Pandoc with –citeproc ignores \cite commands

biblatexbibtexpandocpandoc-citeproc

In short: is there any way to use citeproc with "pure" LaTeX bibliographical commands?

Longer version: in the following markdown file, the [@Test] "native" pandoc command is processed properly, but not the \cite{Test} command.

---
references:
- type: article-journal
  id: Test
  author:
  - family: Doe
    given: Joe 
  title: 'My paper'
---

[@Test]

\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
For some reason, I need to switch to \LaTeX{} at some point.
For most \LaTeX{} commands it's fine, but not for \cite{Test}.
\end{minipage}

When compiled with

pandoc test.md --citeproc -o test.pdf

I get

enter image description here

Now, what really puzzles me is that pandoc is fine processing most (all?) of the LaTeX commands I can throw in my md file, except for the \cite command.

I am aware that I could use

pandoc test.md --biblatex -o test.tex

and then compile the tex file into a pdf, but I want to make sure first that I am not overlooking something obvious.

This question is somewhat similar to How to use pandoc-citeproc in raw latex block of a markdown document?, but goes the other way around.

Best Answer

I have asked this question on the pandoc-discuss list, and John MacFarlane confirmed that it was not possible:

There isn't really a good way to do this, no.

The best ways to achieve something similar is to use

pandoc test.md -t latex -s --biblatex -o test.tex
pdflatex test
biber test
pdflatex test
pdflatex test

Or, easier

pandoc test.md --biblatex -o test.pdf --pdf-engine=latexmk
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