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📍 Papantla de Olarte

Zacahuil

· Lunch

A giant tamal of coarsely ground masa, chile adobo, and pork or turkey, wrapped in banana leaves and baked.

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Zacahuil: A giant tamal of coarsely ground masa, chile adobo, and pork or turkey, wrapped in banana leaves and baked.
Photo: tacvbo · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via FlickrPhoto resized, converted to WebP and cropped for display.
⏱ 390 min🍽 12 servings📊 Difficult🏷 Commonly associated🌱 Dairy-free
Preparation
90 min
Cooking
300 min
Waiting and resting
0 min

History

An emblematic dish of the Totonacapan and the Huasteca, prepared in Papantla and other towns of northern Veracruz. With pre-Hispanic roots, it is a sign of hospitality: a single zacahuil can reach several meters and feed dozens of people at festivals and wakes.

Ingredients

Adjust quantities

Only numeric quantities at the start of an ingredient are adjusted. Descriptive quantities, seasoning to taste and timings remain unchanged; check them when changing servings.

Preparation

  1. 1

    Prepare an adobo by grinding the chiles with garlic and spices.

  2. 2

    Mix the coarsely ground masa with lard and part of the adobo.

  3. 3

    Marinate the raw meat in the rest of the adobo.

  4. 4

    Spread the masa over banana leaves and place the meat on top.

  5. 5

    Wrap it into a large tamal and tie it well.

  6. 6

    Bake over low heat for several hours until the meat is tender.

Cooking tips

  • Bake covered around 160 °C and check 74 °C at the center, especially when using turkey.

References to consult

References provide information about the dish, its context or a technique. Quantities in this version may differ from those in the source.

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