034/18 – Cochinta Pork Pibil and X Ni Pek:
Following up from the last Breddos Taco cook of Red Curry Paste Braised Short-Rib Taco, next on the list was Cochinta Pork Pibil and X Ni Pek.
This recipe is from the Breddos Tacos cook book – You can buy the book by clicking the link below:
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The Meat:
1kg of Boneless Pork Shoulder from Turner and George. £20 for 2.5kg. I split it in half then trimmed the fat and skin off.
The Ingredients:
Items not easily sourced locally: Achiote Paste, Guajillo Chillies (both from Cool Chile) and a banana leaf (Thai Food Online). Everything else should be in most supermarkets.
The Prep:
The Guajillo chillies were soaked in warm water then deseeded and deveined then blended with orange juice, grapefruit juice, achiote paste, garlic and onion. Toasted, ground cloves were also added to this mix before it was blitzed to a smooth paste. The Pork Shoulder was added, covered and left in the fridge overnight.
On the day of the cook I placed 2 bags of heat beads into the base of my Weber Smokey Mountain then cleared a space in the centre of them and poured half a chimney of lit lumpwood in. This was left for half an hour to settle then the smoker was put together, half a bucket of hot water poured into the water bowl and again left for half an hour to settle at 250f.
The Cook:
The recipe calls for the meat to be wrapped in a banana leaf, put in a deep dish then wrapped with foil to keep the steam in but I wanted to hit it with a touch of smoke so did an hour of cooking uncovered. Whisky Oak chunks from Smokewood Shack provided the smokey goodness.
After an hour I popped the lid to take a look.
I took the meat off whilst I got the banana leaf ready. Nice colour already. I brushed on more of the marinade mix to the top surface.
The banana leaf was laid out and the pork was rotated then placed on top before I brushed more of the marinade on.
I wrapped the pork up with the banana leaf, was quite hard to keep it all tucked in. Small toothpicks might help next time. The package went into a deep dish, lid on then double wrapped in foil and back on the smoker. The recipe says to give it 2.5 to 3 hours at 300f. I was cooking at 250f so I decided to give it 5 hours.
Whilst the pork was cooking I made the the X Ni Pek: Red onions, orange juice, grapefruit juice, lime juice and a chopped habanero. This was left in a bowl for a couple of hours so the citrus juices softened the onions,
As I took the lid of the steam burst upwards followed by a lovely smell from the food!
Carefully I unwrapped the banana leaf.
I prodded the meat with a fork, very, very soft. It didn’t take much effort to pull it apart. I took a sneaky bite and it was very soft. Was looking forward to this!
Time to Eat:
Still out of Cool Chile tacos so I used the Wahaca ones from the supermarket again, lightly pan fried on each side with a good portion of the Pork Pibil on top, X Ni Pek and a bit of coriander.
Loving this new plate my wife bought me, really lifts the photos!
2 Tacos for the price of 1!
I put the tacos in my taco holder, easier to eat!
Summary:
Another great Taco dish from the Breddos book that we all enjoyed. The pork was the softest pork shoulder I have cooked so far, it has to be from the overnight marinade and wrapping it in the banana leaf to keep all the steam in. Didn’t really get much smoke on with an hours smoking so I might try and give it 3 hours unwrapped and 2 hours wrapped next time. The tacos tasted great, really nice but could have done with a bit more spice to it, maybe just a salsa added on top.
This would be a good dish to cook when you are doing a long cook and have space on the smoker, could almost be a snack at lunch before the bigger cook completes!
| Cook Difficulty: | 2/5 |
| Cook Duration: | Medium: 3/5 |
| Cook Equipment: | Weber Smokey Mountain |
| Cook Method: | Low and Slow |
| Charcoal: | Heat Beads |
| Smoking Wood: | Smokewood Shack Whisky Oak |
| Cook temperature: | 250f |
| Cook time: | 5 hours |
| Internal temperature: | Unknown |
| Notes: | 1: Add a little bit of spice to the taco, maybe a salsa. |
THE BOOK:
This recipe is from the Breddos Tacos cook book – You can buy the book by clicking the link below:
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