Cochinita Pibil
The Stuff You Hate On A Stranger’s Food Blog
This is a recipe from Rick Martinez’s Mi Cocina cook book.
Honestly - this recipe wasn’t it. The cubed pork pieces when you pull it end up really small. It’s too sweet. And the way the recado rojo recipe works, it doesn’t turn into a paste, but more like granules that end up in the final product. It also doesnt’ get any of the bark that makes american bbq so good.
I did learn a lot from making it though. Making a recado or just a spice paste is great way to marinade the pork. Cutting the pork into pieces does cook it faster but isn’t great for the final product. I think the missing “bark” would be forgotten if some of the other aspects of the dish were better. The banana leaves are cool - but i don’t know if they really make a difference.
Ingredients
2 lbs pork shoulder, 2 in cubes
8 Garlic Cloves
1/3 Recado Rojo
1/3 Cup Grapefruit Juice
1/3 Cup lime juice
1/3 cup orange juice
4 1/4 morton salt
2 teaspoons Recado de Todo Clase
2 large banana leaves
Process
In a blender puree everything but pork and banana
preheat oven to 250 degree
char the banana leaves over a gas burner or bake at 425 for 20 minutes
arrange the banana leaves in the bottom of a dutch oven with enough overlap to cover pork. add the pork, cover with leaves, close with lid
bake for 2.5 hours
rest for 20 minutes
remove from leaves and pull the pork