the center as a vegetable raft. Place the marinated snapper on top, flesh-side up and open like a book. Scatter the remaining onion, tomato, pepper, the slit chile xcatic, and the epazote leaves across the inside of the fish. Spoon any leftover recado over the top. Fold the banana leaves over to enclose the fish completely. Tie the package with kitchen twine or strips of banana leaf if you want to do it the old way.

6. 6

   Grill over embers

   Place the wrapped fish directly on the grate over the embers. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes per side for a 3-pound fish, a little longer for a 4-pound one. The banana leaves will char black on the outside. That char is what you want. It means the leaf is sacrificing itself for the fish underneath. The flesh inside is steaming in achiote, citrus, and pork fat at the same time it picks up the wood smoke through the leaf. Así se hace y punto.

7. 7

   Check for doneness

   Open one corner of the wrap carefully and slide a paring knife into the thickest part of the flesh behind the head. It should slide in without resistance and the flesh should look opaque and flake along its natural seams. If it still feels firm or translucent, close the leaf and give it another 3 to 5 minutes. A whole fish forgives a minute or two of extra time better than it forgives undercooking.

8. 8

   Serve from the leaf

   Transfer the whole package to a long platter or a wooden board. Cut the twine and peel the banana leaves open at the table. The smell that comes out is the entire point: smoke, achiote, citrus, epazote, fish. Set warm tortillas, pickled red onion, salsa xnipec, lime halves, and the whole habanero alongside. Each person tears the flesh into a tortilla and dresses it themselves. The fish is shared from the leaf it cooked in. That is how it is eaten in Isla Mujeres. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The fish has to be whole and very fresh. Bright clear eyes, red gills, no fishy smell. Tikinxic is a whole-fish dish because the bones and skin protect the flesh and add flavor. Filleted snapper in achiote is a different recipe and a lesser one.
• •Naranja agria is the bitter orange of the Yucatan and it is what gives the marinade its specific acidity. If you cannot find it, the mix of regular orange, lime, and a splash of vinegar gets you close. Do not use only lime. Lime alone is too sharp and one-note. Naranja agria carries a slight bitterness that the dish was built around.
• •Recado rojo from a Yucatecan brand is night and day from the small jars of "achiote paste" sold in American grocery aisles. If you have a good Mexican market, look for the Mérida-made bricks wrapped in plastic. They are denser, darker, and far more flavorful. A substitution here is a compromise, not an upgrade.

Advance Preparation

• •The recado rojo can be blended and refrigerated up to 3 days ahead. The flavors deepen overnight.
• •Banana leaves can be warmed and stacked between sheets of parchment up to 4 hours before grilling. Keep them at room temperature, not in the refrigerator, or they will stiffen up again.
• •Do not marinate the fish longer than 4 hours. The citrus will denature the proteins and turn the flesh chalky. This is a marinade, not a cure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)