The savory, slow-cooked pork of a Cochinita pibil delivers authentic Yucatán flavors in Gourmet Corn food truck's tacos
GREEN BAY - There's nothing wrong with ordering corn from the Gourmet Corn food trailer. In fact there's a lot right.
Elote, Mexican street corn, gets slathered with mayonnaise topped by Tajin powder, lime juice, salt and Cotija. Not a fan of mayo? Try a cob with garlic cream spread coated with Parmesan. Or turn up the heat with a barbecue sauce and habanero blend covered with Feta. Or try one of the other five options.
Just save room for the cochinita pibil. The popular Yucatec Mayan dish is traditionally made from pork marinated in annatto paste, bitter orange juice and other seasonings.
The tender ribbons of slow-roasted pork deliver a tangy, spicy (but not hot) blend of flavors to tacos, tortas, tostadas, empanadas and tamales. The secret is in the seasonings and oils that owner Samuel Rosado sources from his home region in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
Rosado also uses those seasonings and oils in Gourmet Corn's ceviche and guacamole. Additionally, Feta tops the guac, providing a pungent punch to the creamy blend of avocado, cilantro, onions and tomatoes.
Rounding out the Gourmet Corn food trailer menu are a pair of soups and molletes.
Limiting menu options is by design. Developing the recipes was by experimenting. Learning to cook came by necessity.
Sick of frozen foods
A friend convinced Rosado to move from Progreso, Yucatán, Mexico, to Green Bay. Rosado said his hometown is similar to Fish Creek. Just on the Gulf of Mexico instead of the bay of Green Bay.
After more than 20 years living in Wisconsin, Rosado said he thinks "the United States is the land of dreams. I really do. I love the United States. I love Green Bay. I love the American people.”
He started learning to cook for himself when he got sick of eating frozen foods.
“I learned from zero," he said. "When you learn something from the very root, you learn it correctly.”
With his culinary skills improving, Rosado said friends told him he should open a restaurant. As someone who dreamed of opening his own business, it seemed like a good pairing.
Rosado said he started with corn because it's affordable and "people love corn."
He worked with the corn for three years. In 2016, he bought a booth to sell his corn creations at fairs and other events. Rosado said he applied to every event he could find in northeastern Wisconsin. His first event was a Renaissance fair in Door County.
Though his best day that year came on a Sunday at the Brown County Fair after Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy spotted the stand.
It was around noon when Murphy came over and chatted with him for a while. Fairgoers noticed, Rosado said. After they finished talking, Murphy ordered a cob of Gourmet Corn. After that, customers bought about 300 ears by 3 p.m. and Rosado had to get more corn from Festival Foods.
Rosado said the Elote is closest to an authentic corn served in Mexico. The other Gourmet Corn flavor combinations first passed the taste test with his family and friends.
Among those options is corn covered with a jalapeno cream, bacon crumbles and a choice of cheese. It's kind of like a bacon-wrapped jalapeno, but with an addition of sweet corn.
There's also a Buffalo version that's a corn version of the popular chicken wings tossed in hot sauce.
A pair of Rosado's corn combinations use barbecue sauce as the base. One comes with your choice of Ruffles or Takis crumbles; the other promises a balance of sweet and habanero heat.
On the smokier side is corn covered with a cream of chipotle and touch of garlic.
The creamy corn esquite, or toasted corn, blends fried corn kernels, Poblano pepper, fried tomatoes, onions, queso fresco and a secret sauce.
Originally all corn was sold on the cob but can now be ordered by the bowl.
In 2018, Rosado upgraded from a booth to a food trailer. He also expanded the menu, but focused on flavors from his home region of Mexico.
Yummy Yucatán flavors
Cochinita pibil is more than a Yucatán delicacy.
In terms of popularity in the Yucatán region, the cochinita pibil compares to the Friday fish fry in Wisconsin, Rosado said. Except it's not reserved for one day a week.
Cochinita pibil is a fusion of Spanish and Mayan cultures.
The Spanish word cochinita means little piggy or suckling pig. Hogs were brought to the region by Spaniards.
Pibil refers to an ancient Mayan method of slow roasting foods over coals in an earthen oven or pit.
Lacking the space to dig a hole in the ground to cook a whole suckling pig, Rosado opted for a slow cooker. And pork shoulder. Both are commonly included in cochinita recipes online.
He marinates a pork shoulder with seasonings and oils from a tiny company in Mérida, Yucatán. Rosado said the company doesn’t export anywhere, even in Mexico, and he relies on his sister to buy the products and ship them to Green Bay.
The marinated pork gets wrapped in banana leaves before roasting in a slow cooker for 10 to 18 hours. It's not the traditional cooking method, but with delicious layers of pork flavor, who cares?
More than the cochinita pibil gets a dash of Yucatán flavor. Rosado uses the base flavorings in other dishes on the menu including the ceviche and guacamole.
Gourmet Corn also makes chicken, pork tips, steak and shrimp an option for most items along with a few other specialties.
The Gourmet Corn food trailer sets up at Green Bay farmers markets (Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings), De Pere farmers market (Thursday nights) and other events in northeastern Wisconsin. Check Gourmet Corn's Facebook page for location times and dates.
Contact Daniel Higgins dphiggin@gannett.com. Follow @HigginsEats on Twitter and Instagram and like on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Tacos at Gourmet Corn in Green Bay get filled with shredded pork
