During your visit to the Mexican Caribbean or Yucatan, you’ll want to try the traditional regional cuisine. Although it is based on the famous trio of corn, chilies and beans, the flavors are distinctive and far from the Mexican recipes you may already be acquainted with.

Yucatecan dishes blend time-honored Maya staples such as corn, chili, tomato, beans, squash, cacao, honey and turkey with European and Middle Eastern ingredients including pork, Seville oranges known locally as naranja agria and garlic introduced by 16th-century Spanish settlers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, immigrants from Lebanon brought Middle Eastern flavors and recipes to the area.

The seasoning in Yucatecan cuisine comes from recados or spice mixes of ground achiote (annatto) or pumpkin seeds and chilies that are sold in the markets as pastes or powders and dissolved in chicken stock or Seville orange juice to make sauces.

In Mayan communities, a pib or cooking pit is traditionally used to slow cook pork, turkey and chicken. Meat is marinated in achiote, wrapped in banana leaves to keep the juices in and baked underground for hours until it is so tender that it falls off the bone.

Here are some favorites from the Yucatecan kitchen, how many have you tried during your visits to Royal Resorts?

Cochinita Pibil

Pork marinated in achiote (annatto) and Seville orange juice, wrapped in banana leaves and slowly cooked in a pit for hours until it is tender. Pollo (chicken) or Pavo (turkey) Pibil can also be cooked the same way. Served with tortillas, pickled red onion and habanero chili sauce.

Sopa de Lima

A tasty chicken broth with shredded chicken, slices of lima, a fragrant local lime, tomato, onion and green pepper and fried tortilla strips.

Poc Chuc

Slices of tender grilled pork marinated in Seville orange juice and served with a chili sauce, pickled red onions, corn tortillas and side dishes such as beans and guacamole.

Huevos Motuleños

A crisp corn tostada is piled high with fried eggs, beans, tomato sauce, ham, peas and grated cheese and cream and served with fried plantains.

Panuchos & Salbutes

Yucatecan finger food! Panuchos feature a special tortilla filled with refried beans. They are topped with shredded chicken or turkey, lettuce, tomato and pickled onion. Salbutes are fried tortillas topped with the same ingredients and without the bean filling.

Tikinxic

A whole fish marinated in achiote and Seville orange juice, topped with slices of onion, green pepper and tomato wrapped in banana leaves and cooked on the grill or in tin foil and cooked in the oven.

Tzikil Pak

A tasty dip made from ground pepitas or pumpkin seeds with roasted tomato, grilled onion, coriander and lime juice. Served with corn chips and chili salsa.

Habanero Chili, a Gift from the Yucatan

Packing between 250,000 and 350,000 Scoville units on the heat scale, the habanero chili is definitely for serious chili eaters who crave its fiery yet fresh, grassy flavor. The Yucatan’s famous heart-shaped chile may be served whole, sliced or roasted in a red tomato sauce. It is also served with lime juice and chopped onion in a sauce called xnipek. In the Mayan language xnipek means “dog’s nose” and this salsa will literally make your nose run!