Tacos al Pastor

Thin slices stacked into a cone with pineapple at the top, so the outside chars and is shaved off while the inside goes on cooking.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

the pork

• 1.5 kg pork shoulder, in 5 mm slices
• 6 guajillo chillies, stalks and seeds removed
• 2 ancho chillies, stalks and seeds removed
• 2 chipotles in adobo
• 30 g recado rojo, as on its own page, or achiote paste
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 150 ml pineapple juice
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 small pineapple, peeled, 2 thick rings reserved
• 1 onion, in 2 thick rings

to serve

• corn tortillas, as on their own page
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• a handful of coriander, chopped
• salsa verde, as on its own page
• lime wedges

Method

1. THE SLICES ARE STACKED INTO A CONE WITH PINEAPPLE AT THE TOP, so that the outside chars and is shaved off while the inside goes on cooking. That is the whole machine, and it can be built in a domestic oven: a skewer standing upright in a tin, onion and pineapple at the base, forty or fifty thin slices threaded on and pressed down into a solid cylinder, two pineapple rings on top, and two hours at a high heat. The outer layer dries and blackens; it is carved off in thin shavings and the newly exposed layer takes its place and chars in turn. Nothing in a pan reproduces it, because in a pan every piece is cooked once and comes out at the same time.
2. THE PINEAPPLE ON TOP IS WORKING AND NOT DECORATION. It sits above the stack and drips down through it for two hours. Its juice carries sugar, which is most of why the outside blackens rather than merely browns, and it carries an enzyme that softens the meat it runs over. Left off, the cone cooks pale and the slices stay firm.
3. THE MARINADE IS THIN, WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF AN ADOBADA. Let down with pineapple juice and vinegar to about the consistency of single cream, so that forty-odd slices can be turned through it and stacked wet, each one carrying a film rather than a coating. A thick paste between the layers would steam and the slices would never separate cleanly when carved.
4. THE STACK IS PRESSED DOWN HARD AND MUST HAVE NO AIR IN IT. Each slice is laid flat and pushed down onto the one below with the heel of the hand. Gaps let heat into the middle and the whole cone cooks through at once instead of from the outside in, which is precisely what the arrangement exists to prevent.
5. IT IS CARVED IN TWO OR THREE PASSES AND RETURNED TO THE OVEN BETWEEN THEM. The blackened outside is shaved off with a long knife after the first two hours and served while the cone goes back in for twenty minutes to char the next layer. Carved all at once, the inner meat is pale and the dish is half of what it should be.
6. The chillies toasted on a dry pan 30 SECONDS a side, soaked in hot water 20 minutes, and DRAINED.
7. Blended with the chipotles, recado rojo, garlic, oregano, cumin, pineapple juice, vinegar and salt to a THIN marinade, about the consistency of single cream.
8. The pork slices turned through it and left OVERNIGHT in the fridge.
9. A metal skewer stood upright in a deep roasting tin, held by a base of the onion rings and a thick slice of pineapple.
10. The slices threaded on one at a time and PRESSED DOWN HARD with the heel of the hand, building a solid cylinder with NO AIR GAPS.
11. The two reserved PINEAPPLE RINGS pushed on at the TOP.
12. Any remaining marinade poured into the tin, and the tin covered loosely with foil.
13. Cooked at 200°C for 1 HOUR, then the FOIL REMOVED and cooked 1 HOUR more, until the outside is darkly charred.
14. The outer layer CARVED OFF in thin shavings with a long knife, straight into a warm bowl, and the cone returned to the oven 20 MINUTES.
15. Carved again, and once more, until the cone is used up. The top pineapple chopped and mixed through the meat.
16. Served in tortillas with onion, coriander, salsa verde and lime.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes