Sorry for the not-so-clean presentation in the third picture. It was very hot and I messed up the placing on the plate. The dish is quite old and goes back to the Mayan period, way before the Spanish conquest.
The Mayan region has a different version of the day of the dead, called Hanal Pixán (dinner of the dead). During this festivity, several members of a family would prepare this dish made with corn dough, pork and chicken meat.
The couverture consist of a dough made of corn flour, lard (or cooking oil), and a red condiment called achiote. With the dough a base like that of a pie is made, and filled with pork and chicken meat and a gravy-like thing called ko’ol, made of the corn dough and water. The whole thing is wrapped in banana leaves and buried into a pit oven (called Píib) for about 2 hours, or in a modern oven for 2 to 3 hours.
The final product resembles an oversized tamal (the “Vaporcito” variant), but the flavour is quite different and difficult to explain.
by tjkun
10 Comments
Awesome
This looks amazing! Thank you for sharing!
Jejeje soy mexa y no conocía el platillo jaja básicamente es un tamal de pollo pero grandote.
Looks so good! I need to try it. Thanks for sharing
Honest question, can this be considered Traditional Mayan dish if Pork and Chicken weren’t available until after the Spanish arrived?
Amoooooo el pinche Pib. Una de las mejores creaciones , el Pib >>>> cualquier otro tamal.
So cool
This is awesome! Need more Mayan food in this sub
Nice! I also made mine last week, it’s labor intensive but it’s definitely worth it.
I am a bit of a traditionalist so I only make then for día de muertos. So I can safely say I have made them 8 times in my life and I still need to improve them but they taste close enough as I dont like in Yucatán anymore.
Funny enough the recipe I got from my mom is different to what I get from Mérida so I think I make the Campeche version of these.
Soy yucateca y no me gusta el pib