**The Art of Cochinita Pibil: A Hands-On Guide**

As we stood in front of our makeshift kitchen, surrounded by the warm glow of candles and the aroma of marinating pig parts, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and trepidation. Our mission was to cook a traditional Yucatecan dish called cochinita pibil, a slow-cooked pork dish that's been passed down through generations of Mayan cooks. With 80 pounds of pig meat, 10 pounds of marinade, and a multitude of banana leaves, we were ready to embark on this culinary adventure.

Our first task was to prepare the marinade, a sweet and spicy sauce made with ingredients like citrus juice, garlic, and chili peppers. We mixed everything together in a large bowl, adding a dash of salt and pepper for good measure. As we worked, our host, Jonathan, explained the importance of using high-quality ingredients and taking the time to massage the meat, ensuring it's evenly coated with the marinade.

Next, we turned our attention to the banana leaves, a crucial component of cochinita pibil. We began by heating them over an open flame, watching as they transformed from rigid and green to tender and supple. These magical leaves would act as insulators, keeping the meat warm and cozy throughout the cooking process. With our pot in hand, we carefully layered the banana leaves on top of each other, creating a snug and secure bed for our pork.

As we worked, the sounds of Latin music filled the air, adding to the festive atmosphere. We were building a big pot of meat, one that would simmer slowly over low heat for hours, filling the kitchen with the most incredible aromas. With every layer of banana leaves added, our excitement grew. This was going to be good.

Our next challenge was to fill the pot with pig parts – including body parts like the forearm and shoulder – carefully arranging them in a way that ensured even cooking. We wanted to make sure the coarser cuts took longer to cook than the finer ones, so we lined the bottom of the pot with these tougher pieces. The sounds of laughter and chatter filled the air as we worked together, our banter easy and relaxed.

As we finished up the preparations, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. We had taken on this complex dish, one that required patience, skill, and attention to detail. And with every layer added, every cut arranged just so, I knew that we were creating something truly special. The pig parts in our bag looked innocent enough, but we knew better – they were the key to a culinary masterpiece.

Our host, Jonathan, grinned at me as he handed me a spatula. "Time to get started," he said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. We took turns adding slices of pork and banana leaves, shingling the cut to create a crispy, caramelized crust on top. The sounds of sizzling meat filled the air, mingling with the Latin music that had been playing in the background.

As we worked, I couldn't help but think about the history behind this dish. Cochinita pibil was born out of necessity – Mayan cooks needed a way to cook tough, unpalatable cuts of pork over low heat for hours, transforming them into something tender and delicious. And so, they created banana leaves, which became an essential component of the dish.

As we finished up our preparations, I felt a sense of awe at the complexity and beauty of this traditional dish. It was more than just a meal – it was a journey through time and culture, one that required patience, skill, and attention to detail. And with every bite, I knew that we were tasting a piece of history.

Our big pot of meat was finally complete, and we were ready to cook it. With the banana leaves in place, our pig parts submerged in a sea of marinade, and the coals burning bright, we were confident that we had created something truly special. And as the hours passed, the aromas wafting from the pot grew stronger, tempting our taste buds and building anticipation for the meal to come.

In the end, it was all about patience – letting the slow-cooked pork simmer slowly over low heat until it was tender and delicious. And with every bite, I knew that we had succeeded in creating something truly special – a culinary masterpiece that would be remembered for years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Just hold the pig overthe top of it for a minute.(Grant laughing)(Latin music)Here we are, again at my home,with my good friend, Jonathan Zaragoza.We're ready to cook theultimate cochinita pibil.- Ultimate.- Ultimate.- And so the essentials that you needto make cochinita pibil are wood,and some sort of oven to cook it in.The pig, the marinade-- Yeah.- Onions (indistinct), banana leaves.Yeah. And usually theybury it in the ground.So.- We did this on purpose.Usually it's underground.This one, fully on top.I'll tell you why later.(upbeat Latin music)Normally, if Jonathan and Iwere just to do the kind of trad pibil,what we would do is have to dig a big,watch your toes.Probably bigger than that,I would think biggerthan that, realistically.- Mm-hmm.- We did a huge holedeep enough for like this pot.- Yeah. And to clear it just a little bit.- Yep. So we gotta dig a huge holebig enough for thatpot, and more material.'Cause bricks and wood and all that stuff.There's a bunch of videos out thereon how to just dig a holeand set it on fire and bury it.We could do that.But, the more I was thinking about it,the more I was like we can build a mobile,take anywhere ultimate pib oventhat you can use for other stuff too.- For sure.- That you can justput on top of the ground.- So we're gonna make onethat has all the principlesof the traditional oven,and the consistency ofthe like at home oven.But we're gonna do it above ground.Or the restaurant version you dois like about temperature timed.- Yeah. 300 degrees I'd sayfor like six to eight hourswould be something.- Yeah.- Yeah. Just till it's tenderand kind of falling apart.- Mellow.- Because in the restaurantsetting you know, it's consistency.We wanna make sure we give the customerthe same product every time.Can't really bury a pit in the groundevery time you want to cook cochinita.So.- We've already gotyour amazing marinade going.I love the recipe.And by the way, we've gotthe at-home version for thisthat you developed.- On Chefsteps.com.- On Chefsteps.com. I love it.So you can have Jonathan'samazing restaurant stylein your own home oven.But today we gotta build this big oven,'cause we got a whole pig,and we got a lot of people to feed.Let's get going.(bouncy music)You just need a big fireproof barrel.And then now, we're going tobuild it out and insulate it.Just like an underground traditional pib.We're gonna stack all our wood(mimics vibration sound)around it.Oh dude. Almost there.- I like where it's going.- Then, we're gonna put our pot in.But I think we want a moreheat under the pot too.- For sure.- So we'll get some likebricks under there.- Mm-hmm.- Cool, man.- Dude, this looks insane.- And then this guy we'llset up just in case...I feel like we run the riskof making it too hot maybe.- Maybe.- So maybe we'll do extrabanana leaf or whatever.- Yeah.- Cool.- Insulate it.- Let's do it brother.- Sounds good.- Until tomorrow morning.(upbeat Latin music)(mimics pig squealing)- Just kidding.Alright, we've got our whole hog.We need to break it downfor our cochinita pibil.- Yep. So we need to getit down to smaller partsbecause we want evenseasoning, even flavor,and even cooking.- Let's get some knives.- Let's get it.- Oh yeah. Things bigger than the pig.- So we're gonna break down this pig.Usually at the restaurantwe break down goats,but we're gonna treatit kind of the same waybecause it's gonna cook verysimilar to our birrieria.So, we're just gonna breakoff some shoulders here,expose the neck, get the neck off,get the head separated,and then kind of move downto the loin and belly.- Love it.- Yeah.- Have at it.- We follow our heartswhile we're at it,- Aww.- 'Cause there's no wrong way to do it.There's one, just gonna follow that down.Number two.(Jonathan sawing bone)- There you go.- Finish the rest of the waywith the knife just tonot mess up the meat.There's belly.So you can see like the bellywas like connected there.And again the belly has no bones in it.So you'll see the natural seamthat we're gonna cut along,and just under this sectionright here of the loin.Again, we want to get everythingcut up into even pieces,like around the same size.- Yeah.- Just so they can can cook evenly too.So we'll break these downinto like sub primals.(Jonathan sawing bone)(Grant chopping bone)(Jonathan cutting bone)(Jonathan sawing bone)There it is.So even chefs need some supportand some friends every once in a while.- It's usually a coffeeand kitchen towels.That's my support systemat the restaurant.- And blue tape.- And blue tape.- Yeah.- My emotional support tape.- Aww.- I told youthat in confidence.(bones breaking)- So we're gonna organize these cutsbased on cook time ortexture that we want.The loin will go on top of the pot,and the ribs and the bellywill go right under that.The saddle and the neckarea will go under that.And then moving into shoulders, hams,and the head will be at the bottom.- Okay. We weighed thispig when we got it,and it came in with a weight of 65 lbs.And you wanna do 1% salt for a day or so.- Yeah.- So we just need to salt it,get it on trays, put it in the fridge.- That's it.- Done for the day.- Yep.- Tomorrow's marinade,next day's cooking.Alright, we've turned this big piginto lots of little pig parts.- Small parts.- Yeah. Yeah. Salted it.We're gonna let it hang out for a day.Tomorrow's the marinade, then we cook.- That's it. Simple.- Let's do it.- Let's get it.- Oh God.- You gave me the heavy one, Dude.(Grant laughs mischievously)(Latin music)- (singing) Making marinade.It's time to be at the houseand do the rest of the pig stuff.- Yes, sir.- We've got a cooler fullof pig meat.(buzzer sounds)- Pork parts.- Pork parts.(bell dings)And now we needto make your marinade.- So this is what we wouldcall a recado in the Yucatan.So this is a recado rojo.Sometimes you'll see a black recado,or a green one as well.Those are the three common ones.I know. It smells so good.So this is annatto seed pastethat's already prepared.I really like the color thatit adds to the marinade.In here we have more annattoseeds that are whole.They're a little bit moreof like an earthy color.So we're gonna toast this up.And then some garlic.And that'll make the recado rojo.At that point, it'll be a recado.Really traditionally you can use itto smear on fish or pork.But because we're gonna marinate it,we're gonna bloom it in some citrus.So usually you see itin the sour orange juicethat you find in the Yucatan.- Mm-hmm.- We don't have that.So we're gonna do splitbase of orange juice,lime juice, and also apple cider vinegar.- Whoa.- Just to kind ofwake everything up.So we're gonna toast the seeds and spicesin a pan over the charcoal.We're doing a technique called tatemar.Tatemar is just cooking at a high heat,in a comal or a non-sick pan.And you get kind of like complexand sweet aromas from it.So I like toasting myspices in a cold pan to startjust so they don't scorch right away.And all we're looking for is justfor them to be aromaticand kind of warm just through,to activate the flavors.And then we're gonna pull 'em offand start making our marinade.So, our garlic's prettymuch where we want it.You can see it's like tender and charred.You got some beautiful leoparding on itfrom the dry roasting the tatemado.And then if you see this texture here,it's like super, it's tender,but it's still charred.It's got like a lot of character.There's a lot of levels in there.So this is what we're looking for.And even the sound changes.- Okay, we gotall our toasty spices.- Yep. We're about to make our marinade.So if you wanted to make the recado rojo,you would just do these ingredients,maybe a little bit of water or stockand get it kind of a paste going.- Just enough to make it a paste.- Right. Just enough to getit moving in the blender.But here we're marinating a bunch of pork,so we're gonna stretch itwith our wonderful juice.And again, this kind ofcut through that earthiness of this.A lot of citrus, a lot ofgreat flavors going on.So I want to get it into the blenderand then kind of work in batches,and get it all mixed up.Marinate the pork.Let's get it.(Latin music)(blender grinding)- Oh yeah.You don't like how chunky it is?- No, I just want a little bit smoother.(blender grinding)- You juice that?(upbeat Latin music)Whew! The annatto seed,that's what gives themain color right here.It's got a really earthy flavor,very astringent as well.It's just like a quintessentialflavor for the cochinita.Other than the flavor,the color is like what makes itthat brick red color.So we're gonna mix it up a little bit.- Okay. So we got our marinade.- Yep.- Our rocada rojo.We have our pig parts.- Pig parts in a bag.- Big garbage bags. So handy.Even if somebody's gonna do this at home,I don't wanna put 80 poundsof pig meat in my fridge,plus 10 more pounds ofmarinade, plus, plus.So we're just cover it all up,let's get it all marinatey,and then throw it rightback in the cooler.See you tomorrow.- Yep.- Here were gonna usethis whole bowl, right?- Yeah.- Yes.- Oh dude.- There's nothing sexy about this guys.- Let's do it.- We got two garbage bags- Full of body parts.- Full of pig parts,and some really good sauce.- So you could,you can close it andthen marinate it as well.That's what I was doing.Just massage it.- Yep.- Yeah. So I'm gonna do two different...- So I didn't do that.- I know. It's okay.This is what I'm gonna do.- I like touching it.- I know you do.- I want to get in.See you tomorrow.- Uno, dos, tres.(Latin music)- Nailed it.- Let's like this thing.- Morning time.- It's so early in the morning.Alright, we got our fire lit.It's gonna take a couplehours to burn down into coals.And from here, we've gottaactually fill our pot.- Right.- So we've gotta packall the cochinita in a pot.So we're gonna go work on that,check on it in the next couple hours.Hopefully get the cochinitacooking in the next hour or so.And then from there, we'llbe on cruise control.(Latin music)We have to build our big pot of meat.We gotta get all of our pig meat,(buzzer sounds)pig parts in our pot.But we don't just throw it in a pot.There's a special way to do it.So we've got a big giant pot.We've got banana leaves.To be totally honest, Jonathan,I've only cooked the bananaleaves a couple times.Once doing the cochinita pibil-- Yeah.- In like a pot.- Why do we cook 'em or heat 'em and...- Yeah, so like if you can smell that,- It smells really good.- Smells like a super like-- Green.- Grassy.Grassy green under ripe banana.So they go from like super rigidto like very, very tender and supple,and easily malleable tolike wrap around the pig.Also, it's gonna act aslike you said, an insulator.You wanna build the bottom ones like,just so long as there'sno pot showing, you know.I'm so excited for this thing, man.- Mm-hmm.- Yeah, we want more.So what we're gonna do is like,at this point start like,start it down low so we getmore layers on the bottom,and then start overlappingthem on the edges.So when we close the pot,you just fold it over.- All we're trying to do is haveenough insulation on the bottomand on the side so those coalsand hot rocks don't burn our cochinita.And that's the main goal here.And the exact right amount,like, hmm, I don't know about like,if we have five, six, seven layers,that feels about right.- Yeah. It feels good.- Alright. So we're gonna line thecuts that take longerto cook, at the bottom,just 'cause they have morecontact with the heat.And then kinda layerthe thinner cuts on top.(Grant whistles)Down below.- Ah dude.- Yeah, man. And we'll goa little head down there.Shoulder.- Don't forget to shingle the-- Shingle the cut-- The face.- Shingle the face.- Here's some ribs.- Love it.- Ooh, Belly, saddle, neck.I can't see.- Alright, we're in.- Alright buddy.- Hey.- You did a good job.- Good job.- We're gonna do this.- Not the forearm shake.- We've got this.- We're not doingthe forearm shake.(both laughing)- So, I didn't see this coming,but Jonathan's like, yeahduh, we're adding the lard.- We're adding lard. Super lean.And also I saw thisat a place in Yucatan called Pueblo Pibil,and some of the bestcochinita I've ever had.So we're, we're doingas the Romans do my guy.Doing it as the Mayans do actually.- Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.- It's feeling good, dude.- Normally you'd throwthis guy in the groundand then wonder,and dig it up and be like,\"Oh, is it ready or not?\"But this is more ChefSteps style.I'm gonna stick this littlethermocouple in there.That's fireproof. We'vegot a high temp one.So I'm gonna bury this guy in here,and we'll be able to sneak peeklike a little bit of like what's happeningin the pot that way.- Right.- I love thermometers.So, we're all packed up.We could just throw the lid on,but then you're gonnalose a lot of moisture,a lot of pressure asthis thing gets boiling.So we're gonna seal it with-- Some masa.- That's it. We got a giant potinsulated with a ton of banana leaves.- Yep.- We got our marinatedcochinita in there.We're sealed with some masa,and we're ready for our fire pit.So we gotta hulk thisthing way down there.Let's get it.(rousing Latin music)Little steps.- That's literally the onlystep I got, Chef.- Alright, let's pause it here.- We've been at this fortwo days, three days.Today's day three.First day, butchery and salted.- Yep.- Second day,rocada rojo, marinade.- Mm-hmm.- And now we're hereready for the cook-off.We've got about ahundred people showing upin about eight hours.We've built our pit,we've got our cochinita in our potwrapped up in cozy banana leaves.- Yep.- Sealed with masa.And now we just have to not F this up.- That's the biggest thing.- Let's do this, Jonathan.- Let's get it.(Grant laughs)- We're doing it.- I love this like this.My logic right now is,we've got all these coals going.Some of this fresh wetwoodis gonna hold onto thatheat on the inside.You know what I mean? Once we cover it,it starts to cool down.This is like a giantblock of ice basically right now.- Right. Banana leaves.- Banana leaves.- You wannaput them over the top.Just all the way.- Yeah.- Thanks, thanks, thanks.- Big Mondo over here.- Mondo.- So we'll keep an eye on it.We've got like a little mixof smoke and steam coming here,which is good.But I've snuck that littleprobe into the center of our pot.So we'll check it in like,I don't know, hour and a half, two hours.We're only gonna haveone emergency moment.It's not gonna get too hot,but if in two hours we're like,it's 100 degrees Fahrenheit in that pot,we're like fucked.We gotta dig it up and figure it out.- Figure it out. Yep.- Take the pressure cookers out.We'll see. We didn'thave enough hot coals.We're an hour in,and we've only come up 20 degreeswhich isn't enough of a trajectoryto get this thing going.Here's one option.Leave the pot, take some of this wood out,get it burning on the sides again,stir up those coals,get 'em breathing, get a fire raging.- Yeah.- Or we could take out the pot,put it back in.(Grant laughs)- Or we maybe take it out.- Fuck it. Let's take it out.- Yeah.(Latin music)- This is interesting.(blower motor running)Toasty. Alright, we dug it up.It was too cold.We stirred it up, got some air in there.We're back up to crazy temp.But we gotta get the pot back in.This is third best choice right here.- No, this is,- This is crisis mode.- This is crisis one.So this is second best choice.- Crisis one. So we reset our temperature.Last time we put the pot in,we filled it with wood and we covered it.And what happened is it smothers the fire.So it just kind of boop,we lost all of our heat,because the fire wasn't burning enough.We didn't store up enough heat energy.So, unpacked it, got the fire going.Now we have a fire coming back up.I'm gonna let it hang out like thisand really heat up.Before we covered it all,I wanna check this guyand make sure it's like ripping boiling.(Latin music)- Here. I do it like that.- Then when you do it...- Here, throw it in my hand.That's good. That's good.- Yeah.- That's good.(Latin music)You gotta break 'em up so you get like-- Juicy.- Juicy, andthen they're all like-- Can you go faster?- Self structure. Yeah.The salsa's really goodfor the, on the cochinita.- Is that the-- Yeah, the creamy yellow.Alright, so this salsa's inspired bya salsa from MexicoCity called Guaca Salsa.Usually they do everything green.So tomatillo, serrano chiles,they throw garlic in there.Sometimes you'll seelike blanched cilantroor raw cilantro, they'll blend it.And it looks like guacamole blended,but it doesn't have any avocado.So the trick is to likecaramelize everything in oil,which is what we did with this one.Except this one's a white salsa.This one has onion, habanero, garlic,some citrus, and it justgoes really, really well,and kind of coats the cochinita pibil,and has a little bit of all spicethat drives through thosewarm spices in the cochinita.(upbeat Latin music)- Alright, we started our firevery early this morning.Probably not early enough.We got the pot in.We thought it was hot.Probably not hot enough.We've gone in and out,we've reset some things,but I think we're in a good place.Jonathan's pulling it all apart right now.We gotta get this whole pot out.We're gonna take a look.I think at this point,whether it worked or not,doesn't really matter'cause everybody's starting to show up.Hut. Wee. Dunt, dunt, dunt, dun.It's got a little char taste on it.- Sure.- Like maybe two hoton the edges.- Yeah.- But dude, I think we kind of-- Did we get it?- I think we totally redeemedourselves on this one.- Is that dumb and dumber?- Yeah.- Oh my God, look at that.- What? The tong test.- Since you dubbed, it, you get, I get.- Whoa. Hot!It's got banana flavor.I think it's got likecharrey banana flavor.- Charrey banana flavor for sure.- 'Cause we got a littlebit too hot there,but we got our, we got youramazing marinade flavor.That's awesome. The pig tastes great.- Yep.- We got plenty of smokefrom that wood.- Lots of smoke.- I think we have everything it takesto make like an amazing cochinita pibil.But, we ran into someissues along the way.But I think we drove it pretty well.- Yeah.- This is ultimatecochinita pibil.- It's so tender.- Look at that.- I mean-- Whoa.- look at that cook, man.And you got like a millionand one textures in there.I mean, as far as whole hog goes,this is like one of myfavorite preparationsis just to cook it in the potwith like the marinade and all that.- Let's make some tacos.- Let's do it.(Latin music)- Take your tortillas here.- Oh yeah.- Dip 'em.- Yep.- A little bit of the breast.- It's a stack of 'em.- Yeah, a little stack.It's two, two per taco.- Right. But you dunk 'em all.- Dunk 'em all.Then you're gonna bring it to your comal.Get it going here.- And then it starts to getnice and supple again.- Nice and supple. Yeah.- Alright, so we're gonnaget our tacos built here.Lots of texture.Get some pickles on here.- I like how you like pile it on.- I mean, you know,if you're gonna have a taco, have a taco.Alright that, and thensome habanero salsa.I want more.- Yeah, one more.- I want what you're having.- Give me a touch of...You like cilantro?- I like lots of habanero.- You know like salad.- And then the kiss of death.- Ooey gooey.- Let's go, let's do it.- The pork is so good, man.- It is really, really good.- Mm-hmm.- The habanero salsa too.It's not too spicy.It's like you can put a lot.Is it too spicy for you?(Grant grunts)No, you're fine.Being a baby.- Just kidding.- It's sharp. It's like, I like habaneros.I don't like tons of the red,dried chile that sits in your gut.But the habaneros likespicy just in your mouth.- Yeah.- And it's light. You know.- It's got like a pineapple flavor too.- It's temporary.- Like super tropical.- Yeah. It's so good, Dude.- Yeah.- The cilantro, the onions.- And then the greasytortilla is like major key.- Now that I know how to do it,I'm gonna help you out.We're gonna start pumping these out fora bunch of folks coming over.- Yep.- Let's do it.- Let's get it.(Latin music)- Here you go. Jillian,get your butts over here.(Latin music)- Mm.- It goes down easier.Thank you, Buddy.- Mm.Oh, my God.- Subscribe to our channel,and visit chefsteps.com for more tips,recipes, guides, and toolsto help you level up in the kitchen.(champagne bubbling)(upbeat music)\n"