Cochinita Pibil

Name: Cochinita Pibil
Total time: 4 h 30 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Pork shoulder; Orange juice; Lime juice; Garlic; Dried ancho chillies; Paprika; Ground cumin; Dried oregano; Salt; Corn tortillas

465 kcal a serving, against 843 for the traditional version. That is 378 kcal off, or 45%, with 43.6g of protein. Serves 8. 4 hours 30 minutes plus marinating.

What the traditional version is

A fatty cut of pork shoulder, thickly smeared with extra lard and a paste of bitter orange, garlic and spices. It's wrapped in banana leaves, buried in an earth oven, and cooked for hours. The result is unctuous, greasy, and served in massive piles with a stack of fresh corn tortillas.

What changed, and what each change costs

1600g of fatty pork shoulder and 100g of lard swapped for 1600g of lean pork shoulder, dropping the lard entirely

Fatty pork and pure lard add a staggering amount of fat that you don't need if you trap the steam in your roasting tin. Swapping to a lean cut keeps the meat but ditches the heavy grease.

What it costs you. The meat is noticeably firmer. You miss out on the ultra-rich, sticky mouthfeel that comes from pork bathing in its own rendered fat for hours. So: a structured, meaty braise. A melting pile of grease was never on the table once the fat came out.

800g of corn tortillas reduced to 480g

Less starch on the table forces the focus onto the pork itself. The meat becomes the main event rather than just a filling.

What it costs you. You get exactly 2 tacos per person instead of 3 or 4. There's no getting around it, this is the first compromise you'll notice if you're used to eating until you physically burst.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Pork shoulder
Orange juice
Lime juice
Garlic
Dried ancho chillies
Paprika
Ground cumin
Dried oregano
Salt
Corn tortillas

How it starts

Soak the dried ancho chillies in boiling water for 15 minutes to soften them, then drain.
Cut the lean pork shoulder into large chunks, roughly 100g each.
Preheat your oven to 140C.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Mexican.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	843	465
Protein	41.2g	43.6g
Fat	51.8g	16.6g
Saturated fat	17.8g	5.2g
Carbohydrate	54.2g	35.5g
Protein per 100 kcal	4.9g	9.4g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Mexican prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

The method is in the book

The deep, earthy acidity of the citrus and spices shines through brilliantly without being masked by a thick layer of fat. The lean pork absorbs the liquid beautifully, giving you a sharp, vibrant taco. I'll freely admit that the original, buried in the ground and dripping with lard, has a magic that an indoor oven can't match. But for a weeknight at home, this does the job nicely.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Mexican, along with 56 more. Buy the paperback