EL VIEJOSPICE

Stories from the Table

Recipes

The dishes from our video series, made at home: the story behind each one, every ingredient, and the steps, temperatures and times you need. We season them with El Secreto; until it launches, black pepper works too.

A clay bowl of red pozole topped with cabbage, radish, onion and lime, from our animated episode.

Stories from the Table · Ep. 01

Pozole

The ancient secret isn't the pork — it's what happens to the corn.

Pozole begins with nixtamalization: dried corn is cooked and soaked in cal (slaked lime), then rinsed and rubbed to loosen the skins. Cooked again, the kernels burst open into hominy. The name comes from the Nahuatl pozolli, and the technique is thousands of years old: it unlocks the corn's nutrition and gives pozole its unmistakable chew. Pork came later, with the Spanish. The corn was always the point.

One pot, three colors: blanco (clear and bright), rojo (guajillo and ancho) and verde (tomatillo and pumpkin seed). Below is the rojo from our first episode, followed by how to turn the same pot blanco or verde.

Prep
30 min
Cook
About 2½ hours
Serves
8–10
Style
Rojo, with blanco & verde variations
Watch the episode Jump to the recipe (3:08)

Step by step

  1. A clay pot of simmering pork beside a bowl of dried chiles soaking in hot water.

    Cook the pork

    Cover the seasoned pork with the water; add the onion, garlic and bay. Simmer gently about 2 hours, skimming, until the pork is tender. Lift it out, shred it coarsely, and strain the broth back into the pot.

  2. Hominy kernels opening like flowers as they cook.

    Add the hominy

    Stir the hominy into the broth and simmer 30 minutes, so the kernels drink in the broth.

  3. Brick-red chile sauce pouring through a mesh strainer into a clay pot.

    Make the rojo

    Toast the chiles briefly in a dry skillet until fragrant, then soak in hot water 20 minutes. Blend with the garlic, oregano, cumin and a cup of their soaking liquid. Strain the sauce into the pot — the straining is what makes it silky.

  4. Bring it together

    Simmer 20 minutes more. Return the pork, taste for salt, and simmer 10 minutes. The broth should be rich, red and clear — never thick.

  5. Serve family style

    Ladle into deep bowls and put the garnishes in the middle of the table: lettuce, radish, onion, oregano, lime. Everyone finishes their own bowl. That's a rule, not a suggestion.

El Viejo Spice · Stories from the Table · elviejospice.com

Every dish has a story. Every story deserves a place at the table.

A banana-leaf tamal topped with tomato sauce on a Talavera plate, from our animated episode.

Stories from the Table · Ep. 02

Tamales Yucatecos

Wrapped in a banana leaf that crossed an ocean — the tamal made for the souls.

The tamal is ancient Maya food, but its wrapper isn't: banana plants reached the Americas in the 1500s, carried from the Canary Islands, and Yucatán made the leaf its own. A Yucatecan tamal is folded flat in that glossy leaf, its masa strained silky-smooth (that's the colado), its chicken red with achiote, its sauce — the kol — thickened with masa itself.

And once a year, for Hanal Pixán, the feast of the souls, the same flavors are baked as one great round pie, the mucbipollo, in the earth oven. Below is the everyday version, steamed on the stove; the mucbipollo is in the notes.

Prep
About 1½ hours
Steam
1–1½ hours
Makes
About 20 tamales
Best
Made with company
Watch the episode Jump to the recipe (2:40)

Step by step

  1. Chicken pieces in a clay pot beside a bowl of red achiote paste and garlic.

    Poach the chicken

    Simmer the chicken with the onion, garlic and salt until tender, about 35 minutes. Lift it out; shred the meat in generous pieces. Keep every drop of broth — it builds the kol and the masa.

  2. Season the filling

    Toss the shredded chicken with the dissolved recado and El Secreto. Set aside.

  3. A wooden spoon stirring a pot of glossy red kol sauce.

    Make the kol

    Whisk the masa into the hot broth and cook, stirring, until it thickens into a sauce that coats a spoon. Season with the achiote and salt. Keep warm.

  4. Make the masa colada

    Blend or whisk the masa with the warm broth until it's as thin as pancake batter, then strain it. This is the colado, and it's what makes these tamales silky instead of grainy. Cook it in a heavy pot with the lard and salt, stirring constantly, until it thickens into a soft, glossy porridge that pulls away from the sides, about 15–20 minutes. It will look too soft. It isn't: it firms up as it cools. Let it cool until you can handle it.

  5. Hands passing a banana leaf over a stove flame.

    Wilt the leaves

    Pass each banana-leaf square over an open flame until glossy and pliable.

  6. Hands placing shredded chicken on masa spread on a banana leaf.

    Assemble

    On a leaf square: a generous spoon of masa spread thin, pieces of chicken, a spoon of kol, a slice of tomato, a leaf of epazote. Fold the leaf into a flat parcel.

  7. A steamer packed with banana-leaf tamales beside a plated tamal.

    Steam

    Lay the parcels flat in a steamer over simmering water, seam side down, in loose layers. Cover with extra leaves and a cloth, then the lid. Steam 1 to 1½ hours, until the masa is set and pulls cleanly from the leaf.

  8. Serve

    Serve in the leaf, with a simple cooked tomato sauce and coffee — or atole, if the morning calls for it.

El Viejo Spice · Stories from the Table · elviejospice.com

Every dish has a story. Every story deserves a place at the table.

A clay pot of steaming, shredded red cochinita pibil, from our animated episode.

Stories from the Table · Ep. 03

Cochinita Pibil

Two worlds, one long night — Yucatán's Sunday dish, made at home, no pit needed.

Cochinita means “little pig.” Pibil means cooked in the pib, the Maya earth oven. The name itself is two languages, two worlds, one dish: Maya fire and achiote, a pig and a sour orange that crossed an ocean. The story goes that in colonial times pigs were butchered on Saturdays, and with no refrigeration the meat went straight into the pib overnight — so by Sunday morning, it was ready. Centuries later, that's still when Mérida eats it.

This is the home version from our episode: the same overnight patience, in a regular oven.

Prep
30 min + overnight marinade
Cook
3½–4 hours
Serves
8
Make it
Saturday, for Sunday
Watch the episode Jump to the recipe (1:54)

Step by step

  1. A hand sprinkling pepper into a bowl of red achiote recado.

    Blend the recado

    Blend the achiote paste, sour orange juice, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt and El Secreto until completely smooth.

  2. Hands rubbing red marinade over pork shoulder in a clay dish.

    Marinate overnight

    Rub it all over the pork, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Like those old Saturday nights, this dish can't be rushed.

  3. Wilt the leaves

    Pass the banana leaves slowly over an open flame (or a hot dry skillet) until they turn glossy and pliable.

  4. Covering a clay pot with its lid for the long, slow cook.

    Wrap and cook low

    Line a Dutch oven or deep roasting pan with leaves, letting them hang over the sides. Add the pork and every drop of marinade, fold the leaves over the top, and cover tightly. Cook at 325°F (165°C) for 3½–4 hours, until the pork shreds at the touch of a fork. (Slow cooker: LOW, 8 hours.)

  5. A jar of bright pink pickled red onions beside habaneros.

    Pickle the onions

    While the pork cooks, pour the sour orange juice over the sliced onions, add the salt, and let them sit at least 1 hour. Watch them turn bright pink.

  6. Banana leaves opened to reveal steaming shredded cochinita.

    Rest and shred

    Rest 20 minutes. Shred the meat in its own juices, discarding large pieces of fat, and moisten with the cooking juices.

  7. Shredded cochinita on a tortilla topped with pink pickled onions.

    Serve

    Pile onto warm tortillas for tacos, into soft French bread for tortas, or over panuchos — but always with pickled red onion, and xnipek on the side for the brave.

El Viejo Spice · Stories from the Table · elviejospice.com

Every dish has a story. Every story deserves a place at the table.

Season it with El Secreto

Our pepper-forward family seasoning: black pepper and aromatic spices for everyday cooking.

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