Pickle my onions in the Yucatan

Whether they're layered atop panuchos and salbutes, or sidled up next to papadzules, poc chuc and pibil, pickled onions are the seemingly ubiquitous accoutrement to any true Yucatecan dish.

To an American public used to the Tex-Mex cuisine featured at most U.S. Mexican restaurants, the Yucatan's distinct and exciting foods sometimes come as a shock to first-time visitors. I remember going to Merida in 1986 and being stunned at the diversity and the freshness of the food presented me everywhere I went, from street-vendor stalls to fancy restaurants.

And even if all you do to acquaint yourself with the Yucatan is to hit up the tourist areas in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, you can still avail yourself to the region's gastronomic wonders.

Rick Bayless devoted an entire season of his television show, "Mexico: One Plate at a Time," to Yucatecan food.

I'll spend more time myself recalling some of the food I ate on my latest foray to the Yucatan (Jan. 2-15 this year), but for now, here's what you need to know about pickled onions:

A. They're everywhere
B. They're tasty
C. They're essential to any true Yucatecan dish
D. They're easy to make

The only difference between what you might be able to make in the U.S. and what you would make in the Yucatan is the apparent lack of sour oranges in the U.S. Other ingredients -- red onions, salt -- are too simple. But sour oranges (otherwise known as "bitter" or "Seville") oranges are more difficult to find in the U.S.

Without sour oranges, you're likely to find the recipes calling for regular orange juice and vinegar, or for regular orange juice mixed with lime juice. You can do a Google search and get any number of Yucatecan pickled onion recipes, and any of them will work, but if you can find sour oranges, all the better.

Buen Provecho