Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil

Have you seen the movie Once Upon A Time In Mexico with Johnny Depp? In the film, Depp's character orders a Mexican dish called Puerco Pibil again and again whenever he is in Mexico.

At one restaurant, Depp says to Antonio Banderas' character: "It is a slow roasted pork. Nothing fancy. Just happens to be my favorite, and I order it at every dive I go to in this country, and honestly, this is the best it's ever been. ... It is so good that when I'm finished with it, I'll pay my check, walk straight into the kitchen and shoot the cook. Because that's what I do. I restore the balance to this country." Did I mention that it's a pretty violent film?

Violence aside, I was intrigued by this dish and when one of our friends made it for us at a dinner party, we were hooked. I made my own for a dinner party this past weekend and it came out pretty well. The recipe is from the film's writer/director himself: Robert Rodriguez.

Ingredients:

5 Tb annatto (achiote) seeds

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 Tb peppercorns

8 allspice berries

½ tsp. whole cloves

2 habanero chiles

½ cup orange juice

½ cup white vinegar
2 Tb. salt
8 cloves of garlic
Juice of 5 lemons
Splash of tequila
5 pounds pork butt
Banana leaves and heavy-duty aluminum foil

Place the annatto, cumin, peppercorns, allspice and cloves in a spice or coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder.

Carefully remove the seeds and veins from the habaneros and chop.

Place the orange juice, vinegar, habaneros, salt and garlic in a blender or food processor until liquefied. Add the lemon juice and tequila.

Cut the pork into 2-inch chunks. Place in a large, self-sealing plastic bag with the marinade. Seal bag and turn to evenly coat the meat. Marinate for up to 24 hours.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Remove the meat from the marinade and wrap tightly in banana leaves so no steam can escape. Do a second wrap with aluminum foil. Place packet in roasting pan and roast four hours.

The only thing I would do differently next time is wrap the pork tighter in the banana leaves (it could have been moister) and add more salt to the recipe.

Here are some of the steps, illustrated with photos:

Place the pork (this is the leftover bone with some meat attached) in banana leaves and wrap tightly

The wrapped pork

Cover the whole pan in foil

What it looks like after 4 hours

The finished dish over rice

Our friends brought Japanese cream puffs from Beard Papa on Sawtelle!

They also brought cakes from Mousse Factory on Sawtelle.

My favorite was the pear mouse cake (in front)