Mesoamerica · Volume 02, Achiote, the Pib and the Lebanese Table

Poc chuc

Name: Poc chuc
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Cuisine: The Yucatán Peninsula
Ingredients: 2kg, thin steaks pork steaks; 120ml (½ cup) sour orange juice; 3 onions, sliced grilled or pickled red onion, to serve; 2 to 3 tomatoes chiltomate (charred tomato-onion-chile salsa), to serve; to serve frijol colado (strained black bean purée), to serve; to serve tamulado habanero, to serve; to serve avocado, to serve

Yucatán, Mexico

Poc chuc, sour orange marinated pork grilled over charcoal: a thin, deeply charred grilled pork steak with dark grill marks, laid beside a spoonful of charred tomato and onion chiltomate salsa and pale strained black bean purée.

Illustration

Time: 2 hours 30

Researched: Researched from 26 sources in the brief

As tradition built it

Poc chuc

Serves 6 to 8 · 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

2kg, thin steaks pork steaks
120ml (½ cup) sour orange juice
3 onions, sliced grilled or pickled red onion, to serve
2 to 3 tomatoes chiltomate (charred tomato-onion-chile salsa), to serve
to serve frijol colado (strained black bean purée), to serve
to serve tamulado habanero, to serve
to serve avocado, to serve

Method

Marinate the pork steaks simply in sour orange juice.
Grill directly over charcoal.
Serve with grilled or pickled red onion, chiltomate, frijol colado, tamulado habanero and avocado.

What a modern chef changes

Vacuum marinade, direct-heat sear, dehydrated char dust

Method

Marinate the pork in sour orange under vacuum, briefly, for more even acid penetration through the cut without the surface over-curing an extended open marinade risks.
Grill on a Big Green Egg run for genuine direct high heat, lid up, replicating the fierce, fast charcoal sear poc chuc actually wants.
Dehydrate a portion of the chiltomate's charred tomato skin separately, then grind it in the spice grinder into a dusting seasoning for the finished plate.

Open in the atlas: cook mode, scaling and tick off lists