Daniel Cárdenas
New member
Hi everyone, glad to be here with you again, last time I post you the pics of the cochinita, and we talk a little about the recado/recaudo rojo and now I want to tell you more about it.
The recados are a type of preparation that is commonly used in the south and center of Mexico, particularly more in the south in the Yucatan peninsula and surrounding states like Chiapas, but in this case were are going to focus only in those that are made in the yucatan peninsula.
To put it simple we can think in the recados like a type of adobo or seasoning that we use to cook, a mix of spices and even vegetables, but these never are eaten “raw”, they are part of the preparation of the entire dish and they actually need to be “cooked” because by their own they tend to have a very strong flavor.
There are different types of recados, the more common are the red (rojo), white (blanco) and black (negro).
Red: this is the more famous, the one that is used to prepare the cochinita, the red color is of course give it by the annatto seeds or achiote paste.
White: this one is used more like a seasoning rather than an adobo, is also used in the common cooking of the day
Black: this one is like an adobo too, and it is used to prepare other popular dishes in the Yucatan peninsula like chilmole and relleno negro, in this one the black color it’s given by carbonized corn tortillas and chilies.
There is no an only way or a wrong way to do it, you are not making a mistake if you add some ingredient to a recipe that you find, these preparations come from the mayan culture and with time they had been evolve and can vary from town to town, market from market, family from family, but of course in all of them there are a basic “formula” that give them their own profile.
For example, a basic combination for a recado rojo are the annatto seeds (achiote), black pepper, tabasco pepper, salt, cumin, Oregano (a specific type of oregano from Yucatan), garlic, cloves, and juice of sour orange. At this point we can add what we like, but the ingredients here that we cannot take away are of course the annatto seed (or the commercial achiote paste) and the sour orange juice (we can replace this with a combination of lemon juice and sweet orange juice or with vinegar). I personally add onion, cinnamon and guajillo chili and chile de arbol.
Here for example this is a recipe that I learn when I was in the culinary school:
Ingredients:
In a slightly hot pan roast the spices (cumin, cloves, oregano, garlic cloves, onion and both pepper seeds) one by one until they start to release their aromas, moving constantly to avoid burning.
In the same slightly hot pan put some vegetable oil and just slightly fry the chilis, also until they realise their aromas, then put some water in the pan, wait until slightly start to boil and put of the fire and let them hydrate for some minutes, until they become bland.
Put the achiote paste in the half cup of water to dissolve it.
In the blender put the dissolved paste, the spices and the chilies and liquefy all until you have a smooth paste, you can add more water to help, strain the content. If we are going to use the recado in the moment we also add the sour orange juice to the blender, if not I personally recommend to store the mix without it and only add it when it’s going to be used.
I start using this recipe a lot to prepare chicken, now I add to it more guajillo and chile de arbol and cinnamon, sometimes ancho or mulato chilies, roasted onion, thyme, or a little of epazote and more cumin.
Here pics of wings and a chicken in the kettle, with the recado rojo in them.
So that’s it, I hope you like it and give it a try, any doubt just ask, I will be happy to help, have good night/day and saludos from Mexico.
The recados are a type of preparation that is commonly used in the south and center of Mexico, particularly more in the south in the Yucatan peninsula and surrounding states like Chiapas, but in this case were are going to focus only in those that are made in the yucatan peninsula.
To put it simple we can think in the recados like a type of adobo or seasoning that we use to cook, a mix of spices and even vegetables, but these never are eaten “raw”, they are part of the preparation of the entire dish and they actually need to be “cooked” because by their own they tend to have a very strong flavor.
There are different types of recados, the more common are the red (rojo), white (blanco) and black (negro).
Red: this is the more famous, the one that is used to prepare the cochinita, the red color is of course give it by the annatto seeds or achiote paste.
White: this one is used more like a seasoning rather than an adobo, is also used in the common cooking of the day
Black: this one is like an adobo too, and it is used to prepare other popular dishes in the Yucatan peninsula like chilmole and relleno negro, in this one the black color it’s given by carbonized corn tortillas and chilies.
There is no an only way or a wrong way to do it, you are not making a mistake if you add some ingredient to a recipe that you find, these preparations come from the mayan culture and with time they had been evolve and can vary from town to town, market from market, family from family, but of course in all of them there are a basic “formula” that give them their own profile.
For example, a basic combination for a recado rojo are the annatto seeds (achiote), black pepper, tabasco pepper, salt, cumin, Oregano (a specific type of oregano from Yucatan), garlic, cloves, and juice of sour orange. At this point we can add what we like, but the ingredients here that we cannot take away are of course the annatto seed (or the commercial achiote paste) and the sour orange juice (we can replace this with a combination of lemon juice and sweet orange juice or with vinegar). I personally add onion, cinnamon and guajillo chili and chile de arbol.
Here for example this is a recipe that I learn when I was in the culinary school:
Ingredients:
- 100 grams of achiote paste
- 1/2 tbsp. of cumin
- 1 tsp of oregano
- 12 black peppers seeds
- 4 yucatan peppers seeds (allspice)
- 6 garlics cloves
- 1/4 of a small onion
- 3 cloves
- 2 dry chili de arbol
- 2 guajillo chilis
- ¾ cup of sour orange juice
- ½ cup of water
- Salt to taste.
In a slightly hot pan roast the spices (cumin, cloves, oregano, garlic cloves, onion and both pepper seeds) one by one until they start to release their aromas, moving constantly to avoid burning.
In the same slightly hot pan put some vegetable oil and just slightly fry the chilis, also until they realise their aromas, then put some water in the pan, wait until slightly start to boil and put of the fire and let them hydrate for some minutes, until they become bland.
Put the achiote paste in the half cup of water to dissolve it.
In the blender put the dissolved paste, the spices and the chilies and liquefy all until you have a smooth paste, you can add more water to help, strain the content. If we are going to use the recado in the moment we also add the sour orange juice to the blender, if not I personally recommend to store the mix without it and only add it when it’s going to be used.
I start using this recipe a lot to prepare chicken, now I add to it more guajillo and chile de arbol and cinnamon, sometimes ancho or mulato chilies, roasted onion, thyme, or a little of epazote and more cumin.
Here pics of wings and a chicken in the kettle, with the recado rojo in them.
So that’s it, I hope you like it and give it a try, any doubt just ask, I will be happy to help, have good night/day and saludos from Mexico.
they were laminated and i just put them together, i always cook them in foil because take less time, same with the onions at the left but in this ones i cut them by half, salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil they came out great.
