Cochinita pibil is another entry in the grand world tradition of slow roasting a small little piggies, this time from the Yucatan in Mexico. Traditionally a whole suckling pig is buried in an underground pit cooker, but in this case I used boston butt and used my not buried in the ground oven. Still came out pretty damn good. Achiote is an integral part to this recipe, I don’t think there are any substitutes. Achiote paste is available at most Latin markets or online. The best way would be to make your own achiote paste from annatto seeds and spices but the commercial achiote paste will work, I just hear it isn’t very consistent in flavor. Having only used it a few times I can’t confirm or deny this. My suggestion would be to make this a day ahead of time and then reheat as I think its flavor improves over night.
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