Tacos al Pastor
Mexican street food with Lebanese roots — pork marinated in achiote and pineapple juice, seared hard and chopped with grilled pineapple.
The adobo is built first from toasted, soaked chiles, then given time to work its way into the thinly sliced pork. While the meat comes to temperature, the smoky salsa and accompaniments are made; finally the meat and pineapple are seared hard, chopped, and gathered into warm tortillas. The deeply caramelized edges on the meat are what decide whether the filling gets its proper al pastor character.
Ingredients
The Adobo
- 6 pcs dried guajillo chiles
- 2 pcs dried ancho chiles
- 30 g achiote paste
- 1 dl pineapple juice
- ½ dl white vinegar
- 4 clove garlic, peeled
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 4 whole cloves
- ½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 tsp salt
The Meat
- 700 g pork shoulder, in one piece
- 1 tbsp lard
The Salsa
- 4 pcs dried chile de árbol, stemmed
- 3 pcs ripe tomatoes
- 2 clove garlic, unpeeled
- ½ dl water
- ½ tsp salt
To Serve
- 16 pcs small corn tortillas
- 1 pcs white onion, finely chopped
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 300 g fresh pineapple, sliced about 1 cm thick
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 pcs lime, cut into wedges
How to make it
- Snap the stems off the guajillo and ancho chiles, shake out the seeds, and tear them into large flakes.
- Toast the chile flakes in a dry, hot skillet for 2 minutes, turning constantly. They're ready when they smell nutty and become pliable to bend. They must not smoke or turn black, since scorched chile will make the whole adobo bitter.
- Pour boiling water over the toasted chile flakes in a bowl and cover with a plate. Let them steep for 20 minutes, until they're soft and pliable all the way through. ⏱ 20 min · passive
- Drain the water from the soaked chile flakes and blend them with the achiote paste, pineapple juice, vinegar, peeled garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, pepper, and salt for 3 minutes, until the adobo is completely smooth and deep red with no visible bits of skin.
- Press the adobo through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, scraping the underside of the sieve as you go. Only the dry skins should remain, and the adobo should flow thick and glossy off the spoon.Chef's tip Chile skins are mostly cellulose and survive even a long blend, showing up as specks that catch on the tongue. Scraping the sieve's underside recovers the thick puree clinging there — leave it and you lose a surprising amount of the adobo.
- Slice the pork shoulder into pieces about 5 mm thick against the grain. Thin slices absorb the adobo quickly and develop the most seared edges in the pan. ⏱ 10 minChef's tip Cutting across the grain shortens the muscle fibres so the slices stay tender through a hard sear. Firm the pork in the freezer for 20-30 minutes first — half-frozen meat holds its shape under the knife and 5 mm becomes achievable.
- Turn the meat slices in the adobo one at a time, so both sides are coated in an even, red layer. Cover the bowl and refrigerate (see Advance Prep).Chef's tip Pineapple juice contains bromelain, an enzyme that breaks down protein. Overnight is right for these thin slices; push much past a day and the surface can turn mushy rather than merely tender.
- Take the marinated meat out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking, so the slices come to temperature and don't cool the pan down when they hit it. ⏱ 30 min · passive
- Toast the tomatoes and unpeeled garlic cloves in a dry skillet over high heat for 10 minutes, turning them a couple of times. The skins should be spotted black, and the tomatoes should give under light pressure. ⏱ 10 min
- Toast the chile de árbol in the same dry skillet for 1 minute, until they darken to a deeper red and smell sharp.
- Peel the toasted garlic and blend it with the tomatoes, chiles, water, and salt for 2 minutes into a salsa that's still slightly grainy and pours heavily off the spoon. Season with more salt to taste, since it needs to stand up to a rich, sweet meat.
- Mix the finely chopped white onion with the chopped cilantro in a bowl, and press down lightly with your hand until the onion releases a little juice and the cilantro's aroma comes through.
- Heat the lard in a large, heavy skillet over high heat. Sear the meat slices in three batches, since if the slices are crowded, they'll steam in their own juices instead of searing. Lay each batch in a single layer without the slices touching, and cook for 6 minutes, turning once, until the edges are deeply caramelized and the meat is cooked through with no pink center. ⏱ 20 minChef's tip Wait until the lard shimmers and a slice hisses loudly on contact. If the pan goes quiet after you load it, the slices are releasing water faster than it evaporates — pull half out and let the pan recover.
- Grill the pineapple slices in the same skillet for 4 minutes, turning once, until they have dark stripes and smell caramelized. Sprinkle them with a pinch of salt while they're hot, so the sweetness has something to push against.
- Chop the seared meat and grilled pineapple slices into small pieces about 1 cm on a cutting board, and toss them together lightly so the pineapple comes along in every spoonful. Al pastor is eaten as small pieces with crisp edges, never as whole slices.
- Warm the corn tortillas in the dry skillet for 4 minutes total, a couple at a time, until they're pliable and spotted brown. Wrap them in a clean kitchen towel so they stay warm and soft.
- Set out the meat-pineapple mixture, the onion-cilantro mixture, the salsa, and the lime wedges in separate bowls in the middle of the table along with the warm tortillas in their kitchen towel. Everyone builds their own tacos on a flat plate: first a spoonful of meat, then onion and cilantro, a thin stripe of salsa, and a squeeze of lime at the end. The taco is folded in the hand and eaten right away, while the tortilla is still warm.
