Cochinita pibil is a signature dish of Mexico; we have verified places to eat it in Mérida. Start with where to eat Cochinita pibil in Mérida.
Cochinita pibil · Mérida
Cochinita pibil is the Yucatán's defining plate: pork shoulder marinated in sour orange and achiote, wrapped in banana leaves and slow-roasted overnight in an earth oven (pib), shredded over the heat.
The dish predates the Spanish conquest. The pib was the Maya earth-oven cooking method, used for chicken, deer and turkey before Spanish pork arrived. After 1542 Spanish citrus (sour orange) and pork married with Mayan recado rojo paste of achiote, garlic and pepper, and the cochinita pibil we know today emerged. Saturday-morning markets still cook it overnight in pit ovens and sell it from 6am.
Where to eat in Mérida:
- Manjar Blanco
- Doña Mary Cochinita Pibil
- La Chaya Maya
Where to eat Cochinita pibil in Mérida: the editor picks