Someone asked me about a particular Mexican food preparation yesterday when I was at the bank getting some cash. She said it was marinated roasted pork with lemon and oranges and it was totally delicious but she just couldn’t remember the name of the dish. I said it sounds like Cochinita Pibil.
She said O that’s it! It’s Cochinita Pibil.
I said I love that dish. It’s one of my favorite things in life to eat that dish.
She goes yeah it’s sooo good.
I ignored the person standing nearby who said ‘O that’s not Mexican food.’

Mexican food isn’t just one cuisine, though some people tend to imagine that it is. Mexico is a big place and it encompasses a large and varied culinary tradition. Cochinita pibil is, as the name suggests, a suckling pig, roasted in a Pib. A Pib being the Mayan word for a small shallow rectangular pit used for cooking seasoned meats, which are wrapped in banana leaves in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. The dish was made popular in this country several years ago when it was featured in the film Once Upon a Time in Mexico…

 BTW, Here’s a recipe for Cocinita Pibil

4lbs. Pork butt cut in 3 inch cubes
8oz. Achiote paste
10 cloves of garlic
2 limes, cut in half
2 lemons, cut in half
2 oranges, cut in half
8 dry bay leaves
2 t. ground cumin
½ t. ground cinnamon
1T. dried oregano
1T. Kosher salt
2T. ground black pepper.

Squeeze the citrus fruit juice out, add everything together and mash it up with your hands until you have a bright pink paste that you’re rubbing all over the pork meat.
Next you’ll need
1 lb. of banana leaves
2 white onions cut in quarters
5 roma tomatoes cut in half

Line a baking pan with the banana leaves, add the pink achiote and citrus marinated pork into the banana leaf  lined pan and top with the onions and tomatoes. Fold the banana leaves over the meat and roast it in your oven at 325 degrees for 3 hours. Or until this sweet and sour pink cochinita meat just falls apart when you put your fork into it. Serve it with fresh tortillas and avocado slices.

 And get ready to freak out because it is gonna be a flavor explosion in your mouth!