Yucatan Style pickled onions: Cebollas encurtidas estilo yucateca Karen Hursh Graber

Both white and purple pickled onions are served as condiments in the Yucatan. The purple variety is generally served with cochinita pibil, and both Yucatan style pickled onions make great additions ... read more

fruit vegetarian spices side-dishes Yucatán Peninsula

Steamed turkey in Mexican achiote sauce: Pavo al vapor en recado colorado Karen Hursh Graber

Achiote paste, a characteristic seasoning of the Yucatan, where it is known as recado rojo, has been discussed before in this column. Made from the seed of the annatto tree ground with cumin, cloves an... read more

poultry main-dishes Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatecan style quail: Codorniz a la yucateca Karen Hursh Graber

Yucatecan style quail, typical of the Mexican state of Yucatan, uses a recado, one of the spice pastes that distinguish the region's cuisine. This recipe can also be used with chicken or turkey, inc... read more

poultry main-dishes spices Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatan style plantain soup: Sopa de platano yucateca Karen Hursh Graber

This delicious soup from the Yucatan uses half-ripe plantains, meaning green and yellow, not black and yellow. Use vegetable broth to make it vegetarian, if desired, and add more broth for a thinner Yu... read more

fruit soups Yucatán Peninsula

Mexican Yucatan-style lentil stew: Potage de lentejas estilo yucateca Karen Hursh Graber

This hearty stew gets its flavor from pork and a medley of vegetables. The best choice for the pork stew meat is shoulder. In Mexico, ask the butcher for espaldilla. Substitute güero chile for the xca... read more

meat main-dishes beans-and-legumes Yucatán Peninsula

Mexican turkey in a dark spice sauce: Chilmole from the Yucatan Karen Hursh Graber

A traditional and delicious Mexican dish, chilmole — sometimes called relleno negro — is made from one of the classic recados, or seasoning combinations. This dish, said to have orig... read more

poultry main-dishes Campeche, Campeche

Coconut shrimp: Camarones al coco Karen Hursh Graber

One of the signature dishes of Campeche cuisine, this combines the best of local shellfish with what might be the quintessential flavor of the tropics, coconut. At La Pigua, it is served accompanied by... read more

seafood main-dishes Campeche

Jicama and mandarin orange salad: Ensalada xec Karen Hursh Graber

This refreshing Yucatecan-style salad uses winter fruit in season. It comes to us courtesy of Chef David Sterling of Merida's Los Dos cooking school. Ingredients 1 ½ pounds jicama,... read more

fruit salads Yucatán

Yucatecan lime soup: Sopa de lima Karen Hursh Graber

This specialty of the Yucatan, although it comes from a warm climate, is great winter comfort food. The variety of lime called Citrus Limetta grows in abundance in the Yucatan, although other varieties... read more

poultry soups Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatán Style Baked Marinated Salmon: Salmón Pibil Karen Hursh Graber

Ingredients 2 banana leaves, passed over a flame to soften 2 pound piece salmon filet 1 brick achiote paste (100 grams, about 2 ounces) ¾ cup bitter orange juice (or use half sw... read more

fish main-dishes salsas Yucatán

Yucatecan Baked Fish: Tikin-Xic Karen Hursh Graber

This visually appealing dish calls for achiote paste, a classic Yucatan spice paste made from the hard, orange seed of the annatto tree, blended with cumin, cloves and pepper. The market in Merida has ... read more

fish vegetables fruit main-dishes Yucatán

Yucatan Fish Panuchos: Panuchos de Pescado Karen Hursh Graber

Combining the classic Yucatecan ingredients of achiote seasoning, black beans and pickled red onions, true panuchos need to be made with fresh tortillas that will inflate when placed on the comal or gr... read more

fish masa main-dishes beans Yucatán

Turkey in Piquant Herb and Spice Broth: Pavo en Escabeche Karen Hursh Graber

Two years ago, along the road from Palenque to the Campeche, passing the small campechano town of Esmarga, we stopped at a roadside palapa restaurant - one of the small, thatched-roof eat... read more

poultry main-dishes soups Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatecan Style Chicken: Pollo Ticul Karen Hursh Graber

This tip was taught to me by a restaurant owner on a trip to the Mayan ruins of Uxmal, near where the town of Ticul is located. She explained that the inner, smooth side of the banana leaf always faces... read more

vegetables fruit poultry main-dishes Yucatán Peninsula

Baked Marinated Pork: Cochinita Pibil Karen Hursh Graber

This is the quintessential Yucatecan dish, from a region that is quite possibly the "capital" of leaf-wrapped foods. The color and flavor of the marinade are characterized by achiote, or annatto seed. ... read more

fruit pork main-dishes salsas Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatecan Salbutes: Salbutes Yucatecos Karen Hursh Graber

These delicious antojitos, sold in markets in Merida and other peninsula towns, are small, thick tortillas with a variety of toppings, including the local versions of moles, made with gro... read more

vegetables poultry masa Yucatán

Shredded venison salad: Salpicon de venado Karen Hursh Graber

This dish is found on restaurant menus throughout Mexico, but particularly in the western part of the country and in the Yucatan, where it is called zic de venado. This recipe is a good buffet dish,... read more

meat main-dishes salads Yucatán Peninsula

Mexican yucca in orange sauce: Yuca en naranja Karen Hursh Graber

Yucca has always been a staple in the cooking of the Caribbean and the Yucatan peninsula. Fairly bland on its own, it takes well to the flavor of other ingredients. In Mexican yucca in orange sauce, it... read more

vegetables fruit vegetarian Yucatán Peninsula

Tortillas with Shredded Fish and Black Beans: Pan de Cazón Karen Hursh Graber

We first tried this dish at a restaurant near the seawall in Campeche. Perhaps because pan means bread, we were expecting something like a tuna or salmon loaf, but these stacks of tortillas spread... read more

fish masa main-dishes beans Campeche

Campeche-Style Pompano in Green Sauce: Pampano en Salsa Verde a la Campechana Karen Hursh Graber

Fish and salsa verde make a great combination. Serve this with black beans and rice for a classic campechano meal. Ingredients: 1 2-pound pompano, cleaned and scaled (snapper may also be u... read more

fish main-dishes Campeche

Yucatecan achiote paste: Pasta de achiote Karen Hursh Graber

Also known as recado colorado in the Yucatan, where it originated, this Yucatecan achiote paste is a marinating paste that can be used on chicken, pork or fish. Although the base for achiote pas... read more

main-dishes salsas Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatecan three-meat stew: Puchero yucateco de tres carnes Karen Hursh Graber

Although the Yucatan is hardly associated with cool weather, this stew, which contains chicken along with the meat, is one of its most popular dishes. Sundays in Merida call to mind music in all the pl... read more

vegetables poultry meat main-dishes soups Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatecan-Style Beans: Frijoles Estilo Yucateco Karen Hursh Graber

Since pre-Hispanic times, the Maya people of the Yucatan have eaten either the black beans known as buul or the larger, light-colored beans called ibes, usually cooked in water in which chiles have bee... read more

vegetables pork beans-and-legumes Yucatán