♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Welcome to "America's Test Kitchen" at home.

It's a good one today because I'm making sous vide cochinita pibil, and Bridget's making guacamole and margaritas.

We got a lot in store today, so stick around.

♪♪ Weeknight ground-meat tacos are a staple in my house, and yes, we usually eat them on Tuesdays, but every once in a while, I like to slow it down and make something with a bit more flavor, like cochinita pibil, which is a traditional Mexican recipe from the Yucatán region.

And it involves cooking a whole pig with a bunch of annatto seeds and some banana leaves, and it tastes amazing.

Now, today, I'm going to show you how to translate that recipe for a home kitchen, and it starts with annatto seeds.

They have a very mild, fruity flavor, but they add a lot of color.

So, we're going to start off with 1/4 cup of those.

To that, I'm going to add a tablespoon of black peppercorns, a tablespoon of allspice berries, 2 tablespoons of Mexican oregano, which has a very different citrusy, floral flavor and actually comes from the lemon verbena family, compared to that Mediterranean or Italian oregano, which actually comes from the mint family.

So it is worth seeking out.

Last but not least, a cinnamon stick.

Also going into the spice paste is two heads of garlic.

I'm just going to put it over high heat, and we're going to let it toast about 6 minutes, until that garlic begins to soften and gets spotty brown.

Just going to set these aside.

Let them cool before we peel them.

Back on the stove the skillet goes.

Gonna add about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and now is when we get to toast the spices and really bring out their flavor.

So we're going to add them to the pan, and they cook very quickly, only about 30 seconds.

Oh, and you can see how that oil is starting to turn color.

That's what we want.

I'm going to turn the heat off.

Alright, I'm going to set it aside, let it cool for a bit, and let's go back to that garlic.

Time to peel all this garlic.

What I like to do is use a paring knife, and I trim off the garlic bottom and then the peel really just falls right off.

Now it's time to blend it all into a paste.

Next, we're going to add the spices.

Going to add some salt, about a tablespoon of table salt, and a little secret ingredient.

This is liquid smoke, which is actually an all-natural product.

It's just condensed smoke vapor, and a little goes a long way, just a teaspoon.

And now we're going to add some orange juice.

Traditionally, they use bitter oranges, so we're going to offset our orange juice with a little vinegar.

Onto the blender this goes.

We're going to let this go until it's a nice fine, even paste, and exactly how long that takes really depends on the blender.

Just going to measure out 1/4 cup, and it's going to go right onto the pork.

And now we're going to get to the last two ingredients.

This is just a nice, big onion.

I'm going to cut it into big slices, and notice I didn't peel it.

I did that on purpose.

I think it's easier to peel an onion after you cut it.

So I'm gonna put these on a nice rimmed baking sheet that I can bring out to the grill.

Last but not least, finally, the pork.

This is a 4-pound pork butt from the shoulder region, which turns really meltingly tender after you cook it for a while.

I'm just going to cut this nice, big roast into two pieces.

It'll just cook a little more quickly, and there's a little more surface area to get more flavor in.

These are going to go onto a sheet pan.

Alright, now things are about to get messy because now is when we're going to add that spice paste to the pork, and as I mentioned, those annatto seeds add coloring to food.

They will also stain your hands.

I like to put on gloves.

Put half of it on one, half of it on the other, and I'm just going to rub this spice rub all over the pork.

Mmm.

Alright, so now it's time to take these gloves off and head out to the grill.

I've been heating this grill up with all the burners on high for about 15 minutes, so it is good and hot.

Then I'm going to clean the grill.

First, I'm gonna run a nice grill-cleaning brush over to get off any big pieces, and next, I'm going to take a wad of paper towels, a nice pair of long tongs.

This is some vegetable oil, and I'm just going to rub the vegetable oil evenly over the grill grates, which helps clean them, but also helps season them and keep them a bit more nonstick.

Now, time for the pork and onions.

Ohh.

Just going to put the pork right on the grill.

We're just looking for a nice char on all sides.

Same with the onions.

The onions should take about 10 minutes, but the pork should really only take about 6 minutes.

♪♪ Right, so that pork is nicely charred on both sides, so I'm just going to pull it off the grill.

And yes, I'm using the same sheet pan here that had the raw food, but it's actually still raw.

We're going to cook it a lot further, so it's okay.

So those onions have had a few more minutes, and they are looking perfect, nicely charred on both sides and softened.

So I'm just going to turn the grill off here.

We're going to let it cool down, and we can head inside.

We've got some great char on the pork and the onions, and now I'm going to take the onion and put it right into the blender.

I'm gonna blend that into the sauce.

It adds a lovely flavor.

Alright.

That is good.

So we've got the braising liquid, and the last ingredient is 8 ounces of banana leaves.

And if you've never bought them before, you'll find them in the freezer, usually in a big package like this, and they thaw pretty quickly.

And you give them a quick rinse, and then you can see it's just a big leaf from a banana tree.

And now to use them, I'm just going to slice them into long strips.

So, traditionally, when you make cochinita pibil, you have a whole pork, and it's rubbed with spices and then wrapped in these banana leaves and cooked low and slow in the ground with hot stones.

And these leaves trap in the heat and the moisture, and they add a lovely floral, grassy flavor that you really can't get any other way.

So now that I've cut these banana leaves into nice strips, I'm going to pound them to help release some of their oils and flavors.

Alright.

We're going to cook all of this sous vide, which means we're going to cook it at 155 degrees in plastic bags for 22 to 26 hours.

Now, these are freezer bags, so they're nice and thick.

And they're a gallon each.

I'm going to put one pork roast into each bag.

Pour the sauce evenly into each bag.

And remember, that paste is a stainer, so I'm trying to be very careful not to get it all over the kitchen.

Divide the banana leaves between the bags.

Last but not least, four bay leaves in each bag.

One, two, three, four.

I'm going to take the bag and just massage everything together so everything gets coated with that flavorful sauce.

Alright, so these bags are ready for the water.

Now, the trick when sous vide-ing is to get as much air out of the bag as possible.

Leave just a little bit open on the very end, then you put it in the water and you let that water help squeeze out all the excess air.

When you get most of the air out, seal up the bag completely, and then you just want to fix the bag to the rim with a clip.

That just prevents it from moving around too much or letting the lip of the bag fall into the water, which could make a mess.

These are going to sit in this water, again, for 22 to 26 hours, and that is a long time.

And as you can imagine, the water is going to evaporate out of here unless we wrap it tightly on top, so this is where plastic wrap comes in.

I'm just going to wrap this with several layers of plastic wrap, and that'll help trap the heat and the steam.

Just a quick note here about safety.

Cooking sous vide for this long is completely safe because although 155 degrees is on the low side, it's in there for such a long time that all the bacteria will be well gone by the time it's done.

♪♪ This pork has been cooking for 23 hours.

It's time to unwrap it.

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

The smells coming out of this sous vide are amazing.

I'm going to reach in there with some tongs, grab that pork, and now, there's a lot of flavorful juice in this bag.

So I'm going to drain it into a colander.

That colander will catch the bay leaves and those banana leaves.

Mmm.

Oh, look at this beautiful pork.

Cut it up into pieces that are about 1/2-inch big.

My knife doesn't even need to cut through this.

It just falls apart.

Oh, time to marry the two.

Meat, meet your sauce.

Gonna season it with a little salt and a little pepper, and it's taco time.

Alright, so here I have a nice corn tortilla that I toasted.

So there's the meat, and I put some scallions, some queso fresco, a few sliced radishes, some pickled red onions, and some habanero salsa.

This is spicy, so a little dollop will do ya.

And you can get the recipe for the habanero salsa and the pickled red onions on our website.

Alright.

It's been a long time waiting for this taco.

[ Chuckles ] I'm speechless.

It is so good.

It has so much flavor.

You get a little bit of the cinnamon, the allspice berries, the black pepper, and then the banana leaves.

That is a taco.

If you want to make the ultimate taco, remember three things.

First, make a spice paste.

Second, char the pork and the onions on the grill.

And lastly, cook the pork at 155 degrees for 22 to 26 hours.

From "America's Test Kitchen" at home, a killer recipe for sous vide cochinita pibil.

♪♪ -Working in restaurants, I learned how to do a lot of really useful things.

The most useful thing?

How to open beer with pretty much anything.

Here we go.

First tool I learned how to use -- tongs, and these are going to work the way your traditional can openers work.

So you're just going to grab the bottle, pop this portion of the tongs under the lip.

And... [ Bottle cap pops ] Sometimes tongs aren't available, and that's okay.

That's when we go to our spoons.

Spoon works a little bit differently.

My finger is going to be the fulcrum, and this is the lever.

And it's great because you don't have to be super strong to use a spoon.

You can just hold the spoon out here.

You get more leverage.

So here we go.

[ Bottle cap clatters ] And you don't really need a spoon, either.

I found this garlic press.

It's going to be great.

It's a nice, heavy-gauge steel.

It's not going to bend.

So, same idea.

Just going to pop it underneath that metal.

[ Bottle cap clatters ] So the next time you need a beer, you know, just grab a spoon.

Cheers.

♪♪ -It doesn't matter if it's party time or nighttime, it's always the right time to make guacamole and margaritas yourself.

So let's start off with our margaritas, and we're making our own sour mix.

And we're using a mix of lemons and limes.

I'm going to start off with the limes first.

Before I juice these limes, I'm going to zest them.

The zest has a lot of flavor that's very different from the acidic juice.

It's going to add some depth to our sour mix.

I'm using a rasp-style grater because I only want to get the outer edge of the zest, and when you choose limes, you want to choose those that are pretty dark in color over the lighter ones.

The dark ones sometimes tend to have a thinner skin, but that means they have more juice.

And I'm looking for 4 teaspoons of zest.

That looks pretty good.

Alright, now, before I juice these limes, I'm going to do the same thing and zest a couple of lemons, and we're using a mix of lemons and limes because I like the way that the lemons kind of brighten up the flavor a little bit more.

It's really not going to come to the forefront.

Lemons -- they're obviously a lot bigger, so I probably won't need to zest as many.

I'm looking for an equal amount, 4 teaspoons of lemon zest.

Perfect.

So now we can juice our citrus on an electric citrus juicer.

I used to juice margaritas by hand, but I started making them so often and fresh lemonade and fresh orange juice, that I found it was really easier for me to use an electric citrus juicer like this one.

So I'm looking for 1/2 cup of lime juice.

Alright, so now, 1/2 cup of lemon juice.

This looks great.

1/2 cup of each lime and lemon juice.

Now we need to turn this into a sour mix, and sour mix does have a little bit of sweetener in there.

And I'm going to go ahead and use 1/4 cup of superfine sugar.

Superfine sugar is great because it just takes less time for it to dissolve, along with our zest.

Now, one final ingredient for the sour mix, and that is a pinch of table salt.

Some people like salt on the rim of their margaritas.

Other people don't, but salt really does enhance flavor.

Finally, just stir all this together until the sugar dissolves.

Again, that doesn't take long if you're using superfine sugar.

That's it for our homemade sour mix, and I'm going to put a piece of plastic on it.

You want to let this stay in the refrigerator for at least four hours to give that zest some time to really release its flavor.

I like to leave it in there for at least 24 hours.

You can leave it in there for up to 48 hours, I have found over the years.

So I'm going to go put this in the fridge.

♪♪ Almost time for margaritas.

Alright, so we have our steeping juice here with that beautiful zest in it, so now I'm done with the zest and I am going to strain this mixture into a quart container.

That way, it makes it really easy for me to measure everything.

So I'm just pressing on the solids because I want to get every bit of juice out of there.

Now, my preference for a proper margarita is equal parts of the sour mix, tequila, and triple sec, so let's go through the other two ingredients.

The first up, triple sec.

Now, "triple sec" just means "triple dry."

I recommend going for a triple sec like a Curaçao.

Curaçao is a type of triple sec, and it has a nice developed orange flavor.

It's not too sweet.

Now, you can also use Grand Marnier if you'd like, but that's going to give your drink a little bit of a brandy flavor.

Going to add a cup of Curaçao, or triple sec, and then tequila.

Now, I prefer using either a reposado, which just means rested tequila, or a blanco, but not añejo.

"Añejo" means aged, and really, it would be a shame to use a great aged tequila for margaritas.

Save that for sipping.

I'm going with blanco.

Gonna add a cup of tequila, equal parts.

Alright, so now this goes into the fridge to chill while we start our guacamole.

Full disclosure, this isn't my recipe.

This is my friend Lan's recipe.

She developed a beautiful, chunky guacamole that hits all the right notes.

So I've got an onion here.

I don't need a lot.

We don't want this to be too powerful.

Need about 2 tablespoons, so let me just cut this in half.

And I'm going to finely mince just about everything here.

So we want really small pieces so it'll break down into a paste even easier.

The authentic places that make guacamole will use something called a molcajete, which is kind of like a big bowl made out of lava rock, and it's used to grind down the ingredients to make a paste.

And that really brings out their flavor.

But what if you don't have a molcajete?

Well, you can use your chopping board and a good knife to create a paste.

Next, a serrano chili.

This is just the right amount of heat.

We love it because of the flavor that it adds, too.

Stem the chili.

Cut it in half.

Remove the ribs and the seeds from the chilies, and I like to use a small measuring spoon to do this.

Now, you can reserve the seeds if you like your guacamole a little bit spicier.

The ribs and the seeds is where all that spice lives.

Now, just like the onion, we want to mince this very fine.

Draw these onions back to the center of the board with my pile of serrano chili.

Want to add a little bit of lime flavor directly to this aromatic mixture.

We're using both the juice and the zest of the lime.

So first of all, I'm going to use a rasp-style grater and just grate about 1/4 teaspoon of zest.

And now to that, I'm going to add a teaspoon of kosher salt.

Now, the salt is really important because it's going to help us grind all of this into a really fine paste.

Just going to take my knife, and I'm going to keep on chopping, just keep on chopping, keep on chopping until everything is really fine and minced very well.

And this is part of the reason that you're not using a lot of onion or even a lot of that lime zest, because every time I cut through this mixture, it's releasing more and more aromatics and more and more flavors.

If we were to add too much more onion, it might be overpowering.

Alright, so that is looking good.

Chop it any more, it might disappear.

We can go ahead and put our onion-chili mixture into our mixing bowl.

Add lime juice, and I'm looking at this point to add a tablespoon and a half.

That looks right.

Next up, a little tomato.

We've got a plum tomato here.

Lop off the top, cut it in half.

Just gonna remove that core inside and get any of the seeds.

We want to cut this up into a really fine dice, so about 1/8-inch pieces.

Our tomato's done.

I'm just going to set it aside while we work on the star of the show, which is avocado.

You're using three avocados here.

They're just starting to get a little squishy.

That's a technical term.

So that's how we know that they're just ripe enough to use.

If they were rock-hard, of course, you would want to let them ripen up before you use them in guacamole, and if your fingers go through as soon as you're pressing, you might want to pick up a new one or two.

Alright, so now take your knife all the way around.

Do a little shimmy.

Just get rid of the pits.

And knock it on the side of a trash can.

So I'm going to cut these into 1/2-inch pieces.

So spacing a few cuts here this way.

A few cuts across.

Trying to keep my fingers away from my knife.

And then I take a spoon and run it around the outside of my avocado.

So the 1/2-inch pieces are pretty big, and that's because we are actually going to mash it into a little bit of a smaller pulp.

It's always better to start off with bigger pieces.

So it doesn't look like much, but let's turn it into guacamole.

And we're using a sturdy whisk to do the job, so it's going to stir and mash this mixture.

And we're looking for about 1/4-inch pieces, and then as I do this, I'm picking up that onion mixture that was on the bottom.

But we still want to leave some chunks in there.

So now that we have a relatively smooth mixture with some bigger chunks still left in there, it's time for us to add in our tomato, and that's why I set it aside.

I didn't want to put it in too early because it would get mashed, as well.

That's looking great.

Alright, I'm going to be a little careful now.

So next up, cilantro.

I need 2 tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro, so I'll just shave off some of the leaves here.

And the tender stems are fine to eat, as well.

Of course, cilantro is always best added close to the time that you're planning on serving your guacamole.

Alright, that looks like a nice 2 tablespoons.

I'm going to add that.

So I'm just going to stir in that cilantro nice and gentle here.

Now it's time to give it a taste.

Remember, I added salt with the paste, the onion and chili paste earlier, but we shall see if it needs more.

Mmm.

I'm going to add a little bit more, and because I like it a little brighter, a bit more lime juice right in there, too.

You can add up to another teaspoon and a half.

Well, that just looks almost good enough to eat, so I'm going to clean up and we're going to finish.

This is the payoff.

I mean, look how beautiful this is -- the chips, of course, the guacamole.

I'm going to set it aside for a second because I do need to finish my margaritas.

And this is one of the great things about having the margarita mix already mixed because it's ready to go when you have company.

So I've got a cocktail shaker here.

I've filled it with some ice, and I'm going to pour in.

Don't want to overfill.

So I'm just going to add about 1/2 cup crushed ice to my glass here.

It's going to help to dilute the margarita just a little bit so it takes some of the bite off.

And now let's give those margaritas a good shake.

Shaking is what dilutes the margarita and makes it really well-balanced.

Also aerates it a little bit.

And it makes you look cool.

So this is a cobbler shaker, so it has a strainer right on top, built right in.

Absolutely no adornment needed.

But I do need to taste it for quality control, so let me just check on that.

Okay.

Okay.

Nice and balanced, good citrus flavor, but it's not overplaying the tequila or the Curaçao.

One more sip should do it.

Yeah, yeah, maybe a little better than that first sip.

It's chips and guac time.

Guacamole is always better with homemade chips, and if you want to get this recipe, go head to our website.

And that guacamole, mmm.

A little bit of the heat from the serrano is coming through, but it's not a full-on assault.

It's a little bit chunky, a little bit smooth.

It's bright.

It's fresh.

It's perfection.

To make this beautiful guacamole at home, remember these keys.

Grind the aromatics into a paste and use a whisk to mix and mash the avocados.

And for bright and balanced margaritas, steep citrus zest with juice and use equal parts tequila, sour mix, and orange liqueur.

So from "America's Test Kitchen" at home, classic guacamole and what I think are the best fresh margaritas.

-Thanks for watching.

You can get all of the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and more at our website -- americastestkitchen.com/tv.