Con Sabor a Cochinita Pibil ~Low and Slow Shredded Pork

Con Sabor a Cochinita Pibil~ Low and Slow Shredded Pork. Tamale making during the summer? I like living on the edge! Lol! I was asked to prepare some pork tamales this past summer by a friend. But instead of my family’s traditional chile rojo tamales, I decided to prepare another of my favorite pork recipes. Cochinita Pibil is traditionally prepared with a whole hog, in the ground covered in banana leaves and cooked for many, many hours. I like my recipes low and slow and traditional, but I will save that for when I can visit Mexico again, ha ha! For this recipe, I took a little help from my slow cooker and then finished cooking the pork on the stove top. If I was serving this for tacos, I would have served it right out of the slow cooker. But this was going to be for my tamale filling and I needed to reduce the broth until the meat is extra tender and the sauce was thick. I will be adding the Pibil Pork Tamal Recipe to my blog today as well. It was too much to try at post it all in one blog…lol! Please enjoy! #tamalesyearround

Start the marinated pork in the slow cooker and finish on the stove top. Cochinita Pibil Style Shredded Pork.

Marinade
1 1/2 cups sour orange (Badia brand)
* if not available, juice 5 oranges and 5 limes
1/3 cup olive oil
5 teaspoons annatto powder or paste
3 teaspoons granulated garlic
2 teaspoons granulated onion
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove

Fresh ingedients combine with spices to create a savory pibil marinade.

A little help from the store with this Badia Brand Sour Orange Marinade

You will also need
3 1/2 pounds pork shoulder/butt, sliced into 2 inch pieces

1 large white onion, peeled and sliced into thick rings

15 chile guajillo

Pibil marinade for pork butt/shoulder, best marinated overnight.

For this recipe I used all chile guajillos, but I like to mix with chile ancho often when preparing sauces and adobo.

Directions

1. Blend all of the ingredients for marinade. Marinate pork overnight. Remove stems and seeds from the guajillo peppers and transfer to pot. Cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes. Drain peppers and transfer to blender. Add 1 1/2 cups fresh water and blend on high until smooth. Strain through wire mesh strainer, Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Add thick sliced onion to bottom of slow cooker. Add pork and all of the marinade. Cover tightly with foil paper then lid. Cook on high for 4 hours. Remove from slow cooker and shred pork, along with all of the onions.

3. Skim off as much of the fat from broth left in slow cooker. Transfer all the pork and broth (about 4 cups) to a heavy pot. Heat to medium. Add reserved chile guajillo sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and continue cooking for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until most of the liquid has evaporated. At this time, I like to reseason with a little more cumin, oregano, garlic and salt as it cooks down.

4. I prepared this pibil pork specifically for a tamal filling. This is the reason I cook it down to reduce the broth. It’s much easier to fill tamales with a more solid filling with less broth. All stove tops vary as far as exact cooking time. The idea is for the broth to reduce, but you can stop cooking sooner if you like it with more broth. The pork is great for tacos, enchiladas, burritos and tostadas as well. If using for tamales, it is good for about 40 large tamales. Yields about 6 cups.