Cochinita Pibil Yucatan Style Barbecued Pork Food

PORK MIMI'S WAY, YUCATAN STYLE: COCHINITA PIBIL

Steps:

• Prepare marinade with the orange juice, vinegar, achiote, garlic, and salt, to taste, and mix thoroughly. Rub the mixture into the meat and marinate at room temperature for 1 hour, or refrigerated, for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Line a roaster pan with heavy foil and arrange the marinated pork in it, covering the meat with the marinade. Cover pan with foil tightly and bake for 2 to 3 hours. Check often and turn pieces of meat in their own juices. Roasting times vary according to the toughness of the meat.
• Chop meat into cubes and discard any fatty parts. Serve with a basket of freshly made corn tortillas.

COCHINITA PIBIL (MAYAN PORK ROAST)

Steps:

• To make the marinade:.
• In a large glass or plastic dish use a fork to dissolve the anatto paste in the orange and lime juice and the vinegar. Add the all-spice.
• Rinse and pat the pork roast dry. Remove and discard any fat lumps. Rub the salt and pepper all over the meat and place in the dish with the marinade. Turn the meat to cover it in the marinade. Let marinate for at least 1 hour, but no more than 6 hours, in the refrigerator, turning occasionally.
• Take the meat out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, turn on a burner in you stove to low heat. Unfold the banana leaves and toast them very lightly, one by one, directly over the flame, do this using gloves or kitchen thongs, being very careful not to burn the leaves, you only want them to soften a bit.
• Place enough banana leaves to cover the bottom of a roasting pan and place the meat on top. Pour as much of the marinade on the meat as you can and then cover the meat with the rest of the banana leaves, making sure that there are no gaps between the leaves.
• Place the pan in the oven and roast for an hour, or until the meat is well done and very tender. Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and let marinate as the meat cooks.
• To serve, pull or cut the meat into shreds, divide into portions and let each person make their own tacos, topping them with the sliced onion salsa.

PUERCO PIBIL (YUCATAN-STYLE SLOW ROASTED PORK)

Steps:

• For the Achiote Recado....place annatto seeds and water in small saucepan over high heat; bring to boil, cover, and lower to simmer.
• Cook about 30 minutes, remove from heat, and leet seeds steep for about 2 hours, or until softened.
• Drain, then place in food processor with remaining ingredients; Blend until a smooth paste forms.
• If you would like a spicier recado, add 2-3 habaneros to the processor.
• Combine pork butt and recado in large ziploc, sealing tightly.
• Refrigerate, and let marinate for at least two days (but no longer than 5; meat will grow saltier the longer it is kept), turning occasionally.
• Place a sheet of tin foil in a sturdy pan.
• Cross banana leaves on top of the foil, and place meat in center.
• Add any remaining marinade to pork- it is important that the pork stews in its own marinade.
• Wrap leaves around the meat, covering with more leaves if necessary, to make a neat package.
• Cover pan with one more layer of foil, to prevent steam from escaping.
• [NOTE:If you are unable to get banana leaves, simply place the pork in a roasting pan, covering very tightly with tin foil- But the banana leaves look much cooler.]
• Cook in a 325-degree oven for about four hours, until pork is meltingly tender.
• Let rest for 30 minutes, then coarsely shred, removing any large fatty pieces.
• Serve with salsas, pink pickled onions, warm tortillas, and icy cold beer (or tequila, if that's your thing).

COCHINITA PIBIL - YUCATAN STYLE BARBECUED PORK -

Steps:

• Grind the annato seeds (or achiote paste) and cumin seeds to a powder in a spice or coffee grinder, add the oregano, allspice, cinnamon, salt, coriander and chile powder and grind until the spices are thoroughly mixed. Place the powder in a small bowl, mix in the garlic, orange juice and lime juice. You want a smooth paste that spreads easily. If the rub seems dry add a little more juice.
• MARINADE: Pierce the pork all over and rub in the 2 teaspoons salt and 2 tablespoons orange juice. Set aside while you prepare the seasoning paste. Dilute the achiote paste in the lime and orange juice. Add salt and pepper to taste as well as chicken bouillon if desired. The mixture should be a thick paste. Coat the pork with the paste and marinate the pork in the achiote-juice mixture in a covered dish in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. Marinating is essential to succes, so this step cannot be skipped. Prepare the hot salsa, cool and refrigerate until serving time.
• WRAP AND ROASTING: Preheat oven to 325ºF. In a rectangular pan lined with foil lenghtwise and another along its width. Place the marinated pork, pouring all the marinade on top of it and pour the vegetable oil over the pork. Fold the foil over the pork and flip the wrapped pork seam-side down in the pan. Cover with foil. (Some people just choose to cover the pork with foil without the banana leaves because they think they are just for show. However, the leaves do add their own unique, subtle flavor to the pork).
• Bake for 2 hours. Remove from oven and carefully remove foil. The pork should be very tender and fall apart easily when pulled with a fork. If not, return to the oven and cook until tender. Shred pork with 2 forks when done. Serve the cochinita pibil with warm corn tortillas and eat taco style. If prefered, serve it sandwich-style on warm bread. In either case, don't forget the pickled onion habanero salsa if you like it VERY SPICY!.
• TO MAKE THE HOT SALSA - BE VERY CAREFULL AND USE GLOVES:
• Toast the habanero chiles in a skillet over medium heat and don't smell it directly. Remove from heat and cool. Finely chop the chiles and add the onion, lime and orange juice. Add salt to taste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving with the cochinita pibil. Be prepared: it is a very hot salsa.