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Pibil Pork Tacos

Here is the Gran Luchito take on pork pibil, a traditional dish from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. If you like pulled pork, these pibil pork tacos are definitely one to try! Fresh oregano and zesty orange fill this dish with beautiful flavour.

Serve these pork tacos with a side of Mexican Corn and a Chicken Quesadilla.

Prep time
24 hours
Cook time
4 hours
Total time
28 hours
Ideal for
Dinner
Make it
Mexican
Serves
6

This recipe uses

Chipotle Paste

Soft Wheat Street Tacos

Ingredients

For the pork pibil:

1kg Pork shoulder (cut into 3-4 large chunks)
2tsp Gran Luchito Chipotle Paste
50g Butter
½ tsp All-spice powder (even better if you can find all spice berries to grind up)
2 tsp Cumin seeds
½ tsp Cloves
1tsp Black peppercorns
1 tsp Turmeric
3 tbsp White wine vinegar
1 Onion (roughly chopped)
4 Garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
1 Handful fresh oregano (use 2 tsp dried if you can’t find it)
2 Bay leaves
4 tbsp Olive oil
500ml Fresh orange juice
Salt & pepper

For the tacos:

10 tortillas wraps
50ml Vegetable oil (for frying)
For the salsa
1 Handful pickled onions (roughly chopped; we used baby white ones pickled in balsamic vinegar)
1 Ripe tomato (roughly chopped)
1 Handful coriander (roughly chopped)
1 Glug of olive oil
Juice of half a lime

How to make it

(refer to pics below for a visual guide)
You’ll need to leave the pork marinating for as long as possible (overnight is ideal) so start with this.
Heat the allspice, cumin, peppercorns and cloves in a warm dry frying pan for 1 minute (take care not to burn).
Crush the warmed spices in a pestle & mortar and add to a food processor with the turmeric, onion, garlic, white wine vinegar, Gran Luchito Chipotle Paste, oregano, orange juice, salt and olive oil. Blend to a smooth consistency.
Pour over the pork pieces and leave in the fridge for at least a few hours (overnight if possible).
Once sufficiently marinated, remove the pork and transfer marinade to an oven-proof casserole dish with a lid (if you don’t have one, just use foil to cover tightly).
Heat a frying pan with a little olive oil. Once very hot, add the chunks of pork. Your primary concern here is to give it some colour which will mean more flavour later. Don’t move it around too much, just let it brown on one side, then flip them over for a while. Return back into the marinade. Add butter.
Leave in the oven for 3-4 hours on a relatively low heat (130C). It is vitally important that it is covered so no liquid can escape through evaporation, as this will dry out the pork.
Meanwhile, make the salsa by combining all of the ingredients in a bowl and setting aside.
To prepare the fried tacos, heat the oil in a shallow frying pan until very hot. Carefully lower the tortillas into the oil. Cook one at a time. Once crispy, turn over and cook the other side. Remove and leave to dry on kitchen towel.
Once ready, the pork will pull apart very easily (if it’s not, continue cooking…don’t settle for less than awesome!). If ready, shred it with 2 forks.
Ideally you’ll now leave it to cool and soak up the lovely juices.
Spoon onto the crispy tacos and top with the salsa.