Baked Marinated Pork. This is quintessential Yucatan dish, from a region that is quite possibly the "capital" of leaf-wrapped foods. The color and flavor of the marinade are characterized by achiote, or annatto seed. This succulent baked pork is worth trying even without banana leaves, though the taste will not be exactly the same. Simply omit the leaves and cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.

Ingredients:

• 2 banana leaves, passed over a flame to soften
• 4 lbs. pork leg
• 200 grams (2 bricks, about 4 ounces each) achiote paste
• 1 cup bitter orange juice, or use half sweet orange juice and vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon crumbled, dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 large allspice berries, coarsely ground
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 tablespoons melted lard or corn oil

Preparation:

Line the bottom of a large baking dish with banana leaves, one lengthwise and one widthwise, letting them hang over the sides of the dishes so that they may be folded over the pork. Place the pork on the leaves.

Dissolve the achiote paste in the orange juice, add the remaining ingredients except the lard or oil, and mix we least 8 hours and preferably overnight , turning once.

Fold back the banana leaves, drizzle the melted lard or corn oil the pork, fold the leaves back over the pork and cover all tightly with aluminum foil. (Do not drain the marinade; this dish gets cooked in it, making it steamed rather than roasted).

Place in preheated 350 even for 1 ½ hours, or until the meat is falling-apart tender. Remove the foil, fold back the banana leaves, and use two forks to pull the meat apart into shreds.

Serve with red onion rings marinated in orange juice vinaigrette and plenty of hot corn tortillas to make tacos.

Serves 8-10.

YUCATECAN STYLE CHICKEN. This tip was taught to me by a restaurant owner on a trip to the Mayan ruins of Uxmal, near where the town of Ticul is located. She explained that the inner, smooth side of the banana leaf always faces the filling, with the ridged side on the outside. The leaves may be omitted if necessary, but the flavor and presentation will not be as authentic.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces (1/2 brick) achiote paste
• ¼ cup bitter orange juice, or use half sweet orange juice and half vinegar
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely minced
• 1 ½ tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 chicken, cut into serving pieces
• 4 banana leaves, passed over a burner to soften
• 1 tablespoon corn oil
• 3 roma tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped

Preparation:

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large, non-reactive bowl, mixing thoroughly to dissolve the achiote paste. Place the chicken pieces in the bowl and marinate overnight, refrigerated.

Preheat the oven to 350, lightly grease a large baking dish, about 8" x 11. "Place two of the banana leaves side by side lengthwise (they will overlap slightly) and two widthwise.

Place the chicken and its marinade on top of the leaves in the baking dish.

Heat the oil, sauté the tomatoes, pepper and onion until the onion is transparent and spread this mixture over the chicken.

Fold the leaves over the chicken, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes.

Serves 4.

Turkey in a Dark Spice Sauce. Chilmole – sometimes called relleno negro – is made from one of the classic recados, or seasoning combinations. This dish, said to have originated in Campeche, is eaten all over the Yucatan peninsula, especially around Christmas and the New Year, when there is an abundance of leftover holiday turkey. It is a nice change from the usual round of enchiladas, tacos, tostadas, and other leftover turkey dishes. Make the recado now, and freeze it for use during the busy holiday season. You don't have to tell anyone how easy it is.

FOR THE RECADO

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons achiote seeds
• ¾ cup bitter orange juice (or a mixture of sweet orange juice and fresh lime juice)
• 2 lbs. dried ancho chiles, seeded and deveined
• 2 large whole cloves
• 4 large whole allspice
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 head garlic, peeled (about 10 large cloves)
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Place the achiote seeds in a small bowl, pour the juice over them, and allow to soak 2-3 hours. Toast the chiles just until they give off their fragrance, soak them in hot water until they soften, and drain them well. Place all ingredients in a spice mill or food processor and process until they are well blended. They should form a thick paste, the consistency of chilled cookie dough. Makes about 1 ½ cups.

FOR THE CHILMOLE

Ingredients:

• 6 cups leftover cooked turkey, skinned and boned
• 8 cups turkey or chicken broth
• 2 oz. recado negro (above)
• 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced

Preparation:

Head the turkey in the broth. Mix the recado with a bit of broth to dissolve it, add to the turkey and broth, and cook to desired consistency. (It's usually has the texture of a medium-thin mole.) Serve in bowls, garnished with hard-boiled eggs slices. Slices of a homemade pork sausage called but are served as an additional garnish, but the dish is rich enough without it. Accompany with plenty of hot tortillas.

Serves 6.

Yucatecan Baked Fish. This visually appealing dish calls for achiote paste, a classic Yucatan spice paste made from the hard, orange seed of the annatto tree, blended with cumin, cloves and pepper. The market in Merida has a huge section devoted to spice pastes, in colors ranging from bright orange to green black.

The women who sell them were happy to explain how to make the pastes from scratch, and I bought some achiote seeds to do this at home. The achiote paste sold in the U.S. comes in small bricks and is found in the Hispanic food section of nearly all large supermarkets.

Ingredients:

• 1 group or equally firm-fished, about 2 ½ lbs., cleaned, head, tail and spine removed, split down the middle to lie fiat
• 3 oz. (1 package) achiote paste
• 1/3 cup bitter (Seville) orange juice, OR mix sweet orange juice and white vinegar half-and-half
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and cut into rings
• 1 chile güero OR Hungarian wax chile, seeded and sliced into thin strips lengthwise
• 1 medium tomato, sliced into thin rounds
• 1 small purple onion, sliced into rings
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 4 oz. beer
• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 1 banana leaf, softened over a flame (if this is unavailable, use foil)

Preparation:

Wash the grouper, pat it dry with paper towels and salt and paper it. Mix the achiote paste and bitter orange juice, spread the mixture over the fish, and let it marinate for 3 hours. Place the fish on the softened banana leaf (or foil) and arrange the bell paper, chile, tomato and onion slices on the fish; sprinkle with oregano, olive oil and beer.

Warp the banana leaf or foil around the fish and place it in an oblong baking dish. Bake the fish in a 350 oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until it flakes easily when tested with a fork. In the Yucatan, this is served with purple onion slices marinated in olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and thyme.

Serves 4.

Yucatecan three-meat Stew. Although the Yucatan is hardly associated with cool weather, this stew, which contains chicken along with the meat, is one of its most popular dishes. Sundays in Merida call to mind music in all the plazas, and puchero specials in the restaurants. The stew is served with a salpicon, something like a relish, which is the tropical accompaniment to Yucatecan main dishes.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. Fresh pork hocks
• 1 lb. beef stew meat, cut in cubes
• 1 lb. beef marrow bones
• 1 cup garbanzos, soaked in water to cover overnight
• 4 black peppercorns
• 4 allspice berries
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon saffron
• 1 medium white onion peeled and roasted on a comal or griddle
• 1 whole head garlic, roasted on a comal or griddle, then peeled salt to taste
• 2 chicken breasts cut in quarters
• 2 spring hierba buena
• 2 spring cilantro
• 2 yams, peeled and cubed
• 2 plantains, peeled and sliced
• 2 plantains, peeled and sliced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 cobs of corn cut into fourths
• 2 chayotes, peeled and cubed
• 1 small cabbage, cut into wedges

For the salpicon:

• ¼ lb. radishes, finely chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 large purple onion, finely chopped
• ¾ cup bitter orange juice, or mix sweet orange juice with vinegar

Preparation:

Place the pork hocks, beef and marrow bones in a large stockpot with 2 ½ quarts water to cover, bring to a boil and skim off any foam. Add the peppercorn, allspice, saffron, onion, garlic and salt to taste. Lower heat and cook until the meat is almost tender.

Add the chicken, herbs, and vegetables and continue cooking until the meat is tender and the chicken and vegetables cooked through. Mix the radishes, cilantro, onion and orange juice.

Serve the stew in deep bowls, making sure that each person has some of each kind of meat, accompanied by the salpicon, sliced avocado, white rice, and roasted habanero chiles if desired.

Serves 8.

Lime soup. If there is one traditional dish in the Yucatan Peninsula, this is it. Literally translated as "lime soup", this is more of a spicy chicken with tomato soup. Contrary to the name, limes are not the major ingredient in this savory and standard soup. It is basically a chicken or turkey vegetable soup flavored with limes and made nicely hot with a touch of habanero peppers. A wonderfully different soup which can be served with dinner or by itself.

The unique bittersweet limes of the Yucatan, variously referred to as "lima agria", are hard to find in Chicago, but you can usually get them at Hispanic food markets. It is a kissing cousin to the Key Lime of Florida, but since even that is often hard to come by. I've made it with regular Old Persian limes.

I first had this soup at a little restaurant (more like a glorified kitchen) in the back streets of Cozumel in the late 80s. We befriended the owner and, after several return trips to Mexico, I asked him if I could talk to his chef about their preparation. This recipe is a combination of that recipe, my own experimentation and some tidbits I picked up in some old Mexican cookbooks. This seems like a lot of work, but it's worth it.

Ingredients:

PART ONE: THE BROTH
• 2 turkey or 4 chicken wings
• 1 turkey or 2 chicken carcasses
• 2 tablespoons cooking salt
• ½ sweet lime (substitute Persian lime if not available)
• 1 spring fresh mint (or dried equivalent)
• 8 whole allspice berries
• 15 black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or dried equivalent of 1 teaspoon)
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 5 whole cloves
• 2 medium heads of garlic (about 20 average sized cloves)
• 2 medium yellow onions, peeled, cut and diced
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• Some cheesecloth
• Some wire bag ties or string
• Serves/ Yields
• 8 to 12 servings (depending on your appetite!)

PART TWO: THE SOUP
• 2 quarts salpimentado broth
• 1 turkey or 2 chicken breasts
• 3 sweet limes
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 güero or chilaca chili (pepper), veins & seeds removed
• 1 habanero chili (pepper), veins & seeds removed
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)
• ½ cup chopped epazote (wormseed)
• 6 tortillas
• 1 lemon

Preparation instructions:

THE BROTH

Place the wings and carcasses in four quarts of cold water. If they are not covered, add water to cover. Season with the salt, more or less depending on your personal sate, and boil. Remove the scum as it forms on the surface or the broth. Three ways to prepare the spices (garlic, peppercorns, allspice, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin seeds). If you are using dried oregano no need to roast or toast.

1. Toast light in a toaster oven or regular oven, taking care not to burn them. Toast the garlic with the spices. It is done when the garlic is a light to medium golden color.

2. Roast them in a cast iron skillet. You will know they are done when the cumin deeds begin to pop and a delicious aroma is wafting off them. Take care not to burn over-roast.

3. I own a spice roaster. Basically a mesh basket which I can hold over an open flame and shake to roast the spices. Grind the spice, without the garlic, until you have a medium powder. You can use a spice grinder. I prefer a mortar and pestle. If you are using dried mint you should add it to this spice bag as well. Put into a 4" square of double cheesecloth and tie off with the bag ties or string. At any time, add the onions, garlic, spice bag, lime and mint to your broth. Reduce over a low heat to about 10 cups. This should take about one hour. When done, strain the entire mixture through a sieve or cheesecloth. Discard the bones, spice bag & vegetables. Cool and skim grease from surface. You now have salpimentado broth! This can be kept and served as a broth or used for the second half of our menu.

THE SOUP

Roast the tomatoes in the oven at about 400 degrees. When the skin begins to spill and the tomato smokes a bit, pull away the skin. Remove the seeds with the aid of a teaspoon, fry the tomato into a puree and season with salt and pepper. Peel and section the limes. Toast the habanero and güero/ chilaca chiies in the oven until the skin is a medium brown. The best habanero are orange, they are riper. Boil the turkey or chicken breast in the broth with the lime sections, the guero/chilaca chili, tomato puree, cilantro and epazote. Dried ingredients are okay to use, just reduce the amounts accordingly. Fresh epazote is almost impossible to buy in the US. When the meat is cooked, remove from the broth and allow to cool. Reduce the heat on the other ingredients and allow simmering. While this is boiling, cut the tortillas into strips and either fry in a bit of oil to make them crispy or bake in the oven. When the meat is cool to your touch shred into small strips and adds back to the broth. Bring back to a boil. Add the tortillas strips to the soup just prior to serving.

Helpful Hints:

Instead of starting the born from scratch you can use regular old chicken or turkey stock. Be careful when handling habanero chiles! They are the hottest in the world and the oil from them can burn your skin. Wear protective gloves, or make certain to wash your hands well before doing anything else! Serve this with plenty of hearty beer. Superior, Modelo or Bohemia is recommended.

Achiote Paste. Also known as recado Colorado in the Yucatan, where it originated and this marinating paste can be used on chicken, pork or fish. Although the base for achiote paste is sold under several brand names, ready to be mixed with orange juice, this homemade version has a much fresher, livlier taste and keeps for months in the refrigerator.

Annatto seeds are sold in Hispanic grocery stores and are also available on line. See The Mexican Kitchen: A Taste for All Seasons for a complete list of internet and mail order sources for Mexican ingredients, herbs and spices.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup annatto (achiote) seeds
• 10 large garlic cloves roasted on a comal or griddle until charred, then peeled
• ½ tablespoon dried oregano leaves
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 4whole allspice
• 1tablespoon ground black pepper
• ½ tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1tablespoon of salt
• 1 cut bitter (Seville) orange juice, or use half sweet orange juice and half vinegar

Preparation:

Grind all of the ingredients except the orange juice in a spice mill or food processor. Add the orange juice, a little at a time, until a thick paste is formed.

Makes about 1½ cups.

Yucatecan Salbutes. These delicious antojitos, sold in markets in Merida and other peninsula towns, are small, thick tortillas with a variety of toppings, including the local versions of moles, made with ground spice mixtures called recados. The most popular topping of all is shredded, cooked turkey or chicken, a pure white, heat-resistant breed of which the yucatecos eat in abundance.

Salbutes, like just about any other dish in the Yucatan except dessert, are always served with pickled red onions (below). The other requisite condiment, chile habanero can be found in the Mexican section of US supermarkets, or at smaller stores in Mexican neighborhoods, under the brand name La Anita.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound masa (your favorite recipe or see Basic Corn Masa, Mexico Connect, August 2001)
• 4 tablepoon all-purpose flour lard or corn oil for frying
• 1 cup shredded cabbage or lettuce
• 1 ½ cups cooked, shredded turkey or chicken pickled red onions (below)
• Slices tomatoes
• Habanero chiles in vinaigrette

Preparation:

Mix the masa and the flour until they are well blended and the masa is uniformly incorporated into masa. Divide the dough into 12 equal size balls and press them lightly in a waxed paper lined tortilla press. They should be smaller and thicker than regular tortillas, about ¼" thick and 2 ½"-3" in diameter.

In a deep skillet, fry them on both sides in hot lard or oil. They will inflate as they cook. Remove each one as it inflates and drain well on paper towels. Top each salbute with a layer of cabbage, then turkey or chicken, pickled red onion and sliced tomato. Serve immediately, accompanied by habaneros if desired.

Makes 12.

Ingredients for the pickled red onion:

• 2 red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• ½ cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano or thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place onions in a saucepan, add water to cover, bring to a boil and remove from heat. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. Place the onions in a non-reactive container with the remaining ingredients and allow to sit for several hours before serving. They keep up to one week in the refrigerator.

Makes about 3 cups.