Tacos Al Pastor

 

     The original Hispanic street taco recipe, familiar throughout Texas and many parts of the SW as well as Mexico.  Much smaller, just a handful, but no less tasty.  It makes use of a variety of meats from beef cheeks, to skirt steak to boneless pork shoulder.  For this recipe I used roasted pork shoulder. 

      Traditionally, al pastor is made my marinating pork in an earthy chile marinade and cooking it on a spit.  The pork which takes on gloriously charred edges as the spit rotates, and is carved from the spit and served on a tortilla. 

1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork butt, beef cheek,  or brisket point

1 white onion roughly chopped

1 15 oz. cans of chopped pineapple chunks

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

2 tablespoons ancho chili powder

4 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon chipotle in adobo

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

2 large limes cut into wedges

1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro

1 small red onion diced

Adobo seasoning to taste

SW Crema Sauce

12 small corn or flour tortillas

 

      Use a sharp knife to slice meat into thin slices. I used a small pork shoulder blade in roast, making the carving interesting.  Place in a large mixing bowl or resealable plastic bag.

Cut meat in slices (or at least close) 

Blending the marinade

Marinade in fridge for at least 4 hours

      Put half the pineapple chunks with juice into a blender.  Add the roughly chopped onion. Add in orange juice, white vinegar, chipotle, chili powder, garlic, salt, and oregano. Puree until smooth.  Pour marinade over pork. Refrigerate and let marinate at least 4 hours.

Marinade and stacked on the spit

     There are two ways to cook this.  Heat a skillet or grill to high heat.  Working in small batches, sear each slice of pork until cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes.  At the same time, grill the rest of the pineapple without juice until lightly charred.  Roughly chop the cooked pork and dice cooked pineapple. In my case I sliced the meat and then skewered on my vertical spit and roasted it the oven @ 375 till done. You can use pineapple slices as top and bottom buffers on the spit for basting.  I finish it off with a sprinkling of Adobo seasoning. Unless you like cleaning your oven place this on a baking pan to catch in inevitable juices.  

Done and ready to slice

Ready to plate

Add choice of cheese & sauce and get after them

       When done, place spit on counter and slice meat off the sides vertically to use. It will be fragmented.  Serve meat up hot on a warmed tortilla topped with fresh mango or sweet pineapple salsa.  You can top with sliced avocado, Cotija cheese, and drizzle SW Crema sauce on top.  We even added a few chopped peaches.  I did find the pork to be a bit dry so maybe beef brisket point next time.  The FETA Guacamole was delicious. 

"Great art is horseshit, buy tacos"

Charles Bukowski 

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