Authentic Tacos al Pastor

Tacos al pastor are one of the quintessential plates of Mexican cuisine. They’re one of the staples at any Mexican restaurant outside of the country, but also one of the few types of tacos that you can find all over the country, in all kinds of restaurants, and in many cases at all hours of the night.

So, while they are tricky to do properly at home, I’ve come up with this recipe that is pretty close to the real thing. It won’t taste as if the tacos were cut up from a trompo at 1 am in some Mexico City eatery, but it gets pretty damn close, if I do say so myself.

You can find more on the history of this dish and other recipe notes at the end of this post. For now, let’s get cooking.

As far as utensils go, you’ll need to assemble:

Scale
Iron griddle or flat pan
Sauté pan
Blender

For the ingredients, read on:

Instructions

Carne al pastor

700g 1/2 cm thick pork cutlets
7 Guajillo chilies
3 Ancho chilies
1 medium onion
4 Garlic cloves
8 Whole black peppercorns
1 tsp, Ground cumin, 1 tsp.
240g White vinegar

Place all the chilies (guajillo and ancho) in a medium sized pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover and rest for 5-10 minutes.

Drain, and remove the seeds and veins from the chilies.

Blend the chillies until smooth, along with the onion, garlic cloves, peppercorns, cumin, white vinegar and a splash of the chillies cooking water. Sieve through a colander and season to taste with salt. Let cool.

Season the pork cutlets lightly with salt and cover with the sauce. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Pasilla salsa

4 pasilla or ancho chilies
50 g green tomatoes or tomatillos
200g water
30g Vinegar
2 garlic cloves
1/2 medium onion
1 tsp powdered chicken stock

Place the pasilla or ancho chilies, along with the tomatillos, in a medium sized pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover and rest for 5-10 minutes.

Drain, and remove the seeds and veins from the chilies.

Blend the chilies and tomatillos along with the rest of the ingredients. Sieve through a colander and season to taste with salt and powdered chicken stock. Boil and set aside.

Green pineapple salsa

250 g tomatillos or green tomatoes
2 fresh jalapeño chilies
1/4 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
15 fresh cilantro leaves
85g small-diced fresh pineapple
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp powdered chicken stock

Place an iron griddle or flat pan over medium heat. Grill (everything has to be almost burnt) the tomatillos, jalapeños, onion and garlic cloves.

Blend (not fully, we want a rustic consistency) with a little water. Season to taste with salt, dried oregano and powdered chicken stock. Add the diced pineapple, finely chopped cilantro and set aside.

Recipe notes

What, no “trompo”?

The trompo is the traditional coned shape of the meat used in tacos al pastor. It probabbly originated in the middle east as a way to cook large quantities of meat directly over a fire. When cooking tacos al pastor at home I feel it is not really necesary to assemble the meat in that coned shape, the quantities are too small. Plus, a vertical fire can be tricky to get in a normal household kitchen.

How hot?

Depending on your personal taste, the salsas can be adjusted to your desired level of hotness/spiciness. it comes down to how much seeds/veins you leave in the finished salsa. Remove them completely to get a not very hot/spicy salsa. Leave a few for medium spiciness….you get the picture.

How about a quesadilla?

In México we call a quesadilla (flour tortilla with melted cheese inside) with carne al pastor inside, a ….. Gringa.

To prepare a gringa or a pastor quesadilla, just shred some Oaxaca cheese, or any kind of cheese that melts nicely, inside a flour tortilla. Heat it in the microwave to melt the cheese, or over a low fire. Add carne al pastor and finish off with salsas, onion and cilantro.

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