Puerco Pibil
If you’ve been following my Flickr photos for the past few months, you might have noticed that I’ve become something of a foodie of late. A lot of things contributed to this: living in the restaurant mecca known as San Francisco, the great meal I had at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Las Vegas, the fact that I now hang around with people who really love to cook and have taught me a lot about food and wine. But if I really had to trace my culinary awakening back to its origin, I’d have to point to a special feature on the Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD, in which director Robert Rodriguez hosts a “ten minute cooking school” instructing viewers in the preparation of Puerco Pibil (a Mexican slow-cooked pork dish seen throughout the film).
Now, I was fairly unimpressed with Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and, truth be told, I think Rodriguez is a fantastically cool guy, but not really a great filmmaker. Still, his comments about how one really can’t be a well-rounded person without knowing how to cook at least a few things well really hit home with me, and I resolved to remedy my deficiences in the kitchen. Since I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Mexican and Latin American cuisine, making a batch of Puerco Pibil seemed like just the project for me.
Unfortunately, while I did eventually take to the kitchen in a big way (as evidenced by the ambitious meal I cooked for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner), the long prep time for slow-cooked pork always prevented me from getting it together. That is, until just before Christmas, when my parents and I decided to supplement our traditional Christmas tamale feast with a little something extra. A quick trip to the butcher and Denver’s wonderful Citizen-Smith Spice House (which I found by querying Google with “annato seeds denver”), and a fantastic Mexican Christmas dinner was underway.
The result? Well, at the risk of sounding immodest, I believe it was the first thing I’ve ever cooked that I consider an almost unqualified success. The pork was extremely tender and stringy (which is exactly what I love about Mexican pork dishes), and had just the right amount of spiciness (glad I didn’t decide to put a third habañero pepper in!). I almost couldn’t believe I had made it, it was so tasty. The ultimate affirmation, though, was that I had planned to eat the leftovers for dinner tonight, but was disappointed to find that my Dad had beaten me to it.
Being a complete geek, I also decided to document the whole process and post a tutorial on Flickr. Try it out sometime if you’re feeling culinary—it’s actually pretty easy, and will seriously increase your faith in your abilities as a cook.