Tacos de cochito horneado
Cochito horneado is a Chiapas dish of young pork marinated in a vinegar-sharpened adobo of ancho chile and warm spices and then baked, often in a wood-fired oven. Shredded and served in tortillas, it is one of the best-known taco fillings of Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Chiapa de Corzo.
Overview
Cochito is the Chiapas word for a young pig, and the dish is frequently described as the state's most recognized pork preparation. It is sometimes compared with Yucatecan cochinita pibil because both are slow-cooked pork dishes from southeastern Mexico, but the seasoning is different: instead of achiote, cochito relies on a dark red recado of dried ancho chiles blended with tomato, onion, garlic and vinegar and perfumed with allspice, clove, cinnamon, bay leaf and thyme. Cooks vary the recipe from town to town.
Preparation
Pieces of pork, often shoulder, are steeped in the chile and spice marinade and then cooked slowly. In Tuxtla Gutiérrez the meat may be seasoned with sour orange and baked in a horno de leña, a wood-burning oven, while in Chiapa de Corzo it is commonly sold from clay pots still sitting in its reduced broth. Some households in the region use brick ovens and sell the pork, or a chicken version, together with the concentrated cooking residue, which is itself called recado and is used as a rub or sauce. Chicken can be prepared the same way, using a thicker version of the sauce as a rub and a shorter cooking time.
Tacos and serving
As a taco filling, the pork is shredded and piled on corn tortillas, sometimes accompanied by refried black beans and chile güero. Plated versions come with the reduced recado, lettuce, radishes and raw onion. A traditional drink alongside is pozol, a beverage of corn and cacao popular across southern Mexico.
One well-known stop is Taquitos de la Comisión in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, which El Financiero reports was started in 1979 by a cook named Doña Arminda outside the former Federal Electricity Commission offices and has since grown to several branches. Cochito is also a festive dish, eaten at Christmas and New Year celebrations, and is associated with the January Fiesta Grande of Chiapa de Corzo.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg pork shoulder, cut into 8 cm chunks
- 6 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 2 tomatoes
- 1/2 white onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 8 allspice berries
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick, about 5 cm
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp salt
- 20 corn tortillas
- Shredded lettuce, sliced radishes and chopped onion to serve
Steps
- Soak the anchos in hot water for 15 minutes. Blend them with 1 1/2 cups of the soaking water, the tomatoes, onion, garlic, vinegar and salt, then strain.
- Pour the sauce over the pork in a heavy ovenproof pot. Tuck in the allspice, cloves, cinnamon, bay and thyme. Marinate for at least 4 hours.
- Bring the pot to a boil on the stove, cover, lower the heat and simmer about 45 minutes, until the pork is tender.
- Uncover and bake at 180 C (350 F) for 30 to 40 minutes, until the sauce reduces and the top of the meat browns.
- Shred the pork into the thickened sauce, discarding the whole spices.
- Serve on warm tortillas with lettuce, radishes and onion.
Where to try it
- Taquitos de la Comisión, Tuxtla Gutiérrez: Long-running cochito taco stand founded in 1979, according to El Financiero.
Reviews
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See also
References
- "Así son los Taquitos de la Comisión, donde Claudia Sheinbaum comió cochito en Chiapas". El Financiero. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Chiapas Style Roasted Pork (Cochito)". Mexico in My Kitchen. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Foods of Chiapas: 22 Traditional Dishes and Drinks to Try First". Mexico Travel & Leisure. Retrieved 2026-10-10.