Yucatecan cooking — a completely different tradition that deserves attention

Most people who discover Mexican cooking follow a northern path: burritos, carnitas, chiles, salsa. Yucatecan cooking is an entirely different tradition with different ingredients, different techniques, and different flavour profiles. Achiote is the central ingredient — earthy, slightly floral, with a distinctive red colour. Recados (spice pastes) are the technique: achiote with sour orange, garlic, and other spices form the base of most marinades. Cochinita pibil — pork marinated in achiote, wrapped in banana leaves, traditionally pit-roasted — is the dish that most introduces people to the style. The sour orange (naranja agria) is essential and not substitutable with regular orange. A mixture of orange juice and lime juice approximates it; sour orange concentrate imported from Mexico works well. This tradition is worth exploring after you have the basics of central and northern Mexican cooking.