I love Mexican food, but I have a serious soft spot for Yucatean cuisine. We have spent a fair amount of time wandering the ruins of the peninsula and the beautiful cobblestone streets of Mérida. If you followed the blog back in the day, you may remember that Mérida was one of our possible spots for settling in Mexico, but the Pacific Ocean won out.

Q: Wow, that’s a long marinade time, is it really worth it?
A: Yes

Q: Do I need the banana leaves and if so, where can I get them?
A: You can cook this without the banana leaves, but they are definitely a large part of the flavor and make the clean up easy. I planted a banana tree just for this dish. If don’t have a banana tree and are in a city, try looking in the freezer section of an Asian grocery.

Q: Three Habañeros?!? Yikes! That will be too hot for me. What do I do?
A: I like this dish hot, but if you want to cool it a bit, clean any number of habañeros to reduce the heat, but don’t eliminate them entirely as they are important to the flavor of the dish.

Q: This seems like a dish that could be made in a slowcooker or pressure cooker, can it be done?
A: The answer is yes, but it won’t be as good. I’ve tried both slow and pressure cook methods and while quicker and easier, the meat gets more of a boiled/stringy consistency versus braised melt-in-your-mouth consistency. Also, your pressure cooker will sense the banana leaves as burning, so you will need to add a layer of just pork to the bottom and sprinkle in banana leaf strips or layers of leaf for it to work.

Cochinital Pibil

Start a day ahead of when you plan on serving this dish. Extra marinating time will only make it more delicious.

• 2 – 2.5 kg (~5 lbs) pork shoulder-butt, cut into 2″ chunks
• 3 tbsp lard (if your pork is lean)
• banana leaves

Marinade

• 5 tbsp Achiote/Annato seeds or 3 tbsp achiote paste (see pic below)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• Small handful peppercorns
• Few whole cloves
• 8 allspice berries
• 6 juniper berries (optional)
• 3 habanero peppers, roughly chopped
• 3/4 c sour orange juice (Seville oranges) OR 1/2 c orange juice and 1/4 c lime juice
• 3/4 c white or apple cider vinegar
• Cloves from one hand of garlic
• 6 tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 2 tbsp regular salt)
• 3 shots mezcal or tequila (optional)

Toast and finely grind dry spices (if using achiote/annato paste wait and add in the next step). Add remaining marinade ingredients with spices to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour marinade over the pork, seal and refrigerate overnight or a minimum of 6 hours. This is a good time to make the pickled onions if you want.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 9×14″ glass pan or dutch oven with banana leaves making sure leaves generously rest over the edges of the pan and overlap so you can completely cover the pork. Pour pork and marinade into pan and dot with the lard (if using). Wrap banana leaves completely around pork and cover tightly with foil or dutch oven lid. You may want to place a pan or foil under the pan in the oven if very full. Bake 4 hours. Carefully remove foil or lid and lift banana leaves with tongs to avoid steam burns.

Serve with rice and garnishes. Some of my favorites are red pickled onions (recipe below), crumbled cotija cheese, cilantro, green or white onion, avocado, and pickled peppers.

Quick pickled onions recipe

• 1 large red onion
• few allspice berries
• bay leaf
• salt
• apple cider vinegar

Slice the onions by first cutting the onion lengthwise trimming both ends, peeling away any rough skin and then slicing lengthwise in ~1/8″ slices. Toss the onion with 1/2 tsp salt and set aside. Heat 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/4 c water and 1 tsp salt in a small non-reactive saucepan until boiling. Add the bay leaf and allspice and turn off the heat. Drain the onions, add to a jar or other glass container and pour over the onions. Add a bit more boiling water if needed to cover the onions. Store in the fridge. These versatile and delicious onions keep for at least a month and are good with tacos, salads and in sandwiches among other things.