The inspiration came from Robert Rodriguez' "Ten Minute Cooking School" video series and is the favorite dish of Johnny Depp's character, Agent Sands, in the movie "Once upon a time in Mexico" starring Antonio Banderas & Salma Hayek.
Here's how I approached the recipe.
I basically stuck to the vid's instructions, which you can watch at the end of this posting, and didn't deviate much, but I made a couple of minor changes. I reduced the salt content from two Tbsp to one and only used the juice of three lemons instead of five with two limes filling in for the two lemons left out. Just to give it some diversity. Everything else was the same.
The ingredients:
5 pounds pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
Banana leaves
½ cup orange juice
½ cup vinegar
1 Tsp sea salt
Juice of 3 lemons
Juice of 2 limes
8 cloves of garlic, wooden stem removed
2 Habanero peppers, chopped
A good splash of tequila
For the annatto / achiote paste:
Finely grind...5 Tbsp annatto seeds, 2 tsp whole cumin, 1 Tbsp black peppercorns, 8 pieces of Allspice, and ½ Tsp whole cloves.
Make sure everything is finely ground and not too coarse. Marinade the meat for 24 hrs, then, using a large casserole pan, wrap everything in Banana leaves, cover with tin foil and slow-cook for exactly 4 hrs. The outcome is absolutely divine.
Serve over white rice or Spanish rice complimented by a cold beer or a Margarita. No wonder Agent Sands shot the cook!
My hat goes off to Mexico, and the Yucatan Peninsula in particular, for inventing this addictive, delicious and simple dish.
Buen provecho!
Here's the video, which is a cool one by the way,...very laid back and includes some advice on becoming good with cooking.
Ten Minute Cooking School
No comments:
Post a Comment