Cochinita Pibil on the WSM?


 
I've often thought of doing cochinita pibil in the smoker as well... In most recipes I find for it, it calls for pork shoulder or picnic roasts so I can't imagine why it couldn't be done in the WSM (even though this particular recipe calls for loin). In fact, since authentic cochinita is usually done underground in coals, which would impart a certain smokiness, I think doing it in a smoker vs. doing it in the oven would actually give it a more authentic flavor.

My question would be... what kind of wood would you use for the smoke? It would need to be something that would complement the banana leaf and something pretty mild. Any thoughts?
 
Adam:

You'll probably think I'm nuts, but Mexican cooking works best with mesquite - just really cut down on the amount. Don't use more than 2 fist-sized chunks atop your Kingsford.

Hope this helps!

Mark
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yeah, that makes sense. Mesquite is found in mexico... and I think that is what is used to smoke chipotles.

Agreed on cutting down. Plus, since it would be wrapped in banana leaves, that would reduce the chance of overpowering...
 
Though mesquite is used in Mexico, I've found pecan and hickory to be more common. I'd use pecan with banana leaves. And I'd skip the pot.
 
I've done it once,though not this specific recipe. I used butts and cut them into fairly large pieces. Wrapped the chunks in banana leaves and put the package in a disposable aluminum pan. Cooked on the top grate at about 250 for several hours. Used a turkey baster to baste with pan juices. The traditional side is pickled red onion slices. Good stuff.
 
Thanks Jeff. Hope I didn't hit you with "information overload". I tend to do that.
Ask the time and I will try to teach you how to build a watch!!!
 
I did Cochinita Pibil the other day. Made the achiote paste, turned it into a marinade and marinated a bit less than 4 pounds of pork blade for the day. Wrapped in banana leaves with charred onion and tomato, tied them up, and smoked with hickory (out of pecan) very low, for about 4.5 hours. The leaf 'packages' were directly on the grate.

Very tasty.

Pics here.
 
Fixed the link! (Thanks, Shawn, for picking that up. Btw, that salmon was probably the best I've done.)

On edit: Fixed the pic link--again--to include 'before' pics.
 
kevin that looks and sounds awesome.

Hey, have you ever done it with shoulder or butt? I've got a picnic in the freezer right now that I'm reserving for cochinita pibil in the smoker.

2 questions. How fragrant was the banana leaf smell when you were smoking it? When I've cooked things with banana leaves (mostly steaming tamales) they impart a very unique fragrance. If I smoked anything else at that time besides the pibil (like a normal butt) I wonder if the banana leaves would give off some of its flavor to that as well. If so, I may be better off doing it solo.

Second question... how much smoke flavor did the meat have? Was the smoke able to penetrate the banana leaves ok?
 
Thanks, adamclyde. It was delicious.

I have used shoulder before and prefer it. Picnic would work very well too. I had only done CP before in an oven or a kettle (preferred over the oven) but the WSM is the way to go, without question. No heat maintenance issues (like on a kettle) and no roasting pan required. The banana leaves were fragrant and gave up some flavor to the meat but it was not overwhelming--far less fragrant than one finds when steaming tamales. I'm assuming that's because of the dry environment, the lack of steam/water. Smoke penetration was very good--better than I thought it would be. I would make no adjustments to the 'packages' as a result. I had five and put three on top, two on the bottom. Six would have been the most I could do. Doing it solo would be what I'd do but only because of space.

When I get the recipe for the paste/marinade out of my head and typed, I'll post it. You can see waht you think. I use sour orange juice for the paste and a bit more of that, with a little oil, water, and pineapple vinegar to thin it for a marinade.
 
Originally posted by K Kruger:
I use sour orange juice for the paste and a bit more of that, with a little oil, water, and pineapple vinegar to thin it for a marinade.
Click to expand...
Man, I'm jealous... sour orange is really hard to get out here. I usually have to compromise with an orange/lemon or orange/lime combo.

Please do post. I'm probably going to do this in the coming weeks. Hey... one question though... how do you think this would fare in a food vac after it is cooked? I'm likely the only one to eat it... so need to find a way to preserve it.
 
Try orange with grapefruit and lime. I think you'll like it better; the flavor is a little rounder. I grow calamondins which are small, (little bit larger than Key lime-sized) sour oranges. I grow more than I need but freeze juice so I have it in the off season. I can let you know when the first crop is ready and send you some if you wish--probably won't be before your CP cook--but you'd have them for whatever, whenever.

CP keeps well FoodSavered; got some with me now. I keep the chunks whole (the ones you see in the pic before wrapping are 4x2x1 or so; for butt I do 2x2x2 chunks) when I'm freezing then, after reheating, chop/pull for serving.
 
Originally posted by adamclyde:
Please do post.
Click to expand...

The recipe is posted now here. I'm a bit crazed today so let me know if anything is unclear.

I had my FoodSavered CP yesterday. Granted it wasn't long frozen but it was very good. I should have added the tiniest squeeze of lime, sour orange, or splash of vinegar. It was not dry, but I think it would've benefitted from a little additional moisture during the reheat (I reheated in the bag).
 
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