Starter Mexican, Yucatán
Cochinita pibil mini tostadas
Meat & fish
Editorially prepared
Pulled pork roasted in banana leaves with achiote and citrus, served on four crisp mini tostadas with pickled red onion and habanero salsa. Make a full batch of pork the day before, then reheat only the portion needed for serving.
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Ingredients
4 servings · metric units
One serving means one mini tostada; this recipe makes four bites, not four main courses. Prepare the pork and its marinade as a fixed full batch. For more tostadas, increase the tortillas, pickled onions, salsa and reserved cooked pork, allowing about 25–30 g of pork per tostada. The amount of frying oil depends on the pan diameter, not the number of servings. Make another batch of pork when the reserve runs out.
Substitutions
Substitute amounts are adjusted to your selected servings.
- Instead of banana leaves, thawedbaking parchment and a tight-fitting lid
If leaves are unavailable, line the dish with baking parchment, fold it over the pork and seal the dish with a lid or foil. This retains moisture but does not provide the leaves' subtle aroma. Keep the acidic marinade out of direct contact with foil.
- Instead of white onionbrown onion
Use the same peeled weight. It will taste slightly sweeter after the long roast; the method remains unchanged.
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Optional ingredients and substitutions
You’ll need
oven · roughly 3-litre ovenproof dish with a tight-fitting lid or foil cover · scales, measuring jug, knife and chopping board · mixing bowl and a small lidded container for the onions · sieve, saucepan and two forks · shallow containers for cooked pork and a larger vessel for a cold-water bath · 20 cm frying pan and one hob ring · 5–6 cm round cutter · tongs, kitchen thermometer, wire rack and kitchen paper · serving platter
Method
0/14 stepsPrepare the pork and marinade
The day before serving, heat the oven to 150°C conventional. Prepare the ingredients while it heats. Cut the shoulder into 3–4 large pieces and slice the white onion. Mash the achiote paste with the lime and orange juices allocated to the pork until smooth. Taste the marinade before it touches the raw meat and add salt if needed. Coat the pork in the marinade. Wash your hands and equipment after handling the raw pork.
Prepare the pork and marinade Wrap the pork in leaves
Rinse and wipe the thawed banana leaves. Remove any tough central ribs. If the leaves are stiff, hold them under hot tap water until they fold without cracking. Line the dish, leaving a generous overhang. Add the pork and all its marinade, scatter the white onion over it and pour the braising water around the edge. Fold the leaves over the pork and cover the dish tightly.
Wrap the pork in leaves Roast until tender
Put the dish in the preheated oven. Roast for about 3 hours 30 minutes from putting it in; after 3 hours, carefully lift the cover and check the pork and liquid. The pork is ready when a fork enters with almost no resistance and the fibres separate easily. If it is still firm, cover again and continue roasting, checking every 20–30 minutes. Add a splash of water if the base is drying out. Once roasting has started, you can prepare the red onion straight away; leave the pork in the oven until tender.
3:30:00Roast until tender Prepare the red onion
While the pork roasts, peel the red onion and slice it very thinly. Mix it in a small container with the lime and orange juices allocated to the onions and a pinch of salt. Press gently with a spoon to moisten all the slices.
Prepare the red onion Pickle the onions
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour from mixing. The slices should soften while retaining a little crunch and turn pink. If they are still very stiff, stir and leave them in the marinade longer. Keep the onions refrigerated until assembling the tostadas the next day; check their texture again and drain them before serving.
1:00:00Pickle the onions Separate the pork and juices
Once the pork pulls apart easily, take the dish out of the oven. Carefully unwrap the leaves, watching out for steam. Transfer the pork to a tray, discard the leaves and strain the liquid and onions into a saucepan. Press the onions gently in the sieve, then discard the retained solids. Spoon excess fat from the surface of the sauce.
Separate the pork and juices Finish the sauce
Heat the sauce over a medium heat until gently bubbling. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring, until it tastes concentrated and lightly coats a spoon; allow about 10 minutes for heating and adjusting it. Do not reduce it to a thick paste. If it already tastes concentrated, lower the heat; if it is too salty or thick, add a splash of water. Taste before adjusting the salt.
Finish the sauce Shred and reserve a portion
Pull the fully cooked pork into short strands with two forks, removing large pieces of fat. Weigh out a total of 100–120 g of pork for the four mini tostadas. Put this portion in a separate shallow container and add enough sauce to moisten the strands without submerging them. Mix the remaining pork with the remaining sauce and divide between shallow containers for other meals. Do not leave one large, hot mass to cool slowly.
Shred and reserve a portion Cool the pork quickly
Stand the shallow containers in a cold-water bath, keeping the water out of the food. Cool for about 30 minutes from placing them in the bath, until strong steaming has subsided. Then seal and refrigerate; do not wait for the pork to become completely cold on the worktop. All the cooked pork must be refrigerated within 2 hours of finishing cooking.
30:00Cool the pork quickly Keep until the following day
Leave the pork in the fridge until the following day; the schedule allows an overnight stay of about 12 hours from refrigerating the containers. The serving portion should be cold throughout before proceeding. Keep the remaining pork for other meals within 48 hours of cooking or freeze it once chilled. Do not reheat the whole batch only to put it away again.
Keep until the following day Cut the mini tostadas
Before serving, cut four rounds, 5–6 cm across, from the tortillas, taking two from each tortilla. Have tongs and a wire rack set over kitchen paper ready. The rounds should be dry on the surface before they go into the oil.
Cut the mini tostadas Fry the crisp rounds
Pour the oil into the frying pan and heat over a medium heat to about 175°C; this usually takes about 5 minutes. Add the rounds in a single layer. Fry for about 1–2 minutes on each side from placing them in the oil, until golden and rigid and the vigorous bubbling subsides. Lower the heat if they darken quickly; fry a little longer if they remain flexible. Transfer to the rack and leave for about 5 minutes to drain and become crisp. Turn off the hob and move the pan somewhere safe. Start reheating the pork while the tostadas drain.
Fry the crisp rounds Reheat the portion in its sauce
Put the reserved serving portion of pork and its sauce in the saucepan. Heat over a low to medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 6–8 minutes from putting it on the hob. Add a splash of water if needed. The pork must be steaming hot throughout; continue heating if any of it is still cool in the centre. Towards the end, let excess liquid evaporate: the strands should be glossy and juicy without a pool of sauce underneath.
08:00Reheat the portion in its sauce Assemble and serve
Check that the tostadas are rigid and crisp and the pork is hot. The onions should be pink and slightly softened; drain the slices needed thoroughly. Arrange the four rounds on a platter and divide all the reheated pork between them. Top with the onions and add a few drops of habanero salsa to each, adjusting for its heat. Serve immediately, before the bases soften.
Assemble and serve
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Tips
- Do not replace achiote paste with plain paprika or turmeric: this would change the defining flavour of the pork.
- Use pork that is moist with sauce but not sitting in loose liquid. Drain the onions well so the rounds stay crisp.
- Taste the salsa on a little pork first. Habanero can be very hot, so start with just a few drops.
- You can fry the tortilla offcuts separately as crisps; this extra frying is not included in the recipe time.
- If the banana leaves are frozen, thaw them beforehand following the packet instructions. The schedule starts with thawed leaves.
- If the pork is still resistant, extend the roasting in 20–30-minute intervals, checking its tenderness and the liquid each time.
Storage
Store fully cooked pork with its sauce in shallow, sealed containers in the fridge at 5°C or below. Cool it quickly and refrigerate within 2 hours of finishing cooking. Use within 48 hours or freeze in portions, preferably for no longer than 3 months. Defrost in the fridge. Reheat only the portion needed, only once, until steaming hot throughout. Keep the onions separately in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Once completely cool, keep the plain tostadas in an airtight container until the following day. Serve assembled tostadas immediately.
Timing
Hands-on: 1 hr 34 min · Cooking: 3 hr 57 min · Resting: 13 hr 35 min
The total allows for tasks done in parallel. The individual times can overlap.
