Cochinita Pibil Tortas
“Among all the things that make me drool instantly, is Cochinita Pibil… this delicious dish from the Yucatan Peninsula, which actually makes amazingly good and tasty tortas (mexican name for a sandwich). In Yucatan, specially in Merida, you can find “cochinita tortas” almost at every corner and they sell out so fast, you sometimes have to arrive as early as 9 am to order your torta. I must accept, being able to do this at home, really rocks my world and brightens my day! This recipe is enough to make almost 30 tortas… but you can stretch it to make 5 more for sure. Enjoy!”
Yields: 30 tortas, or a little more
Preparation time: 30 min, and 8 hours of marinating
Cooking time: 2.5 hours
Ingredients
- 3 lb of pork shoulder cut into 1.5 inch cubes (you can mix half pork shoulder and half of loin meat for a leaner version)
- 1 cube of achiote paste (available at mexican stores or spice shop)
- 1 cup of fresh orange juice (its really importante to use fresh juice, really!)
- 1 cup of fresh lime juice
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 4 whole peppercorns
- 1 tbsp or dried mexican oregano
- 2 whole banana leaves (optional)
- 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
- salt to taste (if necessary)
- bolillos or french baguette to make “tortas”
Directions
- Mix the orange and the lemon juice and dissolve the achiote paste into them. If the paste is to hard, warm the juices a little bit, being carefull not to boil them, because they will get bitter. Mix in the peppercorns, oregano and garlic and rub the meat with this.
- Meanwhile, warm the banana leaves over the flame, being carefull not to burn them, until they are softer and place them on the bottom of a container, leaving the edges out, so you can wrap the meat later. Place in the meat and wrap it with the leaves. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. When you are ready to cook the meat, take it out one hour prior to cook so it’s at room temperature.
- Place the banana leaves, the meat and the juices inside your slow cooker or a dutch oven, and cook in the oven at 400ºF for 2-2.5 hours, until its done and you can shread the meat easily with a fork.The juices should be absorbed and it should taste amazing already! Shred all the meat using two forks, this should be easy.
- In a small pan, sautee the onions in olive oil until they are translucent, about 5 min. Mix into the shredded meat and reserve until you are ready to serve.
- Cut the bolillos or french baguettes in half to make the tortas and put some meat and pickled onions (recipe here) inside. You can also put some habanero sauce or chiles, avocado or frijoles charros inside, it will taste amazing! Enjoy!
