Ingredients
2/3 cup orange juice, fresh
1/3 cup lemon juice, fresh
1 tbsp annatto (achiote) seeds
1 ; ground in a blender or
1 ; pulverized with a mortar
1 ; and pestle
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)
1 ; cut into 6 to 8 serving
1 ; pieces
12 tortillas, hot, (hand or
1 ; ready made)
Directions
In a small bowl, combine the orange and lemon juice, ground annatto
seeds, garlic, oregano, cumin, clove, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Place
chicken in a shallow baking dish just large enough to hold the pieces
snugly in one layer and pour the seasoned fruit juice over it. Cover
the dish with plastic wrap and marinate the chicken for 6 hours at
room temperature, or 12 hours or overnight in the refrigerator,
turning the pieces over in the marinade from time to time.
Line a large colander with 2 crossed, overlapping sheets of
aluminum foil and arrange the chicken on it. Pour in the marinade,
then bring the ends of the foil up over the chicken and twist them
together to seal in the chicken and its marinade securely.
Place the colander in a deep pot, about 1 inch larger in diameter
than the colander, and pour enough water into the pot to come to
within an inch of the bottom of the colander. Bring the water to a
vigorous boil over high heat, cover the pot securely and reduce the
heat to low. Steam for 1 3/4 hours, or until the chicken is tender,
checking the pot from time to time and adding more boiling water if
necessary.
To serve, remove the package of chicken from the colander, open it,
and transfer the chicken and all of its sauce to a heated bowl or
platter. Accompany it with tortillas, served in a basket, in place of
bread.
NOTE: In Yucatan, the chicken is wrapped in banana leaves and
steamed in a special pit called a pib.
32 of 108
Time/Life 'Foods of the World', Recipes: Latin American Cooking
Earl Cravens earl.cravens@mgmtsys.com
Servings: 4 servings
Pollo Pibil (Chicken Steamed With Fruit Juice) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beverages; Chicken; Fruit; Mexican; Poultry
The History of Recipes
It is possible to read the history of `recipes` way back into the far past, at least as far as the ancient Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Having said that, in the main part, these ancient cook books were just basic hieroglyphic recipes for meal preparation.
In fact, the oldest recipe discovered, according to experts are some ancient tablets in Sumerian which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who drank it feel exhilarated. Later on, in The time of the roman empire 25BC a man called Apicius created some scripts describing recipes enjoyed by his fellow Romans. In his scrolls, Apicius recounts how the roman meals were split into starters, main meal and desserts, a style of dining still practiced today. This early Roman chef tells us how the early Romans were skilled in the use of many aromatic flavors, including a few that will be familiar to modern cooks like basil, mint and asafoetida. Later, we have two interesting books which date from the fourteenth century - a recipe book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, they are unconnected to the indian curry that is popular today, but rather descriptions of the types of food enjoyed by the rich and wealthy people of those days. Later, in the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought back many spices and herbs from the holy lands, including spices like coriander, parsley, and rosemary. These new foods and spices was responsible for an eruption in recipe books, many of which still exist in academic collections. The arrival of television brings us cooking programs and the recipe books that accompanied them. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everybody to access massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Pollo Pibil (Chicken Steamed With Fruit Juice) recipe.
