Pork Pibil – Mexican Pulled Pork

The makings for a great meal.

One of my go to dishes at our favorite local Mexican restaurant is their Cochinita Pibil. I enjoy it almost every time we go there. I only learned what it was from watching a Robert Rodriguez film where Johnny Depp’s character orders the dish everywhere he goes.
In the DVD extras, Robert Rodriguez shares his recipe for the dish, and I was intrigued. When I found it at our local Mexican place, I had to try it. And of course I was hooked. I decided I needed to try it on my own and found I made a decent interpretation.

Pork Pibil is basically Mexican pulled pork, but with the nice added zing of citrus and pickled onion.
Traditionally it is wrapped in banana leaves, colored with achiote paste and cooked in a pit.
I have found banana leaves hard to come by, and since I would have to dig through asphalt or concrete to dig a pit out back, I cook my pibil in a slow cooker.
You are welcome to cook yours in a pit, if you can manage it. And achiote paste will definitely stain clothes and hands if you aren’t careful, so I leave it out. Feel free to use it if you want that traditional pibil look.

Pork shoulder, with all that marbling.

Pork Pibil:

Ingredients:

1 4 – 5 lb pork bone-in shoulder (boston butt)
1 white onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 chili pepper, jalapeno or other, chopped fine. I used an Anaheim out of our garden. Like the heat? Go for a Habanero or two.
1 tsp cumin
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
juice from one orange
juice from two limes
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 or 4 roasted Hatch chilies, chopped

For the pickled onions
1 red onion, sliced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Pickled red onion, gives it a little extra kick

Method:

In a perfect world, you would have time to throw all this together and marinate the meat for a few hours, or overnight.
I just throw it all in the slow cooker and let it all mingle over the course of 8 to 10 hours.

Juice the orange and limes, add the apple cider vinegar, and mix in all the ingredients, minus the red onion and the red wine vinegar.
Trim the fat cap off the pork shoulder, or have  your butcher do it for you.
Place the pork shoulder in the slow cooker, and pour all the ingredients over the pork.
Set the slow cooker for at least 8 hours and go enjoy the day. I do like to turn the roast over at least half way through the cooking process.

For the pickled onions.
Slice the red onion in about 1/4 inch slices.
Soak the onion in the red wine vinegar while the pork is cooking.

I’m hungry, how about you?

Once the pork is done, use a couple of forks to shred the meat. Serve it in a tortilla with rice, beans and guacamole, or by itself, and top with the pickled red onion.

Greg