Puerco Pibil Failure

Underdog

So the title kinda says it all. I tried my hand at making puerco pibil and uh, it was terrible. Way too salty and no real taste. I don't cook very often so I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong. I followed the directions from Rodriguez's youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBEjA but I cut everything in half. I did this because I was not going to try 5 lbs of pork butt on the first attempt, just in case I screwed it all up (which is what happened). The amount of pork was not 2.5 lbs though, it was like 1.6 but I figured that extra sauce wouldn't really make much of a difference. I also could not find any all spice so I did the recipe without it. I cut the cooking time down to 3 hours instead of 4 as well. So can anyone try to help me troubleshoot this recipe? Does all spice really make that huge difference?

What IS pibil supposed to taste like anyway?

Here is a picture of the finished product (if you could call it that) for reference:



Edit: By salty, I mean on the inside of the pork too. I rinsed a piece under water and then it wasn't even edible. I guess there's no salvaging it Oh and no tequila either because I didn't have any.

I'm gonna post this in the D&D cooking thread too if that's ok.

Daenris

So, you used a lot less pork, but didn't adjust the other ingredients? And you didn't have all spice, and didn't include tequila -- both of which would help cut the salt a bit. A tbsp of salt for only 1.6lbs of pork is excessive, so I'm not surprised it was very salty.

My main question though is, have you ever had this before so that you know what it "should" taste like?

In general if you're making a recipe you've never made before and don't know what it's going to be like, you shouldn't make so many alterations to the recipe. My suggestion is to try making it again with the correct ingredients in the correct amounts and see how it turns out. If it's still really bad, well either you don't like Puerco Pibil, or at least then you can start diagnosing where the problem really is.

Underdog

:P Yeah looking back, it was kinda dumb to not keep the meat in proportion as well or cut the other ingredients down. I have no tequila in the house and felt it would be a waste to buy some only for the dish and not ever use it again (no one drinks it in my family). As for the all spice, I couldn't for the life of me locate it in the super market when I was picking things up. It was sorta badly planned to be honest. I'll look to keep things in proportion the next time and hopefully, that will be the big mistake I made this time.

And no, I have no idea what it's supposed to taste like.

Daenris

Allspice should just be with the other spices in the baking aisle. If you looked there and couldn't find it you could try asking, or check another store if there's another option near you, but it should just be in another container like any other spice/seasoning. Alternatively, if you completely can't find it, substitute a mix of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, as this is roughly what the flavor of allspice would be.

starmanbrand

What type of salt did you use? I don't feel like watching that video. If you used normal like..Mortons table salt, it will be WAY Saltier than it should be. Use Kosher Salt next time. Easier to add in by hand to adjust the flavor, dissolves better, and doesnt have such an abrasive taste.

Scale your ingredients next time. don't be gun shy of salt, just taste as you go.

Underdog

starmanbrand wrote: »

What type of salt did you use? I don't feel like watching that video. If you used normal like..Mortons table salt, it will be WAY Saltier than it should be. Use Kosher Salt next time. Easier to add in by hand to adjust the flavor, dissolves better, and doesnt have such an abrasive taste.

Scale your ingredients next time. don't be gun shy of salt, just taste as you go.

It was... sea salt. I use whatever salt there is in the house but I'll keep in mind to tone it down. I mean, if I don't put enough salt in, it'd at least be edible as opposed to too much salt.

Underdog

Daenris wrote: »

Allspice should just be with the other spices in the baking aisle. If you looked there and couldn't find it you could try asking, or check another store if there's another option near you, but it should just be in another container like any other spice/seasoning. Alternatively, if you completely can't find it, substitute a mix of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, as this is roughly what the flavor of allspice would be.

Yeah it wasn't. We looked. 3 times. It's a chinese super market so I chalked its absence up to a difference in spice usage. But there are a few other super markets around and I'll see if they've got it.