Homage to the Taco Chronicles, “The Series“ - Tacos al Pastor
Homage to the Taco Chronicles – The Series – Tacos al Pastor
"A taco and a shawarma walk into a bar…."
As a continuation of my series paying homage to the Netflix’s documentary called the Taco Chronicles, for my next offering let’s look at the history of and cook up some tacos al pastor.
Mexico City’s metro area has an estimated population of well over 21 million people making it one of the largest cities in the world. Of all the cuisines, all the different street foods, of all the tacos served to such a mass of humanity, none is more popular than tacos al pastor. Like our McDonalds or Starbucks; from stands, to restaurants, to drive-ins, to garages by day, taco stands by night, you can literally find these tacos on every street corner. Of course each has its own twist and their own secret ingredients that makes their recipe the best and thus most popular.
So not only are these pineapple and pork tacos the most popular street food, their origin is even more interesting and again highlights the diversity of that melting pot of flavors known to Mexican cuisine. Tacos al pastor were originally created in the 1930s in Puebla, Mexico, by Lebanese immigrants who introduced the region to the classic shawarma, or roasted lamb served on a flour tortilla or pita bread (pan arabe). This creation was originally known then as tacos arabes, and used meat cooked on a vertical, or upright, grill. Not only that, the spices introduced from middle eastern cooking, like cinnamon, began working their way into Mexican seasoning as well.
Although the technique of roasting on a vertical spit remained, the use of lamb was changed to the more available pork which evolved into tacos al pastor. Pastor, or the Spanish word for shepherd, is said to refer back to the shepherding of the lambs in the original recipe although no one seems to know for sure.
In addition, the meat in tacos al arabes isn't marinated; it had a simpler salt seasoning served with flour tortillas. When the upright grill moved on from Puebla, the tacos al pastor as we know it today gradually came into being. Marinated pork replaced lamb on the spit, with cilantro and onions added to the mix.
To begin, thin slices of pork are marinated for three or four hours in spices and chiles like guajillos, anchos, achiote and adobo; they're then stacked onto a long trompo, or spit. As the meat cooks, the outside layer gets crispy from exposure to the heat. The taquero, or taco maker, shaves off the outer layers straight onto tortillas, topping the meat with sliced onions, cilantro and salsa. The use of a vertical skewer is a key part of the cooking equation, allowing fat and juices to drip down onto the meat at all times, basting it as it crisps.
The onions, cilantro and salsa of modern-day tacos al pastor are hallmarks of Mexican cuisine. What’s also been added is pineapple loaded onto the spit then shaved off and put on top of the cooked pork. It’s a curious combination and no one really seems to know where it came from. All we know is that it mysteriously works, and it works well.
So let’s make some Tacos al Pastor…..
Tacos al Pastor
Course. Lunch or Dinner.
Cuisine. Mexican
Makes. 6 to 8 servings
Takes. 90 minutes prep, 3-4 hours to marinade and 60-90 minutes to cook
Ingredients – Meat & Adobo Marinade
3-4 pounds pork shoulder cut very thin. Can be done at home cut from a boneless pork butt or have your butcher cut you very thin steaks from a bone in roast.
5 – dried ancho chilies
5 – dried guajillo chilies
2 – chipotle chilies and half of the adobo sauce from a prepared 7 oz. can by either La Costena or Goya. Either can be found in your local grocery.
1 – garlic head (6-8 cloves)
1/2 rough chopped white onion
2-3 whole cloves, ground
1/2 - cinnamon stick, ground, preferably Mexican canela
1 – teaspoon Mexican oregano (regular works as well)
1/2 - stick achiote paste smashed
1/2 – teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 – teaspoon marjoram
1-2 – dried bay leaves ground
1/2 – teaspoon black pepper
1 – teaspoon Kosher salt
1/3 - cup cider or white vinegar
2 – teaspoons sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup of orange or pineapple juice (or a combo of the two)
Ingredients – For Tacos Presentation
10-12 – small #10 corn tortillas OR classic flour
2 cups – white onion chopped
1 – bundle (about 1-1/2 cups) cilantro finely chopped
1-2 cups – fresh pineapple chunks seared on a grill then chopped
Pico de Gallo made with seared and chopped pineapple pieces
Favorite salsa
Lime wedges
Directions – Adobo Marinade & Meat Prep
1. Prepare your individually thinly sliced pork into the shapes you feel necessary for the method you choose for cooking. If on a skewer or a rotisserie spit, make sure they are small enough to stay in place while turning or rotating. If too large, the tendency is to have them fall apart. (More on this later)
2. Begin the marinade by cutting off the stems and opening up your dried chilies with a kitchen shear. Remove all of the seeds and any membranes. Rinse thoroughly as they tend to be dirty.
3. In a frying pan, quickly roast the chilies until they change color and become fragrant. Do them in batches to avoid burning. Also roast your onions and garlic.
4. Bring enough water or chicken stock to soak all the chilies to quick boil and remove from the heat, allowing it to cool a bit. Submerge the chilies into the hot water, cover and allow to steep, about 30-40 minutes. They should become very soft and pliable.
5. In a small pan toast your cloves and cinnamon until aromatic. Grind them into a powder.
6. Add the reconstituted peppers, the canned adobo peppers and sauce and all of the aromatics to a blender. Add the vinegar and enough juice to allow the contents to thoroughly blend into a soft paste. Strain the resultant paste into a bowl to remove the coarser pieces of pepper skin, seeds or other unblended matter. Dispose of the pulp.
7. In a large enough vessel, spread the meat out in an even layer and pour all of the adobo marinade onto the meat. Work the marinade into and around each piece coating thoroughly. Cover with foil and allow to marinate in your refrigerator at least 3-4 hours to allow the acids to break down the meat as well as adding flavor.
Directions – Thoughts on Cooking Method
This is where things get a little tricky. I know there’s been on lot of discussion about this recently and over time as well. How exactly do you recreate the Mexican trompo cooking style at home? Most of us don’t own $1200 vertical roasters so we have to try to recreate the method that ensures that the meat is somewhat self-basting, while at the same time ensures that good crispy, crunchy outside layer. And how do you otherwise shave the pieces and allow the meat to continue to cook and crisp up?
I struggled with this for some time and was going to just do mine as individual skewers, a method I would recommend and will return to. However, it was suggested that the use of a Napoleon skewer accessory for my Weber rotisserie may be effective so I gave it a try. Unfortunately, the whole experience ended in somewhat of an epic fail.
Although I tied and skewered the heck out of the meat stacks, the rotating movement caused the slippery pieces of meat to fall apart. Things went pretty well for about the first half hour, but after that I had to stop the rotisserie and just let the meat roast. I did continue to spin the rotisserie occasionally though, to achieve a more uniform crispiness on the individual pieces. I roasted the pieces at 350*F until they reached an internal temperature of 140-145*F. It took about 75 minutes.
Regardless of my mechanical failures, the meat turned out really tasty. I served on the classic flour tortillas (although the #10 corn tortillas are preferred in Mexico), along with a roasted pineapple pico de gallo and topped my tacos with cilantro, onion and some additional seared pineapple chunks. These tacos shine with the savory and sweet combination making them unique and most popular among all of Mexico’s tacos.
Regardless of your cooking method, give these a try. The flavor of the adobo, the tender and somewhat fattiness of the pork and the sweetness of the pineapple are a combination that will truly make these a favorite of yours as well.
For those interested in following or have missed any of my Taco Chronicles series, here are links to previous offerings;
Tacos de Guisado
Tacos al Pescado
Tacos de Chivo Birria
Next up is we go to the northern Mexican states and into their cattle country to cook tacos that are near and dear to my heart, tacos made famous here in Houston by Ninfa Lorenzo called Tacos al Carbon. Stay tuned, until then Trout is out !!!
"This is what defines Mexico….a Good Taco"
"A taco and a shawarma walk into a bar…."
As a continuation of my series paying homage to the Netflix’s documentary called the Taco Chronicles, for my next offering let’s look at the history of and cook up some tacos al pastor.
Mexico City’s metro area has an estimated population of well over 21 million people making it one of the largest cities in the world. Of all the cuisines, all the different street foods, of all the tacos served to such a mass of humanity, none is more popular than tacos al pastor. Like our McDonalds or Starbucks; from stands, to restaurants, to drive-ins, to garages by day, taco stands by night, you can literally find these tacos on every street corner. Of course each has its own twist and their own secret ingredients that makes their recipe the best and thus most popular.
So not only are these pineapple and pork tacos the most popular street food, their origin is even more interesting and again highlights the diversity of that melting pot of flavors known to Mexican cuisine. Tacos al pastor were originally created in the 1930s in Puebla, Mexico, by Lebanese immigrants who introduced the region to the classic shawarma, or roasted lamb served on a flour tortilla or pita bread (pan arabe). This creation was originally known then as tacos arabes, and used meat cooked on a vertical, or upright, grill. Not only that, the spices introduced from middle eastern cooking, like cinnamon, began working their way into Mexican seasoning as well.
Although the technique of roasting on a vertical spit remained, the use of lamb was changed to the more available pork which evolved into tacos al pastor. Pastor, or the Spanish word for shepherd, is said to refer back to the shepherding of the lambs in the original recipe although no one seems to know for sure.
In addition, the meat in tacos al arabes isn't marinated; it had a simpler salt seasoning served with flour tortillas. When the upright grill moved on from Puebla, the tacos al pastor as we know it today gradually came into being. Marinated pork replaced lamb on the spit, with cilantro and onions added to the mix.
To begin, thin slices of pork are marinated for three or four hours in spices and chiles like guajillos, anchos, achiote and adobo; they're then stacked onto a long trompo, or spit. As the meat cooks, the outside layer gets crispy from exposure to the heat. The taquero, or taco maker, shaves off the outer layers straight onto tortillas, topping the meat with sliced onions, cilantro and salsa. The use of a vertical skewer is a key part of the cooking equation, allowing fat and juices to drip down onto the meat at all times, basting it as it crisps.
The onions, cilantro and salsa of modern-day tacos al pastor are hallmarks of Mexican cuisine. What’s also been added is pineapple loaded onto the spit then shaved off and put on top of the cooked pork. It’s a curious combination and no one really seems to know where it came from. All we know is that it mysteriously works, and it works well.
So let’s make some Tacos al Pastor…..
Tacos al Pastor
Course. Lunch or Dinner.
Cuisine. Mexican
Makes. 6 to 8 servings
Takes. 90 minutes prep, 3-4 hours to marinade and 60-90 minutes to cook
Ingredients – Meat & Adobo Marinade
3-4 pounds pork shoulder cut very thin. Can be done at home cut from a boneless pork butt or have your butcher cut you very thin steaks from a bone in roast.
5 – dried ancho chilies
5 – dried guajillo chilies
2 – chipotle chilies and half of the adobo sauce from a prepared 7 oz. can by either La Costena or Goya. Either can be found in your local grocery.
1 – garlic head (6-8 cloves)
1/2 rough chopped white onion
2-3 whole cloves, ground
1/2 - cinnamon stick, ground, preferably Mexican canela
1 – teaspoon Mexican oregano (regular works as well)
1/2 - stick achiote paste smashed
1/2 – teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 – teaspoon marjoram
1-2 – dried bay leaves ground
1/2 – teaspoon black pepper
1 – teaspoon Kosher salt
1/3 - cup cider or white vinegar
2 – teaspoons sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup of orange or pineapple juice (or a combo of the two)
Ingredients – For Tacos Presentation
10-12 – small #10 corn tortillas OR classic flour
2 cups – white onion chopped
1 – bundle (about 1-1/2 cups) cilantro finely chopped
1-2 cups – fresh pineapple chunks seared on a grill then chopped
Pico de Gallo made with seared and chopped pineapple pieces
Favorite salsa
Lime wedges
Directions – Adobo Marinade & Meat Prep
1. Prepare your individually thinly sliced pork into the shapes you feel necessary for the method you choose for cooking. If on a skewer or a rotisserie spit, make sure they are small enough to stay in place while turning or rotating. If too large, the tendency is to have them fall apart. (More on this later)
2. Begin the marinade by cutting off the stems and opening up your dried chilies with a kitchen shear. Remove all of the seeds and any membranes. Rinse thoroughly as they tend to be dirty.
3. In a frying pan, quickly roast the chilies until they change color and become fragrant. Do them in batches to avoid burning. Also roast your onions and garlic.
4. Bring enough water or chicken stock to soak all the chilies to quick boil and remove from the heat, allowing it to cool a bit. Submerge the chilies into the hot water, cover and allow to steep, about 30-40 minutes. They should become very soft and pliable.
5. In a small pan toast your cloves and cinnamon until aromatic. Grind them into a powder.
6. Add the reconstituted peppers, the canned adobo peppers and sauce and all of the aromatics to a blender. Add the vinegar and enough juice to allow the contents to thoroughly blend into a soft paste. Strain the resultant paste into a bowl to remove the coarser pieces of pepper skin, seeds or other unblended matter. Dispose of the pulp.
7. In a large enough vessel, spread the meat out in an even layer and pour all of the adobo marinade onto the meat. Work the marinade into and around each piece coating thoroughly. Cover with foil and allow to marinate in your refrigerator at least 3-4 hours to allow the acids to break down the meat as well as adding flavor.
Directions – Thoughts on Cooking Method
This is where things get a little tricky. I know there’s been on lot of discussion about this recently and over time as well. How exactly do you recreate the Mexican trompo cooking style at home? Most of us don’t own $1200 vertical roasters so we have to try to recreate the method that ensures that the meat is somewhat self-basting, while at the same time ensures that good crispy, crunchy outside layer. And how do you otherwise shave the pieces and allow the meat to continue to cook and crisp up?
I struggled with this for some time and was going to just do mine as individual skewers, a method I would recommend and will return to. However, it was suggested that the use of a Napoleon skewer accessory for my Weber rotisserie may be effective so I gave it a try. Unfortunately, the whole experience ended in somewhat of an epic fail.
Although I tied and skewered the heck out of the meat stacks, the rotating movement caused the slippery pieces of meat to fall apart. Things went pretty well for about the first half hour, but after that I had to stop the rotisserie and just let the meat roast. I did continue to spin the rotisserie occasionally though, to achieve a more uniform crispiness on the individual pieces. I roasted the pieces at 350*F until they reached an internal temperature of 140-145*F. It took about 75 minutes.
Regardless of my mechanical failures, the meat turned out really tasty. I served on the classic flour tortillas (although the #10 corn tortillas are preferred in Mexico), along with a roasted pineapple pico de gallo and topped my tacos with cilantro, onion and some additional seared pineapple chunks. These tacos shine with the savory and sweet combination making them unique and most popular among all of Mexico’s tacos.
Regardless of your cooking method, give these a try. The flavor of the adobo, the tender and somewhat fattiness of the pork and the sweetness of the pineapple are a combination that will truly make these a favorite of yours as well.
For those interested in following or have missed any of my Taco Chronicles series, here are links to previous offerings;
Tacos de Guisado
Tacos al Pescado
Tacos de Chivo Birria
Next up is we go to the northern Mexican states and into their cattle country to cook tacos that are near and dear to my heart, tacos made famous here in Houston by Ninfa Lorenzo called Tacos al Carbon. Stay tuned, until then Trout is out !!!
"This is what defines Mexico….a Good Taco"
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