Mexican Street Tacos (Tacos Al Pastor)
Prep Time: 30 minutes (plus 2 hours to 3 days for marinade)
Cook Time: 4 hourS
Serves: MAKES 40 to 50 STREET TACOS (SMALL TORTILLAS)
Usually, we go out for New Year’s Eve and rely on the wonderful hospitality of our favorite restaurants, however, we’re currently located on a barrier island with a limited amount of restaurants. We considered take-out but chose instead to pick a place we would love to travel to someday and centered our menu around what we’d like to eat there! We chose Mexico and made Tacos Al Pastor which are tacos made with spit-grilled pork and are widely popular throughout Mexico as well as other countries. They typically consist of shaved spit-roasted pork, pineapple, onion, and cilantro packed into a corn tortilla. After the pork is thoroughly marinated, it is placed on a vertical spit called a ‘trompo’. As the pork spins on the trompo, the pork fat heats up and drips down to create a crispy exterior.
The origins of tacos al pastor are linked to Lebanese immigrants who migrated to Mexico during the 1930s and the trompo was inspired by the method used to prepare Shawarma. During the 1960s in Puebla, the Mexican-born children of these immigrants opened their restaurants and put a Mexican twist onto the popular Lebanese dish. Lamb was switched out for pork, which was then marinated in a variety of spices and chilies that are popular in Mexican cuisine. The pita bread and/or flour tortilla were then switched out for corn tortillas. At one point, pineapple began to be included in the taco al pastor recipe. Here’s our attempt to create a rudimentary trompo that doesn’t spin but makes excellent-tasting pork nonetheless. This recipe makes a lot of tacos! We ate about 12 on NYE and we’ve been enjoying leftovers but this would work great for a party if you're planning on serving a group of people — post-pandemic of course.
Achiote Paste Ingredients
2 dried guajillo chiles, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes, then chopped
1/4 cup annatto seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
1 teaspoon salt
5 cloves garlic (peeled)
1/4 cup regular orange juice
1/4 cup lime juice
Meat Ingredients
5 lb pork shoulder (bone-in)
3 tablespoons achiote paste
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
¾ cup white vinegar
1 cup pineapple juice
1 pineapple, skinned and sliced into two (2) 3-inch rounds and two (2) 1-inch rounds
Serving Ingredients
40 to 50 small corn tortillas
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro
2 limes, cut into wedges
habanero hot sauce
Special Equipment
thick wooden skewers, trimmed to the height of your oven and tall metal skewers for extra stability
Achiote Paste Preparation
Use a mortar and pestle to grind the chiles, annatto seeds, coriander seeds, oregano, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cloves, salt, and garlic. Add the orange and lime juice and grind further until a thick paste has formed. This should make roughly 3 tablespoons. You can also use a store-bought achiote paste.
Meat Preparation
Slice the meat from the pork shoulder into ¼ in slices, then transfer to a large dish or bowl. (Save the bone for broth which we will explain in a forthcoming recipe!)
In a separate medium bowl, combine the achiote paste, chili powder, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, vinegar, and pineapple juice, mashing and stirring until smooth and lumps are removed. Pour the marinade over the pork slices, then toss to make sure they are coated on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Preheat the oven to 250° degrees.
Place two 3-inch slices of pineapple in a large iron skillet or deep baking pan about 1 inch apart. Take a wooden skewer and push it directly in the center of one pineapple and repeat with the other pineapple. Remove the pork from the fridge and push the slices through the skewers, layering one after the other until there is a 1-inch gap at the top. Push another pineapple slice on top. You can reinforce the tower with metal skewers and a few wooden skewers at various angles to stabilize the tower and help keep it from falling over while cooking.
Bake for about 4 hours or until internal temperature reaches around 150–155 degrees. During the final hour, baste the meat using the juices from the bottom of the skillet every 10 minutes using a baster. This should begin to create a nice caramelized outer layer. Let the meat rest for about 10 minutes and then carve off thin slices of pork and roasted pineapple into a large bowl.
To Serve
Place pork slices and pineapple slices on tortillas. Add onion and cilantro. Top with a dash of hot sauce and serve with lime wedges.
