This delicious Mexican dish is perfect when you are cooking for a lot of people, because when the guests arrive all the work is done, and you can enjoy yourself with them without messing around in the kitchen. The meat is shredded and mellow, tasty thanks to the annatto marinade and refreshed by the pickled onion on the side. In addition to taking it with corn tortillas, we can put it on a bun (torta, in Mexico) or serve it on a plate with rice and beans. The cochinita is spicy, but not hot: each diner adds it to taste with the onion marinated in chili.
Productos con los que prepararla
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg of large diced pork loin head
- 150 g of annatto paste
- 120 ml orange juice
- 120 ml lemon juice
- 120 ml white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of lard (optional, 50 g)
- 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper (12 g)
- 1/2 tbsp powdered cinnamon (6 g)
- 1/2 tbsp cumin powder (6 g)
- 8 peeled garlic cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tablespoon of salt (7 g)
- 4 red onions
- 2 habanero peppers (or pickled jalapeños)
- 150 ml of lime juice or white wine vinegar
- 150 ml orange juice
- Salt
- Corn tortillas
- Tomato
- Avocado
- Coriander
- Lime
Instructions
- Place the blade accessory in the Chefbot’s glass. Add the annatto paste, the orange and lemon juices, the vinegar, the pepper, the cinnamon, the cumin, the garlic, the bay leaf, the salt and, if desired, the lard. Program 2 minutes at speed 10 and close the glass.
- Place the meat on a tray or large casserole. Pour the marinade over the meat and stir it well to soak it all over: be careful, the annatto stains a lot, better to do it with a spoon or with gloves. Cover with kitchen film and keep in the fridge for at least 4 hours (this can be done overnight).
- Cut the red onion into not very thin strips and chop the chillies if they are fresh habaneros (if they are pickled they can be left in large slices), salt them and put them in a bowl with the orange and lime juice. Keep in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours (ideally overnight, stirring at least a couple of times during the process).
- Take the meat out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking, so that it gets warm. Turn on the oven at 180℃. If you have an ovenproof lid for the container in which you will be cooking the piglet, use it. If not, cover it first with baking paper and then with aluminium foil, closing it well to act as a lid (the baking paper is used so that the aluminium foil does not degrade with the heat and acid of the marinade). Cook it for about 3 hours, or until the meat is so tender that it falls apart.
- If, when it is ready, you feel it has too much juice, strain it and reduce it a little in a pot over medium heat (there should be enough left over, because it will then be mixed with the shredded meat, never less than 300 ml). When we can do this without burning ourselves, crumble the piglet with the help of two forks, mixing it with its own juice until it amalgamates.
- Serve hot with the tortillas heated in a pan without oil, avocado and diced tomato. As a garnish, marinated onion with chilli, lime wedges to squeeze before eating and lots of chopped coriander.