The Princess Bloggeries

We made puerco pibil last night for our friends and everybody loved it. The only ingredient we had problems with were the banana leaves - but finally Svetla’s colleagues helped us with a few suggestions, and we were able to buy some.

This is what the cooked meat looked like ! Oh yes - if you like to tone down the hot, use only one habanero pepper - two made it very hot for our tastes

In the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the CIA agent Sands loved trying Puerco Pibil. There is a nice Wikipedia summary on this, I am just posting the detailed recipe from the movie’s bonus feature.

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs pork butt
• 5 Tbs annatto seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 Tbs black pepper
• 8 allspice berries (large round seeds)
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 2 habanero peppers
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 Tbs salt
• 8 cloves garlic
• 5 lemons
• good tequila

How to make it:

1. Prepare the sauce

First grind the annatto seeds, the cumin, pepper, the allspice and the cloves together until they are a very fine mix - use a coffee grinder if possible, but not the one you use for your regular coffee ! :).

Take out the seeds and veins off the habanero peppers (if you want it a bit more spicy - leave a few seeds), and chop them into small pieces.

Mix the grinded powder, the habanero peppers, the juice, the vinegar, and the peppers, add the salt and the garlic. Blend the entire mix until it’s nice and smooth.

Squeeze 5 lemons and add a splash of the best tequila you have (it makes all the difference).

2. Prepare the meat

Cut the pork butt into 2-inch squares, then set all meat in a large ziplock bag and pour all sauce on top of it. While the meat is soaking in the sauce, line-up a large pan with 2-3 banana leaves. Put the meat in, and add more leaves on top. Pack everything well and seal on top with aluminum foil.

3. Roast and serve

Roast slowly for 4 hours @325, then serve over white Spanish rice garnished with some slices of tomatoes, hot pepper, and parsley.