Tacos Al Pastor Made With Grilled Pork Steaks

Tacos al Pastor, a beautiful combination of rustic heat chile, sweet pineapple and savory grilled pork steak. A taco that will win your heart for life.

Course Main Course Pork, Mexican

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Marinate 8

Total Time 8 50

Servings

Calories 414kcal

Author Lea Ann Brown

Ingredients

6 dried chile peppers I used 3 Guajillo and 3 Pasilla. Pasilla are hot
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce seeds and veins removed
½ cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
¼ cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon anise seeds
½ teaspoon dried oregano Preferrably Mexican Oregano
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground clove
⅛ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), sliced ¾" thick
6 rings Fresh pineapple cut into chunks
2 sweet onions sliced
16 Corn tortillas
cilantro and avocado chopped for serving

Instructions

For the pastor sauce (marinade)
Stem and seed the dried chiles and place them in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with water and microwave at high power until softened, about 3 minutes.
Let cool slightly, then drain and transfer to a food processor. Add the chipotle chilis, orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, anise seeds, oregano, cumin, ground cloves, sugar and garlic powder. Blend until smooth.
Transfer the marinade to a saucepan. Add the 2 tablespoons of oil and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until very thick, about 5 minutes; let cool.
To Make Tacos Al Pastor
Cut the pork roast into ¾ inch slices. Arrange slices into an oven proof baking dish. A 9/13 Pyrex pan works good here.
Slather those pork steaks with the red chile paste. Use either a spatula or a basting brush to get the marinade evenly distributed.
Cover and chill 3 - 12 hours.
Preheat grill to 500 degrees, then lower to 350. Remove pork from marinade and grill pork steaks about 12 minutes per side. Grill pineapple and onion rings until caramelized, turning to cook on each side.
Transfer pork onions and pineapple to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes, tented.
Stack three of the steaks on a cutting board, with the grain of the meat all running the same direction.
With a very sharp knife, slice the steaks very thin, across the grain. Tip from cooking school: A sharp serrated knife works well for slicing meat very thin. Chop the onions and pineapple.
Warm the corn tortillas. Place slices of pork on the tortillas and sprinkle on pieces of the grilled pineapple and onions. Add some chopped cilantro and serve with lime wedges. Some chopped avocado would work well here.

Video

Notes

Tips for Success:

Seek out a boneless pork shoulder roast. If bone-in is the only cut you can find, ask your butcher to slice the roast into pork steaks. Over the past few years, packaged pork steaks have been available in the meat department.

Dried guajillo peppers are readily found on the Mexican aisle of your grocery store. You'll find them in clear plastic packages along side Mexican spice packets.

Nutrition