Puerco Pibil
Submitted by: JustRightMenus
Description:
Whenever pork roast is on sale, I buy 2. One to make this dish in the upcoming menu plan, and one for 1-2 months out. It's very good, and the leftovers heat up well for lunches.
Note: this is a recipe that's easily removed from the menu. If your plans change, you can drop this from the menu w/o having to worry about what you'll do with the ingredients; they can all be kept for future use (but if the meat is already defrosted in the fridge, you can only keep it there for 2-3 days).
Servings: lots
Categories: Easily removed from the menu, Mexican, pork roast
From the kitchen of:
I first saw the recipe on You Tube, but it is from the extras for Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Robert Rodriguez, the director, included a 10-Minute Cooking School as an extra on the dvd for the film.
Ingredients
One 5lb pork roast, cut into 2" cubes.
Group A
5 TB whole annato seeds (aka achiote seeds) - you can find these at a Mexican grocery if nowhere else
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 TB ground black pepper
8 whole allspice
1/2 tsp whole cloves
Group B
2 jabanero peppers, no seeds or veins OR
2 small slices jalapeno pepper, b/c we don't like things quite that spicy
1/2 c. OJ
1/2 c. white vingear
Group C
2 TB salt
8 garlic cloves
1/2 c + 2 TB lemon juice (juice of 5 lemons)
a splash of tequila (about 1 airplane bottle, or 1 shot plus a bit)**
**optional
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°.
Grind the spices (Group A) into a fine dust. Use a designated spice grinder. We have 2 coffee grinders: one for spices and one for coffee. Don't try to use the spice one for coffee - you'll regret it when you taste your coffee.
Mix Group B in a blender, then add the spice powder (Group A).
Add in Group C, then liquefy all.
Mix the meat and sauce together in a large bowl.
I use two 9" square pans, lined with tinfoil, to bake this in.
Place a sheet of tinfoil just over twice the size of the pan inside the pan, then put 1/2 your pork mixture inside. Fold the tinfoil over to cover it, and pinch/roll all the edges closed. You do not want any steam to be able to escape, or your pork will come out very, very dry. Just to be sure, I then take the foil packet of pork and set it outside the pan. I then line the pan with a second piece of tinfoil and repeat the process.
Follow these instructions for the other pan as well. Then, bake for 4 hours at 325°.
This meal goes well with rice or mashed potatoes.
The best part about cooking the meat sealed up in tinfoil is that the pan barely gets dirty at all. Hooray for easy cleanup!