In my latest quest to prepare a Mexican feast I opened up Rick Bayless’ . I wanted a recipe that would be meaty and last me a few days so that I could have lunches for a few days. A big piece of meat lends itself great to that type of thing and I love anything that cooks for hours without me having to stir it.
I settled on Rick Bayless’ Cochinita Pibil. It’s basically a pork shoulder seasoned with Mexican spices and roasted in a banana leaf. Yes, a banana leaf. I think the banana leaf is what sold me. I really think I’m into “extreme grocery shopping” where I like to track down random ingredients. I really expected to have a hard time finding the banana leaves but I found them very easily at Perola in Kensington.
I’m often a victim of not reading recipes all the way through before starting to cook or reading the ingredients and writing only SOME of them on my grocery list. This time around I did indeed write down all the ingredients but when it came to the Achiote I just wrote “achiote” not realizing that it comes in a powder, in a paste and as seeds. HOL-AY. I ended up buying the powder thinking that I would have written down paste if I had seen the words paste. Of course when it came down to cooking what I needed was the paste! In the recipe that I’ve linked to Bayless actually tells you to make your own Achiote paste while the cookbook says to use Achiote paste. Of course since I had the cookbook I didn’t consult his site and ended up googling to get an idea of how to make my own paste. The recipe I found was very similar to Bayless’ but used coriander seeds and allspice berries as well. Crisis averted.
Aside from having to make my own Achiote paste, the pork was really simple. I just had to rub the pork down with the paste, add some water and top with onions and let it cook in my Le Creuset lined with banana leaves for about 3 hours. When the pork is ready you just shred it and enjoy. Or…
… Bayless’ Cochinita Pibil recipe is actually for tacos! Yes, tacos. In addition to the pork there are also recipes for pickled onions AND hot sauce. The pickled onions are just red onions mixed with lime juice. They take on this really vibrant pink colour and lose some of the strong onion flavour. They are great and would be really good on a turkey sandwich or something if you are craving something a bit different.
And then there was hot sauce, oh the hot sauce. In the online recipe Bayless says to use 8 habaneros but in the book he recommends habaneros or a mixture of peppers. After several unfortunate incidents with scotch bonnet peppers there was NO WAY I was going to mess with 8 habaneros so I used half habaneros and half serranos. That was pretty much the hottest hot sauce EVER. Bayless doesn’t say anything about seeding the peppers but I seeded half of them out of caution. I can’t even begin to imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t. It was SO hot. So hot that when I went to wash out the plastic container that I stored it in I couldn’t sop coughing from the pepper. I used a VERY thin coating on the tortillas rather than dolloping the stuff on top of the meat.
The tacos were pretty darned fantastic. The pork was saucy and delicous and the onions and even the hot hot HOT sauce were good additions. I made my own tortillas and that was the best idea in almost ever. I think all of the elements would make for a fantastic Torta (sandwich) with the addition of some black beans and maybe some avocados OR fried sweet plantains. Trust me.
Slow-Cooked Achiote Pork (“Cochinita Pibil”)
3 pounds bone-in pork shoulder roast
½ of a 3.5-ounce package prepared achiote seasoning (I like Yucateco brand adobo de achiote, available in Mexican grocery stores and through Internet sites)
¾ cup fresh lime juice (divided use)
Salt
½ 1-pound package banana or plantain leaves, defrosted if frozen (optional), available in Mexican or Asian markets
1 large white onion, sliced about ¼-inch thick
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
About ½ cup Fresh Hot Chile Salsa or Mexican hot sauce (see here for recipe)
Place the half package of achiote seasoning in a small bowl, pour in a ½ cup of the lime juice and 2 teaspoons salt; use the back of a spoon to work the two together into a smooth, thickish marinade.
If using banana leaves, cut 2 two-foot sections and use them to line a slow-cooker—lay one down the length, the other across the width. Add the meat and pour the marinade over and around the roast. Scatter white onion over the meat.
Pour ½ cup water around the meat. Fold up the banana leaves to roughly cover everything; turn on the slow cooker. Slow cook for 6 hours until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender (the dish can hold on a slow-cooker’s “keep warm” function for 4 more hours or so).
While the meat is cooking, combine red onion with the remaining ¼ cup lime juice in a small bowl. Sprinkle with about ½ teaspoon salt, toss and set aside to marinate, stirring occasionally.
Use tongs to transfer the meat and onions to dinner plates. Spoon off any rendered fat that’s floating over the juices. If there is a lot of brothy sauce—two cups or more—tip or ladle it into a saucepan and boil it down to about one cup. Season with salt if needed, then spoon it over the meat.
Top with the lime-marinated red onions and serve with salsa or hot sauce—and plenty of hot tortillas for making tacos.
No Slow Cooker?
In a large (6- to 8-quart, at least 12-inch diameter) heavy pot (preferably a Dutch oven), assemble the dish as described, including dribbling the water around the meat. Set the lid in place and braise in a 300-degree oven for about 2½ to 3 hours, until the pork is thoroughly tender. Complete the dish as described. If there isn’t much juice in the bottom of the pan, remove the meat and add about a cup of water. Bring to a boil, scraping up any sticky bits, season with salt, then pour over the meat.
Recipe from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless
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I love reading these kinds of recipes…things you’ve never seen or heard of. It’s so unfortunate that I don’t jhave a creuset:(. It looks delicious.
By the way, I am so guilty of never writing down the write ingredients. If you ever see someone constantly Googling things on her cell phone while standing in any given aisle with a look of bewilderment on her face, that would be I.
that is often me as well!
p.s. winners has le creuset these days for a good price