History
Relleno negro is a hot dish of the Yucatán Peninsula made with turkey and pork, a sofrito and a paste of burnt dried chiles called chilmole or recado negro, which gives the dish its name and colour. In Yucatec Maya it is boox but': boox, black, and but', the stuffing of ground pork mixed with hard-boiled egg. The original recipe adds tomato, achiote, pepper, clove, cumin, oregano, epazote and garlic. It is traditionally cooked in November for Janal Pixán, the Maya day of the dead. In Cancún, El Tatich serves it on Sundays, and it appears at the Mercado 23 fondas.
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Common allergens: Pork, Egg
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1 kg turkey pieces (thighs and drumsticks)
- 400 g minced pork
- 100 g recado negro (chilmole) paste
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 4 sprigs epazote
- 2 litres water
- 2 tbsp masa harina mixed with 100 ml water
- Salt
- Corn tortillas to serve
Method
- Put the turkey in a large pot with the water, half the onion, 3 garlic cloves, oregano and 2 tsp salt and simmer for 1 hour.
- Dissolve the recado negro in a ladle of the broth and stir it into the pot.
- Mix the minced pork with 1 tbsp of the dissolved recado, a pinch of salt and 2 chopped hard-boiled egg whites, and shape it into one log.
- Wrap the log in a double layer of cheesecloth, tie the ends and lower it into the pot with the tomato, the rest of the onion and garlic, and the epazote.
- Simmer for 1 hour more, until the turkey is tender and the forcemeat firm.
- Stir in the masa mixture and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken the broth slightly.
- Slice the forcemeat and serve it with the turkey, the black broth, the remaining sliced eggs and warm tortillas.
Tip from the editors. Recado negro is sold ready-made in Yucatecan markets; making it from scratch means charring the chiles to black, so do it outdoors.
Where to eat relleno negro
Relleno negro in Cancún
El Tatich ★ 4.0
El Tatich, beside Walmart Gran Plaza in Cancún, sells cochinita pibil and oven-roast lechón as tacos and tortas until the pork runs out each afternoon.
OrderTacos or a torta of cochinita pibil or lechón al horno, and relleno negro on Sundays.
TipTables close at 15:30 and takeaway at 16:00, or when the cochinita and lechón run out; there are no other branches.
Mercado 23 fondas ★ 4.2
Mercado 23 fondas are the lunch counters of the Mercado Javier Rojo Gómez in downtown Cancún, cooking cochinita pibil, salbutes, papadzules and relleno negro.
OrderCochinita pibil tacos or a plate of salbutes, then papadzules or relleno negro if the fonda has them.
Why locals goLunch counters inside the working market, reached from Avenida Chichén Itzá and Avenida Tulum, serving cochinita and tamales while it is busy before 14:00.
TipGo between 08:00 and 11:00, when the best food is served; the market slows down by 14:00. Bring small peso notes.
Relleno negro in Mérida
La Chaya Maya ★ 4.4
La Chaya Maya on Santa Lucía in Mérida pours tortillas on a clay comal in the dining room and runs sopa de lima, poc chuc and panuchos seven days a week.
SignatureSopa de lima, Poc chuc, Papadzules, Cochinita pibil
La Tradición ★ 4.3
La Tradición on Calle 60 in Mérida runs chef David Cetina's Yucatecan recados, poc chuc and queso relleno from a family kitchen of two decades.
SignaturePoc chuc, Queso relleno, Sopa de lima
Manjar Blanco ★ 4.4
Manjar Blanco on Mérida's Calle 47 corridor near Paseo de Montejo runs cochinita pibil and queso relleno (Netflix Taco Chronicles featured) lunch only.
SignatureCochinita pibil tacos, Queso relleno negro, Pavo en escabeche
More cities are in research. Want relleno negro covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.