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Tacos al Pastor (Pork Tacos Shepherd Style)

Tacos al Pastor is a very typical dish throughout Mexico. It consists of thin slices of pork, marinated in a sauce made with Guajillo and Chipotle chiles, vinegar, and other spices, and slowly cooked in an upright rotisserie spit called trompo. At the top of the meat lies an onion and a pineapple and as the meat is rotating and cooking, its juices run down to the bottom providing great flavor while tenderizing the meat. It’s served in warm corn tortillas, with salsa roja or verde, chopped onion and cilantro, and fresh squeezed lime juice.

Although I do not own a rotisserie pit, this recipe comes close to it in flavor. Leaving the meat marinating overnight, the Guajillo and Chipotle peppers give a nice flavor to the meat.

Ingredients (makes 6 servings):

Directions:

1. Cut stems to peppers and clean them from seeds and veins. Once cleaned, boil in water (about a cup) for about 20 minutes.
2. Blend peppers with garlic, oregano, cumin, black pepper, add a little of the boiled water (not too much, sauce must be as thick as possible). As it blends, add little by little the pineapple juice and vinegar, taking care that sauce is not too watery.
3. Pass the sauce through a colander to get rid of remaining seeds.
4. In a deep bowl, place pork and pour the sauce over it making sure sauce covers all meat. Cover, refrigerate, and leave marinating at least 6 hours before cooking (tastes better when marinating overnight!)
5. Heat a deep pot, add olive oil and cook the marinated meat (make sure not to add to much of the marinate as we want the meat as dry as possible). Stir often until there is no sauce. Then add the onion and pineapple chunks stirring often until there is no sauce.
6. Serve in warm corn tortillas with red or green sauce, top with onion and cilantro and squeeze some fresh lime juice. Enjoy.

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