Meaning “shepherd-style” in Spanish, al pastor is a spit-roasted pork dish from Northern Mexico. It was inspired by shawarma cooking which was brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants in the 1960′s. You know shawarma, like gyros, where they pack a bunch of marinated lamb meat on a huge sharp rod and roast it all day, slicing off paper-thin slices as needed? Right. It’s wicked delicious.
But in Mexico, there’s not so much lamb going on so they adapted it for pork, adding chiles and pineapple to the marinade. I can say with certainty I have never had a BAD al pastor taco; only good and amazing. Clearly, if they are that pleasing, we all need to know how to replicate al pastor tacos at home. Seriously lacking a huge rotisserie and a fire-place big enough to roast 50 pounds of meat at a time, I adapted the recipe for regular people in regular kitchens. Son of a gun, give me some onion and cilantro and I could eat this every day.
| Tacos Al Pastor |
- 1.5-3 lbs Pork
- 3 guajillo chiles
- 1 ancho chile
- 1 c pineapple juice
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon each: cinnamon, oregano, black pepper, salt
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon achiote (annatto) powder
- Rehydrate the peppers in hot water to cover. Remove stems and seeds. Put them in a blender with everything else. Whizz it until it’s smooth.
Pour over some pork roast and cook it one of three ways:
Crock pot: put the whole roast and marinade in there and cook on low for 8 hours until it’s falling apart. Add some pineapple chunks in the last hour.
Grill: slice the meat thinly, marinate up to 4 hours and grill it with fresh pineapple spears.
Bake: marinate whole roast up to 24 hours and roast at 350 degrees F, covered, until tender. Shred it, add pineapple chunks and stick it under the broiler for a few minutes to crispy it up.
I create short-form, educational, and occasionally hilarious cooking videos geared towards beginner and intermediate cooks, as well as people who are just looking for simple, low-cost recipes. Everything is made from scratch, people!