Cochinita Pibil

Cochinita pibil is Yucatan's great pork dish — slow-roasted suckling pig (or pork shoulder) marinated in achiote, bitter orange, and a paste of native Yucatan spices, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a pib (an underground stone oven) for hours. At home, a covered Dutch oven in a 160C oven for 4-6 hours produces an approximation. The pork should pull apart in long, vivid brick-red strands. Served with pickled red onion and habanero salsa.

Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Pibil cooking (cooking in an underground pit) is a Mayan technique thousands of years old. The achiote-citrus marinade reflects the Mayan culinary tradition of using local seeds and citrus. Cochinita means little pig — the dish was traditionally made with whole suckling pigs.

Horchata (rice, cinnamon, and sugar drink) — the sweet, cool horchata is the Yucatan companion to the rich, fatty, spiced pork. Or a cold Montejo lager, the beer of the Yucatan.

Achiote paste (recado rojo): achiote seeds ground with cumin, allspice, black pepper, oregano, garlic, and bitter orange juice — the brick-red paste that colours and flavours the pork Bitter orange (naranja agria): the specific acidic orange of the Yucatan. Substitute: half regular orange juice, half grapefruit juice with a squeeze of lime Banana leaves: passed briefly over an open flame until flexible, used to wrap the marinated pork — they impart a subtle vegetal flavour and create a sealed steaming environment Low and slow: the wrapped pork is placed in a Dutch oven, covered with the lid sealed with foil, and cooked at 160C for 4-6 hours until completely yielding Pull, don't chop: the pork should pull into long, natural fibres with two forks Habanero salsa and pickled red onion (cebollas encurtidas — red onion soaked in fresh lime juice with salt and dried oregano) are not optional — they provide the brightness that contrasts the rich, unctuous pork