in search of cochinta pibil

I'm headed to PDC for the first time over the week of February 13, staying at the Wyndham Maya. My main mission is to do nothing on this vacation, frankly, but one major secondary mission is to satisfy my jones for authentic cochinita pibil. I first had this at Rick Bayless's restaurant in Chicago a couple of months ago and got completely hooked--it's like the best barbecue on the planet! (This is saying something coming from a North Carolina barbecue nut!) Now that I'm headed to the source, I've got to find some good stuff.

So, I've surveyed some of the general restaurant rec's on the board and seen the suggestions about hitting the food stands by the bus station in the morning. Is this really a food stand/street food thing or are there restaurants that really do it up right, too? I hope this isn't like asking where in Italy you can get a good espresso or where in Chicago to buy a hot dog! (Did I see someone somewhere say that cochinita pibil and Coke makes a good breakfast??)

[Michael]

For the very best dinner go Los Almendros in Cancun. For a genuine breakfast with the locals, eat at the food stand near the bus station. And yes a coke in a bottle is the usual drink. There is a picture of both (except I visited the Merida Los Almendros) in my trip report along with lots more good stuff.

[Jesus]

The flavour at the taco stands by the bus station is fantastic and the real thing. I have tried the cochinita in some restaurants but they lack the right seasoning and preparation details that make it so special.
One more thing about eating at this stands is that you get a warranty that it's fresh daily as they finish all of it everyday, not like in some restaurants (even the fancy and expensive ones) that carry what is left from one day to the next one to cut losses.

[Michael]

It is interesting to read the post from Jesus.

The reason I put the nearest cochinita pibil in Cancun, is that Los Almendros (the real Los Almendros [Merida/Ticul/Cancun]) is the closest restaurant to Playa that I have found that serves the real thing. As Jesus explains, the stand next to the bus station serves the genuine article while some (all the ones I know of) restaurants in town don’t have the right ingredients and will not take the time to cook the real thing.

It has been interesting to see the reaction from the staff at some of these restaurants that have these items on the menu, when my wife asks if the cochinita is genuine Yucatecan style cooking. Often it is an instant and horrified, no! In other words good enough to fool the tourists but not good enough to fool a Yucatecan.

You can also get the genuine article in Valladolid, but it is not as easy to find as I would have expected.

[Jesus]

What shocked me the first time I went to Merida is that Cochinita Pibil is a BREAKFAST thing, you can't find it at lunch or dinner time in Yucatan. I stayed at the house of my friend's grandparents and they gave me a incredulous look when I asked if it was possible to have some cochinita for a mid-evening snack. Here in Mexico City the restaurants serve it as one more dish in the menu, available while they are open. But in Merida only in the morning and only in some specific places. Ohhh.

Mhh, I'm getting hungry but the nearest good cochinita place is closed, grrr...

Thanks -- that's very helpful. I'm a fan of most pork products for breakfast, of course, but this one is a little counterintuitive for a gringo who has only had cochinita pibil for dinner at a restaurant or home cooked.

By the way, Michael, can you give me a street address for Los Almendros in Cancun?

When y'all describe the genuine article, what sets that apart for you? The achiote, etc.?

[Michael]

Frommers lists the address and phone number:
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/cancun/D39251.html

I’ve never watched cochinita pibil being cooked (even my wife will send me out of the kitchen) and so I can’t describe what is the key to the correct taste. When you get to Playa have a breakfast at the bus station, you’ll know the real taste.

As Jesus points out, this really is breakfast food, but most tourists (like me) do not know that. My wife had to think about the breakfast or dinner thing for a while, but ultimately the reply was, “yes its only for breakfast; except for the tourists that need it to be dinner or lunch in order to taste Yucatecan food.”

Back when we could still tolerate staying in Cancun, we’ve eaten in Los Almendros almost every night and those have been our best meals.

There is some good shopping in Cancun. I would plan a day trip with shopping and lunch or dinner at Los Almendros.

[cmppsp]

What is cochinita pibil??? Excuse me....I am from Kentucky

[james]

you have to eat it for breakfast because they run out so early. I always eat it from the food carts (changarros).

cmppsp- there's a picture in the Mexican Food article on this site, and a description also I think. You can find the articles under the Read More tab above. edit: picture, yes, but I didn't find a description. Time to update!

[Jesus]

Cochinita pibil is a kind of pork bbq, but with a special sauce to marinate. If I'm not too wrong "pib" in the pibil stands for "underground oven" but if you mention "pibil" this days everybody understands is this marinated dish.

The special flavor comes from using "Achiote" which is extracted from a flower that grows in Yucatan. You get a solid paste of achiote and dissolve it with "sour orange" juice, it has to be this special kind of orange (it didn't go bad, is sour from the origin) and other species and then put the pork meat (can be chicken, for people who doen't eat pork) to marinate a full day. If you can't get this orange then use some lime and vinegar to substitute but the flavor is not exactly the same.
After the pork as been resting in the achiote for a full day, you wrap it in banana leaves bathe it again with all the sauce and take it to the oven. Time depends on your oven and how deep you digged the damn hole.
You have to prepare two kinds of garnishings for this: purple onion finely chopped and marinated in vinegar, and the other is the chile habanero sauce**.
If you are doing this at home is time to get the tortillas hot and store them in a little kitchen towel in a nice little basket.

** Fortunately the Mayans are very civilized and they know that some people don't like spice food, while other can't enjoy a good taco if it doesn't burn your tonge, lips, mouth, throat, stomach and specially the ass (at a later time), and normally the chile is put aside in Yucatecan food, not like in the middle of Mexico where some dishes are spicy by their own nature.

And last but not least, Buen provecho (bon apetit in Spanish).

I'd forgotten about the sour orange until you mentioned it, but now I remember that's the folks in Chicago told me--that and the slow cooking in the banana leaf. The habanero sauce was terrific there, too. It was perfectly hot with that great fruity chile taste from the habanero without muting the flavors of the pork or scorching your mouth off. Man, I'm getting hungry thinking about it.

The whole early-in-the-morning breakfast thing makes me think of pig pickin's here in North Carolina, but in reverse. Here we dig the pit and start the pig at about 4 a.m. so it's ready by dinner; I suppose if bourbon and cigars didn't taste so good at 4 a.m. we'd start it in the afternoon so it was ready when we woke up.

Michael, by the way, I've spent some time in Cancun and enjoyed it--had some great huitlacoche enchiladas last time I was there at a place whose name I have long forgotten. This will be the first trip for us down to PDC, though...and also the first since I've become a cochinita pibil addict.

[cmppsp]

Jesus....you are too funny!! Thanks for the great discription

[Heather]

Originally Posted by Jesus

Time depends on your oven and how deep you digged the damn hole.

** Fortunately the Mayans are very civilized and they know that some people don't like spice food, while other can't enjoy a good taco if it doesn't burn your tonge, lips, mouth, throat, stomach and specially the ass (at a later time),

These 2 descriptions made me laugh out loud! Jesus, thanks for cheering me up on a very hungover day.