Day 149: Cochinita Cooked Underground
At a stand in the Lucas de Gálvez market in Mérida, Yadira (A), a visitor from Hermosillo, in Sonora, asks the young vendor, Zaira (B), about cochinita pibil, the Yucatán dish of slow-cooked pork.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Spanish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Spanish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Oiga, señorita, ¿cómo se prepara la cochinita pibil?
Excuse me, how is cochinita pibil made?
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B
Se marina con achiote y naranja agria, y se envuelve en hoja de plátano.
It's marinated in achiote and sour orange, and wrapped in banana leaf.
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A
¿Y luego se mete al horno?
And then it goes in the oven?
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B
Mi abuela dice que el secreto es cocinarla bajo tierra toda la noche.
My grandmother says the secret is cooking it underground all night.
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A
¿Bajo tierra? En Hermosillo, en agosto, basta con dejarla en el patio.
Underground? In Hermosillo in August, you'd just have to leave it outside.
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B
Ay, que no la oiga mi abuela. Para ella, la cochinita es sagrada.
Oh, don't let my grandmother hear you. To her, cochinita is sacred.
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