Al Pastor Pork Tacos

Al Pastor Pork Tacos

Al Pastor Pork Tacos filled with meat, which is roasted on a vertical spit. We’re adapting for the Big Green Egg and using the rotiserrie with the vertical spit holder.  Using the rotiserrie to spin the pork ensure the outside crisps up and the inside is juicy.

We’ve used pork shoulder that we marinaded overnight with some achiote paste, which gives rich colour and earthy flavour.  We didn’t have Guajillo and Ancho chillis so we adapted to use some of our spice cupboard ingredients.  Typically Al Pastor dishes are served with some roasted pineapple, onion, coriander and salsa.

It’s best to marinade the pork overnight or we recommend a minimum of 3o minutes.

Cooking surfaces

For the pork

Rotisserie

BBQ Temperature

160C

For the tacos

Stainless grid

BBQ Temperature

200C

Ingredients

For the Pork Marinade

  • Juice of 1.5 oranges
  • 1 tbsp achiote paste
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 chipotle chilles in adobo
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp korean red pepper flakes
  • pork shoulder

To serve the taco

  • 2 slices of tinned pineapple
  • fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 small cube cotija or feta, crumbled
  • charred corn on the cob kernels, optional
  • soured cream
  • guacamole
  • salsa
  • pickled red onions

Method

  1. Slice your pork to about 1cm thick pieces to maximise the surface to absorb the marinade and place in a large bowl.
  2. Place the marinade ingredients in a blender and blitz together.
  3. Pour the marinade over the pork.  Give it a good zhuzh.  Cover the bowl and leave to marinade in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but ideally overnight.
  4. Set up your Egg for direct cooking with the rotisserie. Set the temperature to 160°C.
  5. Take your rotisserie spit and, one by one, feed the pieces of pork onto the spit and replace the handle with the vertical spit holder.  If you’re using the rotisserie, try to check every so often that the balance of the meat is good, i.e., you don’t have one side that is much heavier than the other.
  6. Cook the pork until the internal temperature reaches 65°c.  Remove the rotisserie from the Egg.  Wrap in foil to rest.
  7. Add the stainless grid to the Egg.  Add some sliced pineapple on to the grid and toast.  Once gently charred, remove from the heat.
  8. Now add your corn tortillas to the grid and cook for just 20 seconds a side. They will puff up.
  9. Place the wraps into a taco rack, ready to fill.
  10. Build by adding slices of pork, top with some pineapple, a sprinkle of corn, crumbled feta, coriander and pickled onions.  Take a lime quarter and squeeze over the assembled taco.
  11. You could also serve with some soured cream, salsa and guacamole.
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