5 great places for tacos de cochinita in the city. / 5 grandes lugares para tacos de cochinita en la ciudad...
Since, thanks to my previous entry, I am still installed in my Campechan nostalgia, before I share with you my five favorite options (well, actually, four) to fill that void with a good taco of cochinita pibil in the city— I would like to emphasize that, like the cochinita from Hecelchakán, Campeche, there’s only one. It is not that I am a scholar of cochinita pibil or anything (plus, I am not the only person who says that, the Amigo Calán —name of establishment located in the center of the mentioned town, ran by the Calán family— has a reputation that precedes it), but during four years of my life —in which my job consisted in traveling around the Yucatan Peninsula: researching, exploring, meeting, asking, eating, documenting, and writing about the history, and the cultural and natural richness of the region— I had the fortune of tasting a not insignificant number of cochinitas, and, when I say cochinitas, I mean literal cochinitas, that —as their name implies— are cooked in a pib (or “underground oven”) with the whole animal (preferably, regional hairless pork), and that can be ordered with “pellejo (pig skin) and morcilla (blood sausage)” —in some places, the ears and other parts of the head, are also included.
The only pibil that I tried, superior to that of the center of Hecelchakán, was in a town within the same municipality (close to the Hacienda de Dzotchén), though it was not exactly made out of pork, and, to be honest, I never knew —for a fact— from which animal it was made of (but, considering its size and the local fauna, I think it may have been an armadillo). What I did know, was that it had been recently hunted (as part of the system of traditions and practices of community) by a family who opened the doors of their home for us, and treated us with one of the simplest, most generous, and memorable meals of our lives, in their backyard: soft, juicy, and greasy meat packed in banana leaves, pinched with handmade tortillas freshly-made on the comal, and accompanied by wedges of red onion and charred habaneros with regional sour orange juice, and a some cold beers.
Hecelchakán, Campeche, may not be a very popular tourist site around the world, but it is one of the most enchanting and surprising places I know. It not only has the best cochinita, it also has exceptional traditional panadería in the community of Pomuch —a small and colorful town that encompasses a lot of magic in itself, like its particular ritual to commemorate the Hanal Pixán (or Mayan Día de Muertos), in which the bones of the deceased are unearthed, and cleaned, every year, by their families, as a symbol that they continue to accompany them—, and a few archaeological sites, probably not significant in size, but as unusual and historically important as that of the island of Jaina, in Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve —a set of elevated structures over a piece of land reclaimed from the sea, built artificially by the Mayans with sascab (a regional limestone material). In the archaeological field, this place became famous for the aesthetic quality of its terracotta figurines, which —although they were not particular to this island but to various populations along the coast— were related to the name of the place. Today, the site remains closed to the public, but more about it, as well as its figurines and other pieces, can be learned about at the Archaeological Museum in the center of Hecelchakán.
Anyway, if I continue talking about the wonders of this little piece of Mayan land I will never stop, so, in the mean time, here are some cochinitas chilangas, and then I'll tell you more...
As usual in this ATOLE CAMPECHANO, the selection of places is related —in general terms— to specific zones, communities, or neighborhood in the city and out. In this case, all of the cochinita places are located in the city center, around the San Juan market area...
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Atole Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.