Name: Mexican Cochinita Pibil
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: مكسيكية
Ingredients: 1.5 kg pork shoulder, cut into large chunks; 100 g achiote (annatto) paste; 1 cup sour orange juice (or a mix of orange and lime juice); 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano; Salt, to taste; Banana leaves, for wrapping (optional); For the pickled onions: 1 red onion, very thinly sliced, juice of 3 limes, salt, dried oregano

A dish from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula: pork marinated in red achiote paste and sour orange juice, slow-cooked until it falls apart, and served in tacos with pickled onions.

المقادير

1.5 kg pork shoulder, cut into large chunks

100 g achiote (annatto) paste

1 cup sour orange juice (or a mix of orange and lime juice)

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried Mexican oregano

Salt, to taste

Banana leaves, for wrapping (optional)

For the pickled onions: 1 red onion, very thinly sliced, juice of 3 limes, salt, dried oregano

خطوات التحضير

Mix the achiote paste with the sour orange juice, garlic, cumin, oregano and salt into a smooth marinade.

Place the pork chunks in the marinade, making sure they are well coated, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

If using banana leaves, pass them briefly over an open flame to soften, then line a deep baking dish with them.

Place the marinated meat over the leaves and pour over the remaining marinade, then wrap tightly.

Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 3-3.5 hours until the meat shreds easily.

Meanwhile, prepare the pickled onions by mixing the sliced onion with lime juice, salt and oregano, letting it rest for at least 30 minutes.

Remove the meat from the oven and shred it with two forks while hot, mixing it with the cooking liquid to keep it moist.

Warm the corn tortillas on a dry pan.

Serve the shredded meat in tortillas topped with pickled onions.

نصيحة

If sour oranges are unavailable, mix regular orange juice with lime juice in roughly equal parts to mimic the acidity. Do not rush the cooking — long, low-temperature roasting is the secret to meat that shreds easily.

Cochinita pibil is one of the most famous dishes of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, with roots tracing back to ancient Maya cooking traditions. The word «pibil» means «buried» in the Maya language, as the dish was traditionally cooked by wrapping the marinated meat in banana leaves and burying it in a hot underground pit filled with embers — a slow-cooking method resembling traditional barbecue.

The dish's distinctive taste comes from achiote paste, a red seasoning extracted from annatto seeds, mixed with sour orange juice, garlic and spices. The meat is left to marinate for many hours before slow cooking, until it falls apart easily with a fork, and is traditionally served in corn tortillas with red onions pickled in sour lime juice, which balances the richness of the meat with a refreshing tang.