Cochinita Pibil: Mexican Pulled Pork

/ January 16, 2015

This recipe is most certainly the highlight of my foray into Mexican cooking: pork marinated in fragrant spices and cooked in banana leaves, making for an amazing combination of scents and flavours. The banana leaves make all the difference as they infuse the meat with their unique aroma. Cochinita pibil is probably the most famous dish from the Yukatan peninsula, an area in the southeast of Mexico which is the home of many Mayan sites. The origins of this dish are said to be Mayan, too: ‘chanchito’ is Spanish for a suckling pig, whereas ‘pibil’ in the Mayan language refers to something that is buried, probably a reference how this slow-cooked pork dish had been prepared in the past. It is definitely not your everyday Tex-Mex dish!cochinita pibil 5 To be quite honest, this is not an easy one to pull off: unless you live beside a Mexican grocer, or, better even, in Mexico, you’ll have to hunt down your ingredients, one by one: banana leaves, anchiote paste, and, finally, bitter orange juice are what gives it such a unique flavour. I got the banana leaves from a Thai grocer and the anchiote paste through the internet. Seville oranges are in season here in Europe as we speak – to be on the safe side I juiced twice the amount and have frozen one. Just in case …banana leaves Do give it a try, especially if you want to impress guests; keep back a bit of the leaves to decorate the finished dish. Serve it with hot corn tortillas and the sweet and tangy red onion escabeche condiment I have added below, for good measure. Bother recipes are from Margarita Carrillo Arronte’s Mexico: The Cookbook, which I am trying to review for Food52.

Cochinita Pibil with Escabeche Morado (serves 8-10)

For the cochinita pibil marinade:

  • 1 kg boneless lean leg, loin or shoulder of pork, diced
  • 3 heads of garlic
  • 1/2 cinnamon stick
  • 50g achiote paste
  • 1 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
  • 3 cloves
  • 4 tbs dried oregano
  • dried chillies, to taste
  • 1/2 cup / 120ml bitter orange juice (ca. 2 Seville oranges)
  • salt

To cook:

  • 4 plantain leaves (400g)
  • 1/2 cup / 125ml bitter orange juice

For the red onion escabeche:

  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
  • 5 cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 5 red onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 habanero chiles
  • 1/2 cup / 125ml apple vinegar
  • salt

The evening before, heat the grill to 200C/400F and grill one head of garlic for ca. 10 minutes, turning it regularly. It should be lightly brown and soft. Remove and leave to cool.

Place a saucepan over medium heat and gently roast the cinnamon, cumin and cloves until they begin to emit their scent. Add the oregano and roast for a further minute or two. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Place the garlic and all the grilled and dry roasted ingredients in a blender, together with the achiote paste and the orange juice, as well as the dried chillies, if you would like to use them, and process until you have a thick paste. Season with salt. Place the meat into a freezer bag and add the paste, close the bag and mix it well until the meat is fully coated. Place it in the fridge to marinade for a few hours, preferably overnight.

The next day, preheat your grill to 200C/400F. Wash the plantain leaves and place them under the grill, one after another, for ca. 5-10 minutes until they are lightly grilled; you will immediately notice the strong smell, a bit like aniseed. Heat the oven to 200C/400F and place a large ovenproof dish, filled with water, at the bottom.cochinita pibil 1 Line a large casserole dish with half the banana leaves, then add the marinated meat and another 1/2 cup of bitter orange juice. Cover with the remaining leaves, close with a lid or with tin foil and cook it for 3 hours.   The perfect time to prepare the tortillas, as well as the escabeche: heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic and spices and keep stirring until the spices start emitting their scents. Add the onion slices and chillies. Stir for another 10 minutes, then add the vinegar, season and leave it to cool. When the meat is done, remove it from the oven.cochinita pibil 2 cochinita pibil 3Shred the meat, using two forks. Add a little water, if necessary, and season with salt. Close the lid and place it in the oven for 10 minutes to ensure the meat is warm before serving.cochinita pibil and red onion escabeche Serve immediately with the warm tortillas and the escabeche.cochinita pibil 4 What a perfect party dish to bring to Angie’s at The Novice Gardener! She’ll be joined today by with Jhuls @The Not So Creative Cook and Juju @cookingwithauntjuju, who will give her a hand. Do pop over to have a look at who else has joined, and, more importantly, what they have brought along! Fiesta Friday Badge Button I party @

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38 thoughts on “Cochinita Pibil: Mexican Pulled Pork”

  2. Thanks to you Ginger I bought The Mexico Cookbook after reading your last post. That is one big, heavy book with lots of good recipes. Thanks for sharing both the cookbook and another authentic Mexican recipe. Happy Fiesta Friday and hope to see you next week 🙂

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    • It is such a wonderful book, but you need to watch the details as the measurements are not always correct … typical for professional chefs, I suppose, a friend of mine keeps complaining about Tom Kerridge’s last book as she says the measurements are all over the place. I have one more cake to post – a dream, I’m telling you!
      Fiesta Friday’s looking amazing, as always. I’ll be having a look around it tonight, when I have a bit of time to read 😉

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    • Let me know when you are in London and I’ll make it for you 😉 I’ve just frozen some bitter orange juice to have it for the next time (apparently it’s amazing with beetroot, too – my mother-in-law says it’s very popular in Chile!)

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    • Don’t just pin, get the bitter oranges while they’re available! You never know when you’ll come across some fresh banana leaves … Happy Fiesta Friday! Are you looking forward to the anniversary party?

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  8. There are some suggestions on the web about mixing orange juice with lime juice and the like, so I’ll have to refer you to that – please let me know if you do that and how it worked! The bitterness helps ‘cooking’ the meat, similar to the Peruvian ‘ceviche’, which explains the use of lime or lemons. The banana or plantain leaves, I’m afraid, cannot be replaced as their aroma is so distinct and really sets the dish apart. There is a hint of aniseed, but it is much stronger than that, almost like juniper, but without the berry notes. Sorry for sounding like a wine label writer here …
    So looking forward to next Friday – was just talking about it with a friend as we are planning a double whammy!

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    • I have no idea, Jhuls – is there such a thing as pulled beef? If you can slow-cook beef to the point that it falls apart and still melts on your tongue, then do give it a go!

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  15. OK, I admit when I first read it it sounded like Conchita- I really hoped it was not the Wurst one 😀 but there you go it’s Cochinita! It looks amazing Ginger- by the way at this stage I guess it’s time to open a Mexican place right? You can cook, I look after the advertisement- we could make a lot of money together. At least think about it 😀

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  19. I am absolutely wild about Mexican food (or Mexican American) and you’ve done a fantastic job with this! I haven’t even bothered to go to such lengths, but you’ve made a gorgeous masterpiece! Good job! You go girl! 🙂

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