Robert Rodriguez, the director (Sin City, Spy Kids) has a 10 Minute Cooking School extra on the DVD for Once Upon a Time in Mexico. (Personally, I prefer El Mariachi. Leaner on effects, but a better overall movie.) Anyway, in this cooking school he prepares Puerco Pibil (the dish that the character that Johnny Depp plays frequently dines on). Almost like a Mexican BBQ, it's good only the way that cheap meat and long cooking hours can be. I usually fudge and buy ground annato, that stuff's a bear to grind. Recipe below the fold.
Before spending 4 hours on the grill:
After:
Puerco Pibil ala Rodriguez
Serve with any or all of the following: white rice, fresh corn tortillas, charro beans, chopped white onion, cilantro, avocado, roasted chiles, sliced cucumber, radish, tomato and ice cold Mexican beer.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs banana leaves
- 5 lbs pork butt/shoulder
- 5 tablespoons Annatto seeds
- 2 tablespoons Cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 8 balls all spice
- 1 tablespoon cloves
- 2 tablespoons salt
- Juice of 5 lemons
- 3 Habanera chilies seeded and veined
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- Splash of Tequila
Grind all dry ingredients (except salt) until very fine.
Blend with remaining ingredients (except pork and banana leaves) in a blender until liquid and smooth. Cut pork into 2-inch cubes and place in a large Ziploc bag and pour your blender contents into the bag, seal and then coat all the meat in the bag.
Line roasting pan with layers of banana leaves and make sure there are no gaps. Pour entire contents of Ziploc bag onto the banana leaves and then fold them up and over the meat so that it covers the entire contents, sealing it up as much as possible. Cover the entire roasting pan with aluminum foil and seal it well so no steam can escape.
Place the sealed pan into an oven/grill at 325 and roast for 4 hours. Discard the banana leaves and serve the meat over white or Spanish rice. The meat is very tender and we generally pull it apart for a pulled Puerco over white rice.
We have marinated it in the bags overnight and it produces a somewhat deeper flavor.
A five-pound roast will serve about 20 people.
from http://www.sonorannews.com/archives/2005/2005-06/050601/MadCoyoteJoe.html
