Confession, so when I started hearing all the hype about Instant Pots, I immediately bought one, darn that Amazon Prime subscription making it to easy for me to impulse buy. I did however leave it sitting in the box for about 6 months. You see I really hate reading directions and this instant pot seems like the directions are no joke and non negotiable, thus the reason for the onset delay of opening my box.
Alas, the day has come when the weather turned cold and a friend of mine convinced me that I shouldn’t wait another week go by without trying out my instant pot.
This was the week, I made three 2 recipes using this new contraption, White Bean Chicken Soup, Cochinita Pibil, essentially a pulled pork.
Cochinita Pibil
Cochinita Pibil is a braised pork found in the Yucatan in Mexico. It’s a type of barbacoa since it is typically wrapped in banana leaves and cooked underground. The major flavor profiles of this dish is orange juice, lime juice, and achiote. I typically make this dish in a crockpot or in a dutch oven and it take a few hours but comes out great, I adapted it to cook in an Instant Pot and took less time and tasted great.
Ingredients
2-3 lbs of Pork Shoulder, cubed
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lime
3 cups of Chicken Broth
1.5 tsps of cinnamon or 2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp clove
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup of diced onions
1/2 cup achiote, found in the latin section of the grocery store, or here
Garnishes, Red Onion, Cilantro, Habanero Salsa, Corn Tortillas
Directions
For the crockpot you will place all of the ingredients except for the garnishes, you will cook this dish on high for 5-6 hours
If you are making this in an instant pot, you will place all the ingredients in the instant pot, make sure the vent is sealed, and press the button that says meat/stew. I really preferred this method with the pork, it came out so tender and delicious. All in all with the pressure release valve it took about an hour but the tenderness would only have been matched by using a crockpot for 5-6 hours
You can drain this shredded pork and serve in corn tortillas like tacos or spoon over rice and beans for a hearty bowl.