Puerco Pibil
This dish is very strong in flavor, and some people might want to dilute it a bit. Ideal candidates are white rice and pico de gallo. Shred the pork and mix into or serve on top of white rice and pico.
Equipment
- Coffee grinder
- Large Baking dish or Roasting Pan
- Zip-lock bag
- Blender
- Banana leaves (optional)
Ingredients
Achiote Paste
- 5 tbs Annato Seed note
- 2 tsp Cummin Seed
- 1 tbs Peppercorn
- 1/2 tsp Cloves
- 8 whole Allspice
- 2 tbs salt
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1-3 habanero chiles note
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 5 lemons
- Splash of the finest tequila you can find note
Pork
- 5 lbs Pork Butt
Instructions
Preparation:
- Using the coffee ginder, grind Annato, Cumin Seed, Cloves, Allspice, and Peppercorns into a fine powder.
- Remove seeds and inner membrane from habanero.
- Add vinegar, orange juice, habanero, salt, garlic, and spice powder to blender. Blend on high for 30-60 seconds.
- Add juice of five lemons and Tequila and blend for another 30-60 seconds. Congratulations, you've just made achiote paste.
- Cut pork into 2 inch cubes and place in a large ziplock bag; pour achiote paste over pork. Seal bag and mush bag around to spread the paste over the pork. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
Cooking:
- Line the baking pan with banana leaves (or foil if you don't have leaves).
- Pour pork and achiote paste into pan.
- Cover with more banana leaves and then foil. Crimp foil around pan to make sure steam doesn't escape.
- Bake in the oven at 325° F for 4 hours.
- And bam, a dish so good you might just get whacked for making it.
Notes
Annato seed is often available in grocery stores in small plastic packets. A one-ounce packet holds about 2.5 tbs, so two packets should do the trick.
Habanero is the hottest chile in the world, so you might want to "wimp it down a bit." Here are some tips: 1) use less habanero or even a half or a quarter of one; instead of blending the habanero, just slice into strips and place them whole in the ziplock bag; make sure you don't get the seeds or membrane into the dish.
Don't touch your eyes or contacts for two days after handling the inside of Habanero (or just wear gloves while cutting it).
It doesn't really matter what kind of Tequila you use as long as it's real Tequila. This means it should say 100% agave, and no Cuervo Gold or any other "gold" Tequila. For me a "splash" means a 1/4 cup.
The achiote paste is a marinade, so it will not really tenderize or penetrate the meat.
The slow moist cooking over low heat, however, will tenderize the pork. The pork will be very tender and is easily "pulled."