Cochinita Pibil Or Puerco Pibil Simplified Recipes

COCHINITA PIBIL

Steps:

• Poke holes all over the pork with a fork. Rub achiote paste all over the pork, and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the orange juice, lemon juice, and habanero peppers. Mix in the cumin, paprika, chili powder, coriander, salt and pepper. Place pork in the mixture, cover, and refrigerate overnight, turning two or three times.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Wrap the pork and marinade in aluminum foil or banana leaves that have been soaked in water for 30 minutes. Place into a casserole dish, and cover.
• Bake for about 2 hours, until the meat falls off the bone. The slower you cook it, the better it is. You could also bake it in a 200 degrees F (95 degrees C) oven for 4 or 5 hours, or in a slow cooker without the foil or leaves.
• While the pork is cooking, make the sauce. Bring the red wine vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan. Add onions, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until tender. Pour sauce over pork, and serve with white rice and corn tortillas. Each person can make tacos or fajitas with the pork, the rice and the sauce.

PUERCO PIBIL

Steps:

• Put annato seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, allspice and cloves in a clean coffee grinder and grind very fine.
• Put orange juice, white vinegar, habanero peppers, ground spice powder, salt, garlic, lemon juice and tequila in blender.
• Blend until smooth.
• Place cubed pork and liquid from blender in zip loc bag and marinate for one hour.
• Line a 9x13 baking pan with banana leaves.
• Pour pork mixture directly on top of banana leaves and cover with more banana leaves.
• Cover tightly with foil.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 4 hours.

AUTHENTIC COCHINITA PIBIL (SPICY MEXICAN PULLED PORK)

Steps:

• Combine the onion, habanero peppers, lime juice, and salt in a bowl; cover and refrigerate while preparing and cooking the pork. Use rubber gloves when preparing the habanero peppers and avoid touching your eyes, nose, or skin while slicing peppers.
• Place the guajillo peppers in a bowl; pour enough hot water over the peppers to cover. Allow to soak until the peppers are softened, about 10 minutes.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet at medium-high heat. Season pork with salt and pepper; cook in the hot oil until completely browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the pork to a slow cooker.
• Combine the guajillo peppers, orange juice, vinegar, garlic, and achiote paste in a blender; blend until smooth. Pour the sauce over the pork cubes in the slow cooker.
• Cook on High until the pork easily falls apart, 6 to 8 hours. Remove the pork to a serving dish and shred with 2 forks. Pour the achiote sauce over the shredded pork. To serve, top with the onion-habanero salsa.

COCHINITA PIBIL (OR "PUERCO PIBIL") (SIMPLIFIED)

Steps:

• First, you have to prepare the Achiote Paste. This is used to marinate the pork. First, put the Annatto Powder, Ground Cumin, Black Pepper, All-Spice seeds and whole cloves into a spice grinder. Grind into a fine dust. You wanna do that because if you don't, the dust can be VERY gritty. Not good.
• Cut up the habanero peppers. I use three. I also leave the seeds in and most of the membrane. USE GLOVES WHEN HANDLING AND CUTTING UP THE PEPPERS. I cannot stress that enough. If you use your hands to cut the peppers and then touch the seeds and membrane and then touch or scratch your face or eyes or any bit of your skin for any reason, you're gonna be the sorriest person on the planet.
• Also, take the time to cut up and mince your garlic. You can use your hands to do this.
• Pour in your orange juice, white vinegar, minced-up habanero, add your grinded up spices (if you used a blender to grind up your spices instead of a grinder, you don't have to do this), salt and garlic and then blend well for about a minute. If you think you still have some grit or pulp from your ingredients, keep blending.
• After it's well-mixed, pour in a full cup of lemon juice. I like to just buy the stuff, pre-squeezed. They DO sell all-natural stuff, so you won't be cheating too much when you squeeze it from a bottle.
• After that, add in 2 to 3 shots of tequila. Blend again.
• Get your pork shoulder and cut it into 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes. Once done, throw all the cut-up meat into a big 1 1/2-gallon Ziploc bag.
• Pour the Achiote Paste you've prepared into the bag with the chopped-up pork and MAKE SURE THE BAG IS SEALED. This juice, when it drips, is capable of staining and leaves a pungent smell due to all the acids contained in it. Once sealed, put it into the fridge and let it marinate overnight. If you don't want to wait, allow two hours to marinate.
• Next, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Once properly marinated, get your casserole or baking dish and line it with aluminum foil. I recommend using the wider yield because this helps prevent spillage into the dish. Once the pan is lined and you have slack foil on the sides, pour in all the pork and juice and close the foil up over the meat. It wouldn't hurt to add ANOTHER layer of foil and tuck the meat in on the inside of the pan. This prevents any steam from escaping, thus properly allowing the food to slow cook perfectly. Then, add one more piece on top to go AROUND the outside edges of the pan.
• Once the oven is ready, put the entire dish in (make sure to handle it carefully; you don't want it to slip and fall) and shut the door.
• Set the oven timer for 4 hours and don't look back. The meat slow-cooks on its own and you DON'T need to check on it. Doing so makes the oven lose heat.
• During the last 30 or so minutes of the cooking, prepare your rice according to the package.
• CAREFULLY, remove the dish from the oven after the timer has gone off and CAREFULLY, open up the foil, avoiding ANY escaping steam.
• Use a fork to break up the steamed pork into shreds. This allows the meat to absorb a lot of the left-over juice. This also allows the pleasant side-effect of the pork tasting even BETTER the next hour and even the next day.
• If you want to get fancy and act like you own a swank restaurant, get a large lettuce leaf and then spoon out an even bed of rice on top of it. If you don't feel like using lettuce, just spoon out a bed of rice on a plate.
• Spoon out a generous amount of pork on top of the rice.
• Garnish with a jalapeno pepper -- and enjoy. :).

COCHINITA PIBIL

Steps:

• In a medium size bowl, mash together the achiote paste, garlic, orange juice, lime juice, bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper with a fork. Add the pork, toss to evenly coat and marinate, at room temperature, at least 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Heat a dry cast iron skillet over high heat. Char the onion until blackened on both sides. Char the tomatoes on both sides. Reserve.
• Line a large baking dish with one layer of the banana leaves or foil. Arrange the pork in an even layer and top with the onions, tomatoes and chiles and all the marinade. Cover with more banana leaves and wrap the dish tightly in foil. Bake for 2-1/2 hours or until the pork is tender and moist. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes. Unwrap and serve with pickled shallots.

COCHINITA PIBIL

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mash together the achiote paste, garlic, orange juice, lime juice, bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper with a fork. Add the pork and toss to evenly coat. Marinate, covered and refrigerated, at least 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Heat a dry cast-iron skillet over high heat. Char the onions until blackened on both sides. Then char the tomatoes on both sides. Reserve.
• Line a large baking dish with 1 layer of banana leaves or foil. Arrange the pork in an even layer and top with the onions, tomatoes, chiles, and all the marinade. Cover with more banana leaves and wrap the dish tightly in foil.
• Bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until the pork is tender and moist. Remove from the oven and let sit 10 minutes. Unwrap and serve with Pickled Shallots.
• Combine the vinegar, wine, sugar, mustard seeds, peppercorns, chili flakes, and salt in a medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the shallots and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook 5 minutes. Set aside to cool completely in the liquid. Transfer the shallots and all their liquid to a jar or plastic container. Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.