Pickled Eggs

2 C white vinegar

1 t salt

1 med onion, chopped

2 T sugar

2 t mixed pickling spices

hard-boiled eggs

beet juice (optional)

Boil above together for 5 minutes.

Cool and pour into a wide-mouthed jar.

Add as many peeled, hard-boiled eggs as will be well-covered by liquid.

Let stand at least overnight.

Add beet juice if color is desired.

Refrigerated, will keep for weeks.

Puerco Pibil

5 T. annatto seeds
2 t. cumin seeds
1 T. whole black pepper
8 whole allspice berries
1 t. cloves
2 habanero peppers
2 T. salt
8 cloves garlic
1/2 c. orange juice
1/2 c. white vinegar
5 lemons, juiced
2 shots fine tequila
5 lbs. pork butt
banana leaves

Instructions:
Grind the dried spices (annatto, cumin, black pepper, allspice, and cloves), thoroughly (I'd use a blade-style coffee grinder, though not one that I ever intend to use for coffee again)
Mince the habenero peppers, after removing the seeds

Combine the orange juice, vinegar, lemon juice, tequila, dried spices, minced habenero, salt, and garlic in a blender and liquify.

Cut pork into 2 inch squares, place in a large ziplock bag, and fill with the marinade

Let the pork marinate for at least twenty minutes (overnight is fine, too)

Line a 9" x 12" pan with banana leaves, pour pork & marinade in, cover with more banana leaves, cover tightly with foil
cook at 325 degrees F. for four hours

Serve over white or Spanish rice.

Director Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil recipe from his Ten Minute Cooking School on the Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD.