Cochinita pibil!!!

I'd seen it on menus.  I'd seen it in the grocery store as a pre-made dish.  But I hadn't tried it until yesterday.  So much lost time I have to make up for.....It's delicious!


Cochinita pibil (aka puerco pibil) is a traditional slow roasted pork dish from the Yucatan Peninsula.  Whic includes Cozumel, Cancun, and Playa Del Carmen.  Traditionally, the dish is made by marinating the meat in a strongly acidic citrus juice, seasoning it with annatto seed (aka achiote),  wrapping the meat in banana leaf, and slow roasting it in a pit with fire at the bottom.  

Cochinito means baby pig.  So the traditional dish was made with suckling pig.  But you can use pork shoulder or loin. The traditional citrus juice came from Seville (bitter) oranges.  But you can use sweet oranges with lemons, limes, or vinegar.   



Wikipedia says that the main character, a CIA agent played by Johnny Depp, in the movie "Once Upon a Time in Mexico",  orders this dish every time he enters a Mexican restaurant.  He also tells every person he has lunch with to taste it, and even kills a cook because his puerco pibil is "too good".

The version I ate came from Chedraui, my local grocery store.  I'd been avoiding the dish because it's sold in a self-serve steamer.  It doesn't look great.  But holy smokes!  I like it!  I do wonder how much the version I bought resembles the real traditional dish tho....


 Pictures:
1) Cochinito pibil is traditionally served with red pickled onions
2) You can buy banana leaves at the mercado to make cochinito pibil
3) You can buy cochinito pibil and roast pork at the grocery store.  It's serve yourself.  Just there.  In the open.  Which is partly why is took me this long to try it
4) Horchata is a popular drink in Mexico.  It's rice based, and served with cinnamon.  It kinda tastes like vanilla ice cream
5) There are many many ways to buy hot peppers in the grocery stores !