Tacos al Pastor

Since we went to a burrito-big-as-your-head kind of place (not that there's anything wrong with that) for Cinco de Mayo the other night I decided to try my hand the next night at Tacos al Pastor, to go for some authentic Mexican eats.

All in all, the results were mighty fine. I found a basic recipe online that would have made about a gallon of marinade, so i reworked proportions for my needs. I very rarely use recipes, but I had no idea what makes a proper version.

My goals for the pork was getting the pink coloring around the edges, the sweet and sour tang, and the bite of pepper. I ate plenty of them in the taco stands and restaurants around Austin when I lived there. The best one I ever had was on the east side from a trailer in a bowling alley parking lot. It was sans the oft-seen pineapple chunks, served with a bright orange habanero salsa and grilled over charcoal.

So for my version, I decided to skip the pineapple and use the grill, but skip the habanero salsa because it’s not really family-friendly. Also, corn tortillas would get swapped for wheat because we have corn allergies in the house. Since I don’t have a giant spit (yet), I decided to give them the kebob treatment.

So, here’s the recipe:
2 pounds of pork, cubed

½ cup Apple cider vinegar

½ cup pineapple juice

3 large garlic cloves

8 dried chile pepper, I used 4 passilla and 2 chipotle, soaked in hot water for ½ an hour.

Pack of tortillas

Cilantro

Onion

Salsa fresca

Put the pork on metal or soaked wood skewers.

Run the vinegar, pineapple juice, garlic and chile peppers through a blender or food processor and pour it over the meat.

Don’t be alarmed by the smell, it seemed like way too much vinegar to the olfactory senses, but it turned out fine.

I let it marinate for about an hour and half and then grilled it up with a couple of bell peppers.

I served it up on the tortillas warmed on the grill with chopped cilantro and onions and the salsa.

It wasn’t an exact replica but considering it took a very little time (outside of marinating and chile soaking) it produced a solid end product.

Here they are on the grill

On the table ready to serve with the grilled green pepper.



On a tortilla with onions and cilantro.