“I can’t stop thinking about the flavor of that achiote sauce you made! If I bring some pork chops over, do you think we could do something ‘achiote’ with them?” …1 hour and 20 pork chops later…
It’s interesting how many ways there are to go about an achiote meat dish. I have both the paste and a similar dry-rub on hand most times, and by adding a few simple ingredients it is so easy to turn either of those into an completely different dish.
For instance, the the other day I mixed the paste with beer and lime to marinate a steak, which can also be done with pork, but this time, more along the lines of Yucatan grilled chicken, we extended the paste into something more like a sauce, and patted it onto pork chops in a thin layer front and back; ready for baking.
I find that for this situation, due to the thickness of the sauce, pan frying doesn’t work as well as baking. This also means that you can bake an entire sheet pan of pork chops at once, so it makes for great party or potluck food, with few dishes, quick clean-up, and easy transport.
My one word of advise would be to save the drippings, as they taste delicious and can be used over whatever steamed vegetable or greens you may be serving along side the pork.
Annatto/Achiote and Chili Marinade for Pork
By: Semiserious Chefs
Makes: Enough rub for ~15 pork chops
Ingredients:
- desired number of average thickness pork chops (extra sauce can be frozen)
- 3 dried guajillo chilies; seeded and ground*
- 4 dried chipotle chilies; seeded and ground*
- one 3.5 oz package of achiote paste
- OR ~6 T of home made achiote paste
- 2 T grapefruit juice**
- 2 T lime juice**
- 2 T white vinegar
- 1/2 t ground cumin
- 1/2 t oregano
- 4 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 t ground cinnamon
- 1/8 t salt
- 1/8 t pepper
*These together make about 1/4 cup of coarse ground chili
**You can replace these two with 4 T Naranja Agria, Seville Orange Juice
Directions:
- Grind the whole chilies into a coarse powder, using a blender of food processor. Add these, along with everything but the pork chops to a bowl and blend together with a fork. You’ll end up with a pasty sauce.
- Heat the oven to 375°F.
- Give each pork chop a thin smear of the pasty sauce on one side, enough to coat it nicely, and lay this face down on a prepared baking sheet. When you have assembled all of the pork chops in this manner, give the top side of each pork chop another thin smear of the sauce. You can use your fingers or the back of a spoon.
- Bake the pan of pork chops for 15-20 minutes, until they have rendered their juices, and reached your desired doness.
- Allow the cooked chops to rest for 5 minutes before serving, while you collect the drippings from the pan. Use a spatula to scrape up any stuck on bits, as these are the best for flavoring the drippings. You can add a little hot water and a dab of the left-over paste to this to make it go farther.
- Serve your pork chops with either a drizzling or a small dish of the drippings on the side for dipping. You can also drizzle this over any vegetables or greens you may be serving along-side.
Post a comment