Chicken & Eggs · Yucatecan
Pavo en Relleno Negro (Yucatecan Turkey in Black Chile Sauce)
Relleno negro is Yucatán's most dramatic dish: turkey simmered in a jet-black sauce of charred chiles, served with "but", a pork and hard-boiled egg filling. A pasture-raised organic turkey gives a deep, gamey broth that stands up to the smoky recado.
- Prep45 min
- Cook180 min
- Total225 min
- Servings12
Ingredients
- 1 organic pasture-raised turkey (5-7 kg), cut into pieces $295
- 200 g recado negro (black chile paste)
- 1 head of garlic, charred; 1 white onion, charred; 3 tomatoes, charred
- 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp cumin, 2 tbsp salt
- 800 g organic ground pork, for the but $205
- 6 organic eggs, hard-boiled, plus 2 raw organic eggs for the but $90
- 1/4 cup masa harina mixed with water, to thicken
- Epazote sprigs, tortillas and habanero to serve
Instructions
- Put the turkey pieces in a very large pot, cover with water, add the charred garlic and onion, oregano, cumin and salt and simmer 1 hour.
- Dissolve 2/3 of the recado negro in a little broth, blend it with the charred tomatoes and stir it into the pot.
- For the but, mix the ground pork with the remaining recado, the raw eggs and a pinch of salt. Wrap it around the peeled hard-boiled eggs (or press around them in a cloth) to form a large roll.
- Lower the but into the simmering broth and cook everything 1.5 to 2 hours, until the turkey is very tender.
- Remove the but and turkey. Thicken the broth with the masa mixture and epazote, stirring for 10 minutes.
- Serve turkey pieces and slices of but in deep bowls with the black sauce, hot tortillas and habanero.
Tips
- Recado negro is sold ready-made in Yucatán markets; making it from scratch means charring chiles until fully black.
- The broth freezes perfectly for tacos and panuchos.
