Tacos al Pastor con Piña

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet (12-inch or larger)
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Sharp chef's knife for slicing pork and chopping seared meat
• •Wide glass or ceramic marinating dish
• •Hand-woven cotton or palm servilleta for the tortillas

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and arbol chiles separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. The guajillo turns a deep brick color. The ancho puffs and goes glossy. The arbol takes seconds, so watch it. You want the oils to release, never the chile to blacken. The kitchen should smell like the chile vendor's stall at Mercado de Jamaica. That smell is the recipe waking up.

   A burned chile is a bitter chile, and bitter adobo cannot be saved. If one goes black, throw it out and toast another. No me vengas con atajos.
2. 2

   Soak the chiles

   Place the toasted chiles in a heatproof bowl and cover with hot tap water. Hot water, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the skins and turns the adobo bitter. Let them sit for 20 minutes, weighted down with a small plate so they stay submerged. They should soften completely, the flesh pliable and the color saturated.

3. 3

   Build the adobo

   Drain the chiles, reserving 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid. Transfer the chiles to a blender. Add the achiote paste, vinegar, pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice, garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, canela, black pepper, salt, and the reserved soaking liquid. Blend on high for at least two minutes, until the adobo is silky and the color of dark brick stained with sun. Pass it through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing on the solids. The strained adobo should coat the back of a spoon. This is the marinade that built al pastor.

4. 4

   Marinate the pork

   Lay the sliced pork shoulder and fatback in a wide glass or ceramic dish. Pour the adobo over the meat and turn each slice to coat completely. Every piece needs to be stained red. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, up to 24 hours. The vinegar tenderizes, the achiote stains, the pineapple juice does the chemistry. Time is doing work here. Do not rush it.

   The fatback is not optional. Al pastor was built on a vertical spit where pork shoulder and pork fat are stacked together so the rendered fat bastes the meat below it. La manteca es el sabor, even when it comes from the meat itself.
5. 5

   Char the pineapple

   Heat a heavy cast iron skillet or comal over medium-high until it is very hot. Place the pineapple rings in the dry skillet and cook without moving them for 3 to 4 minutes per side. You want deep black char marks and the sugar in the fruit to caramelize at the edges. Set the rings on a cutting board to cool. Once cool enough to handle, chop into small dice. The char is the point. Raw pineapple on al pastor is a tourist mistake.

6. 6

   Sear the pork

   You do not have a trompo at home, so you cook al pastor the way the taqueros do when the spit is off: hot pan, thin slices, hard sear. Heat a heavy cast iron skillet or plancha over medium-high until smoking. Add a teaspoon of lard. Working in batches, lay the marinated pork slices in a single layer. Do not crowd the pan. Sear for 2 to 3 minutes per side. The edges should crisp into dark, almost-burned lacquer. That is the carbon flavor that mimics the trompo. Transfer to a cutting board as each batch finishes.

7. 7

   Chop and finish

   Stack the seared pork slices and chop them into small irregular pieces, about the size of your fingernail. This is how the taquero serves it off the trompo: small enough that two or three pieces sit easily on a small tortilla. Return the chopped pork to the hot skillet for a final 60 seconds, stirring once, just to crisp the smallest edges and warm everything through. Toss in the diced charred pineapple at the end. Pull it off the heat.

8. 8

   Warm the tortillas and build the taco

   Warm each corn tortilla directly on a dry comal for about 30 seconds per side, until soft and pliable with a few light brown spots. Stack them in a hand-woven servilleta to keep them warm. Build each taco with a small mound of pork and pineapple, a pinch of diced raw white onion, a pinch of chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and salsa to the eater's preference. Two tortillas per taco if you are doing it properly, the way they do at the corner stand on Avenida Alvaro Obregon. Eat immediately. Standing up if possible. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Slice the pork while it is still partially frozen. Twenty minutes in the freezer firms the meat enough that you can cut clean 1/4-inch slices against the grain. Thick slices will not get the carbon edge you need. Thin slices crisp properly in a hot pan.
• •Achiote paste is not paprika and not annatto powder. It is a paste sold in small blocks at any Mexican market and at Latin grocery stores, often labeled 'recado rojo.' If your store does not carry it, find a different store. There is no substitution. The red stain and the earthy floor of al pastor come from this single ingredient.
• •Save the rendered fat that collects in the skillet after searing. Strain it into a jar and refrigerate. It is liquid gold. Use it to crisp leftover al pastor the next day, or to fry beans, or to start the next batch.
• •The two-tortilla taco is not optional and not a suggestion. The first tortilla absorbs the fat and the juice. The second tortilla holds the taco together when you lift it. One tortilla and the taco falls apart in your hand. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina, and if you do not double the tortilla, you do not know al pastor.

Advance Preparation

• •The adobo can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated in a sealed jar. The flavor only deepens.
• •The pork must marinate for at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours. Anything less and the adobo sits on the surface instead of penetrating the meat.
• •The pineapple can be charred earlier the same day and held at room temperature. Do not refrigerate after charring or it will weep and lose the caramelized edge.
• •Leftover seared pork keeps refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat in a hot cast iron skillet with a little lard to crisp the edges back up. Microwaving is a betrayal of the dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)