Yucatán is located at the end of Mexico’s curling peninsula and it is home of one of the most distinctive regional cuisines in the country. Although Yucatan has preserved their culture, there has been influence from the Caribbean, the Dutch, the Lebanese, and the Spanish. Yucatán cuisine is distinctive partly because the region was geographically isolated from the rest of the country for centuries.
Spices are used to prepare what are called recados or marinades: squash seed recado, red or achiote recado, black recado, white recado, recado for steak, pumpkin seed recado (pipián) and recado for tamales. The most common kind is red recado made with the red annatto seed paste, used in all the pibil dishes, like “cocinita pibil” and Tikin-xic fish.
I have been visiting the Yucatan peninsula for 30 years and one of my favorite dishes is Poc-Chuc, slices of pork that have been marinated in a tangy sauce. We chose this dish to create our Yucatan marinade.