TexMex Party : Puerco Pibil

Wow - that's been a really long time between updates. I've just finished an intensive year of full-time post graduate study and thankfully am now finished and graduated. Soon I'll be bringing you even more delicious food adventures as I move to a new part of Australia for my new job, where amazing produce springs abundantly from the earth in a Magician's Nephew Narnian-style orgy of variety and quality.

But more about that later. First we need to look at this post's recipe. My friend Viv and her husband Rob do likey the cooking parties, and Viv is particularly awesome at Mexican food and shares my desire to indulge in Southern American (as in Southern North American) gluttony. We decided to do the TexMex thing so I could make some Puerco Pibil, as demonstrated by Robert Rodriguez in his 10 Minute Cooking School feature on the Once Upon A Time in Mexico DVD.

Johnny Depp will kill you if you make it TOO good.
That's what he does - he restores the balance.

Puerco Pibil is a slow-cooked pork dish that originates from the Yucatan area of Mexico. The primary flavours are a succulent blend of the earthy-spiciness of Annatto seed with cumin and allspice, garlic and the citrus tang of orange and lime. It is incredibly moreish and really delicious.


Now, I'm writing this recipe to suit Australian grocery so it's not exactly the same as his - I've swapped some things around based on some extra reading I did on the traditional dish and on what was possible for me to actually get in supermarkets. Plus there were limes for $1.48 a KILO. As opposed to usually price of $3 each.

One thing you WILL need. You MUST get Annatto seeds to make your Achiote spice mix, or else this dish will not work. The only source I found in Australia was Herbie's in Sydney who does mail order through his website. Really cheap and worthwhile, but get a few packs.

You should be damn careful with your spice mix too - I now have a clear plastic blender and white accessories stained reddy/orange/yellow thanks to making this dish. Annatto seed is the all-natural origin of E160b, which makes your cheese and margarine deliciously yellow. It will stain your stainless steel sink if you're not careful. And your fingers. And your hands. And your clothes. And children. And dog. And cat. And tiles and floor. Just watch this stuff and handle it like radioactive crazy.

Okay - here we go!


Ingredients

• 2.2kg Pork shoulder (boneless - I just got a roast at the supermarket)
• Small Bulb of garlic - at least 8 good cloves worth
• 1/2 Cup Orange Juice
• 1 Cup Fresh Lime Juice
• 1/2 Cup White Vinegar
• 2 Hot Red Chillies
• 5 tbsp Annatto Seed (about 60-70g)
• 2 tsp Cumin Seed
• 2 tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Black Peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp Cloves
• 8 whole Allspice OR 2 tsp ground Allspice

 Method

1. Hack pork into 2" cubes. A good sharp knife is essential. Dump all pork into jumbo ziplock bag.
2. Grind up all your spices into powder, or as near powder as possible. Will require either coffee grinder dedicated to spices only, Mortar & Pestle (big size), Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker. None of which I had at the time, so I used my little pulse blender I use to make Dukkah and things. You want to get everything broken down as much as possible, but don't worry if you end up with a few not-fully ground seeds.
3. De-seed and chop chillies roughly. Leave more seeds in for more heat.
4. Add all liquids, spice mix and chillie to blender.
5. Peel bulb if garlic and add to blender.
6. Blend the crap out of everything - you want liquid red with no chunks of anything.
7. Pour over meat into ziplock bag. Try to remove as much air as possible from ziplock bag. Slip filled ziplock bag inside another ziplock bag for safety. You don't want this stuff leaking in your fridge.
8. Marinade for two days - turn regularly so that all meat gets covered well.
9. Preheat oven to 150 celcius.
10. Get a large, heavy oven-proof pot and line it with 4-5 long pieces of baking paper. There should be enough paper left so you can fold over the tops to fully enclose your meaty deliciousness.
11. Carefully empty out the contents of your ziplock treasure chest into the baking paper pocket. Fold down the baking paper and tuck in the edges.
12. Take a piece of aluminium foil and and lay it over the top of your paper parcel, then tuck and scrunch it in at the sides. Put the lid on the pot.
13. Cook for 3-4 hours at 150 celcius, then remove and serve with rice or in soft tortillas

Cooking Notes

• The traditional recipe calls for banana leaves to wrap the meat in for roasting. We couldn't source them easily so we went with the baking paper method, which also helped with cleanup. Bonus!
• You don't need to worry too much about a thermometer and testing your meat temperature. 3-4 hours at 150 will be fine for slow cooking your meat, any any nasties should have died anyways after being bathed in acidic orange and lime juices and vinegar with salt for two days during the marinading process.
• When I made this the first time, I only included 1/2 a chilli worth of seeds, which was JUST enough for the touch of heat but mellow enough for all to eat. I don't think this dish is better served by turning it into a chill-heat pissing contest.

Oh, and the rest of the menu included soft tortillas, homemade guacamole, Spanish rice, jalapenos, Chill con Skippy (carnes de Kangaroo) and a bucket-load of Tequila.