What Is Tikin Xic?
On the coast at Isla Mujeres they split a whole fish open, paint it red with recado, and lay it on banana leaf over the coals. That is tikin xic. The name is Maya. It means dry fish, from the old way of drying the catch in the sun before it went on the fire. The fish is not dry when you eat it. The name stays from before.
Is a dish of the Yucatán coast, from Campeche around to Quintana Roo, and you find it the same down past Chetumal. What makes it is two things I know well: the recado rojo and the sour orange. The recado gives the color and the warm spice. The naranja agria gives the sour that cuts the fish. I sold recado many years, so I will tell you plain. Use the block, not the powder.
Prep: 25 minutes (plus 1 hour to marinate) · Cook: 30 minutes · Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1 whole fish, 3 to 4 pounds (snapper or grouper), butterflied and cleaned, or 2 pounds skin-on fillets
- 3 ounces red recado (achiote paste), about the size of a small lime
- 1/2 cup sour orange juice (naranja agria), or 1/4 cup orange juice with 1/4 cup lime juice
- 3 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper
- Banana leaves, enough to wrap the fish twice
- 2 tomatoes, 1 white onion, and 1 green bell pepper, all sliced
- 1 habanero or other chile, sliced (optional)
- To serve: pickled red onion, warm corn tortillas, white rice, lime
Instructions
- Break the recado into the sour orange juice. Add the garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Mash and stir until it is a smooth loose paint, no lumps left. If too thick, add a little more juice.
- Open the fish flat and score the thick parts. Rub the red paint all over, both sides, into the cuts. Let it sit one hour, more if you have time.
- Pass the banana leaves over the flame quick, both sides, until they turn darker green and go soft, so they fold without breaking.
- Lay the leaves down, crossed. Put the fish on top. Lay the tomato, onion, and pepper over and under the fish. Add the chile if you want heat. Fold the leaf over like a package and tie or tuck it closed.
- On a charcoal or wood grill, lay the package over medium coals. Cook about 15 minutes a side, turning once. The leaf will char; that is good. The fish is done when it flakes and is white through.
- No grill? Bake the wrapped fish at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. The old way is a pib, an earth oven with hot stones, but the home oven works.
- Open the package at the table. Serve with pickled onion, warm tortillas, rice, and lime. People pull the fish and make their own taco.
Tips and Variations
- A real red recado block thinned with sour orange beats any powder. If you grind your own, better.
- No naranja agria? Mix orange and lime, half and half. A little grapefruit gets it closer to the bitter the sour orange has.
- Fish goes fast. The leaf protects it, but check at 25 minutes total on the grill. When it flakes, take it off.
- Some cooks toast a guajillo and grind it into the marinade for more depth.
Tikin xic uses the same red recado as poc chuc and shares the Yucatecan table with sopa de lima. The recado block and comal I use are in our Yucatecan kitchen tools guide. See more in our Mayan recipes collection and the Belizean recipes A-Z.
Tikin Xic FAQ
What does tikin xic mean?
Is Maya for dry fish. It comes from the old way of drying the catch in the sun before grilling. The fish you eat is not dry; the name stayed from the old method.
What fish is best for tikin xic?
A whole firm white fish. Snapper or grouper, the mero, are the ones used on the coast. Skin-on fillets work if you cannot get a whole fish.
What is the red marinade made of?
Red recado, the achiote paste, thinned with sour orange juice, with garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. The achiote gives the color and warm spice.
What can I use instead of sour orange?
Mix orange juice and lime juice, half and half. A little grapefruit juice gets closer to the bitter taste of the naranja agria.
Can I bake tikin xic instead of grilling?
Yes. Wrap it in banana leaf the same way and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. The traditional way is a pib, an earth oven with hot stones, but the home oven works.
What do you serve with tikin xic?
Pickled red onion, warm tortillas, white rice, and lime. People pull the fish and make tacos at the table. A sharp habanero salsa on the side is common.
Shop This Recipe
Goya Bitter Orange Naranja Agria
Naranja agria, the sour orange, thins the achiote marinade and gives tikin xic its tang; bottled works when fresh is out of reach.
Banana Leaves
The fish grills wrapped in banana leaves, which hold it together over the coals and lend a green, smoky note.
Achiote Paste
Red achiote paste, recado rojo, paints the fish and carries the warm Yucatecan spice once thinned with the sour orange.
Mexican Oregano
Mexican oregano goes into the recado marinade, the herb the Yucatan reaches for instead of the Mediterranean kind.
About Fili Post
Fili Post is from Xaibe in the Corozal District of Belize. She is Mayan. She grew up eating game from the bush — gibnut, deer, chachalaca, iguana — and she has been making her own recado from hand-ground spices for as long as her family can remember. She sold spices at a stall in the Corozal market. She still sources locally and grinds her own blends. Her recado is known to locals as the best they can get. She raised yard birds, guinea fowl, and the occasional pig. She writes for the Belize News Post.
