Potato-Stuffed Oven-Braised Chicken

Every time I’ve been to the market at Juchitán I’ve found quite a few women selling this dish—except, for some reason, on my most recent 1996 visit, when I heard stories of shortages and hardly a chicken was to be found anywhere. The traditional presentation is very dramatic. The juchitecas like to use hens with unborn eggs inside them. They sell the cooked chickens split open lengthwise to reveal the eggs, which have taken on the earthy red of the achiote mixture used to coat the bi