Cochinita Pibil
Traditionally a whole shoulder wrapped in banana leaf and buried in a pit overnight, which your evening cannot accommodate. This is the fast pan version: thin pork, the same achiote and bitter orange marinade, the same pink onions on top.
- Total time
- 18 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Medium
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 10 in the basket.
How you make it
Toss the sliced onion with the vinegar and a pinch of salt in a bowl and leave it to turn pink while you cook everything else.
Mash the achiote paste with the orange juice, lime juice, oregano and salt until smooth, then coat the pork slices and leave for 5 minutes.
Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat and sear the pork in a single layer for 3 minutes per side, until the marinade darkens and a probe reads at least 63C / 145F.
Rest the pork for 3 minutes, then shred it roughly with two forks and toss it back through the pan juices.
Warm the tortillas for 20 seconds a side in a dry pan until they puff slightly and smell toasty.
Fill the tortillas with the pork and top generously with the drained pink onions.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Cochinita Pibil is sitting in the Mexican kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the Mexican kitchen
Lime, chilli and char, wrapped in something warm.