Easy Oven-Baked Cochinita Pibil
shared by Nibblore Español
This cochinita pibil is juicy, fall-apart tender, and deeply flavored with earthy achiote and bright citrus. Slow-cooking the pork in a tightly sealed, banana leaf-lined dish recreates the moist heat of a traditional earth oven and keeps the meat from drying out. Serve it in warm corn tortillas with pickled red onion for a generous Yucatán-style meal. • Seal the baking dish tightly: trapped steam tenderizes the pork and keeps it moist throughout the long cooking time. • Use pork shoulder rather than pork loin; its fat and connective tissue create juicier meat that shreds easily. • Taste the cooking juices before mixing them into the pork, and adjust the salt only at the end because the juices become concentrated during baking. • Wear gloves when handling the habanero and avoid touching your eyes; serve it on the side so everyone can control the heat. • If banana leaves are unavailable, cook the pork in a baking dish tightly sealed with baking paper and aluminum foil. It will lose some of the leaves' vegetal aroma but remain juicy. • You can replace the white vinegar with unfiltered apple cider vinegar, provided it contains no added sulphites if you need to maintain that allergen-free claim. • Instead of pork shoulder, use another well-marbled pork shoulder cut and follow the same temperature and tenderness guidelines. • For milder pickled onion, replace half the lime juice in the pickling mixture with orange juice. Refrigerate the pork with its juices in an airtight container for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat covered with a little of its cooking liquid over low heat or in a 160°C oven until it reaches 74°C. Store the pickled onion separately in the refrigerator for up to 4 days; freezing is not recommended.
- Total time
- 265 min
- Servings
- 8
- Difficulty
- Beginner-friendly
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Save to my cookbook — freeIngredients
- 1.8 kgpork shoulder, skin removed and cut into 5 large pieces
- 100 gachiote paste
- 180 mlorange juice, freshly squeezed
- 80 mllime juice, freshly squeezed
- 60 mlwhite vinegar
- 6 clovegarlic, peeled
- 2 tspMexican oregano, dried
- 1 tspground cumin
- ¼ tspground cinnamon
- 2 ½ tspfine salt
- ½ tspground black pepper
- 2 tbspvegetable oil
- 2banana leaves, thawed if frozen and wiped clean
- 1red onion, thinly sliced
- 80 mllime juice, freshly squeezed, for pickling the onion
- ½ tspfine salt, for pickling the onion
- 16corn tortillas, warmed for serving
- 1habanero pepper, thinly sliced for serving
Instructions
- 1Add the achiote paste, orange juice, 80 ml lime juice, vinegar, garlic, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, black pepper, and oil to a blender. Blend for 45–60 seconds, until the marinade is smooth.
- 2Place the pork in a nonreactive container or resealable bag. Pour over the marinade, massage it into every piece, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours. This marinating time is not included in the preparation time.
- 3Preheat the oven to 160°C. Briefly pass each banana leaf over a gas burner on low heat, moving it constantly for 15–20 seconds per side until pliable. If you do not have a gas burner, warm the leaves in a large, dry frying pan. Do not let them burn.
- 4Line an approximately 23 × 33 cm baking dish with the banana leaves, leaving enough overhang to cover the pork. Arrange the pork in a single layer and pour all the marinade over it. Fold the leaves over the meat, then seal the dish tightly with two layers of aluminum foil.
- 5Bake for 3 hours 30 minutes. Carefully open one corner of the foil and check the pork: it is ready when the center reaches at least 93°C and the meat separates without resistance when pressed with a fork. If it is still firm, reseal the dish and bake for another 20–30 minutes.
- 6While the pork cooks, combine the red onion with 80 ml lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Gently squeeze the onion with clean hands for 30 seconds, then leave it to pickle for at least 30 minutes, stirring once.
- 7Let the pork rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove the banana leaves, transfer the meat to a tray, and shred it with two forks, discarding any large pieces of fat. Spoon off some of the surface fat from the cooking juices, then mix approximately 250 ml of the juices into the pork, adding more as needed to keep it moist.
- 8Serve the cochinita hot in the tortillas, topped with drained pickled red onion and thin slices of habanero to taste.