Tacos Al Pastor
Pork marinated overnight cooked on the BBQ, on the rotisserie, resulting in succulent pork with a few charred pieces. Sliced and served in corn tacos with your favourite Mexican toppings.
Ingredients
- 2 kg Pork Shoulder
- 4 Ancho Chillis (dried)
- 4 Guajillo Chillis (dried)
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 1 tsp Black Peppercorns
- 1 tsp Oregano (Mexican if possible)
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 Clove
- 60 g Garlic Cloves (approx 1 bulb)
- 120 g Cider Vinegar
- 50 ml Orange Juice
- 2 tbsp Achiote Paste
Instructions
- Start by removing the stems from the chillies. Remove as many of the seeds as you can (I still had a few), then cut the chillies into small pieces and set them aside.
- Next, add the cinnamon, clove, peppercorns, oregano and cumin seeds to a warm frying pan. Toast for 15 to 30 seconds until fragrant, then transfer to a spice grinder or pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder.
- In the same pan, toast the torn chillies for 30 seconds until they start to smoke. Transfer to a bowl, cover with hot water and leave to soak for 20 minutes until soft and pliable.
- Add the unpeeled garlic cloves to the pan and toast until they begin to char and have softened slightly (about 8 minutes). Remove from the heat and leave until cool enough to handle, then peel and discard the skins.
- Drain the chillies and place them in a blender with the ground spices, garlic cloves, vinegar, achiote and orange juice. Blitz to a puree, then massage the mixture into the pork steaks. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight to marinate.
- Take the pork out about an hour before your want to start cooking. In the meantime prepare the BBQ and Rotisserie.
- When the coals are ready add the Rotisserie spit to the BBQ and cook the pork. Mine took me around 1 hour 45 minutes, but I would encourage you to cook to temperature. I was aiming for 70°C.
- Once ready, remove from the BBQ and place the spit on a large chopping board and cover with foil for 10 minutes (leaving it on the spit).
- At this stage start warming your corn tortillas in preparation for the pork.
- After 10 minutes, slice the pork. I did this whilst it was still on the spit. Once you have sliced the meat start constructing the Tacos.
- On the base, I put sliced gem lettuce, topped this with this pork and then added some diced pineapple, sliced Al Pastor onions and coriander. I also had some Rancheros sauce and Tomatillo Salsa to top.
