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Tacos Al Pastor

Bought a standing spit and a 7lb. pork shoulder that I had frozen for about a week before letting it thaw for two days, which was just enough to carve it into 1/4” thick slices. I wanted to do an authentic al pastor marinade, but couldn’t find guajillo chili powder. Instead, I bought dried guajillo chili peppers, removed their seeds & stems and lightly toasted them in a cast iron pan before drying them further in the oven on very low heat. Once they were brittle enough to crack into smaller pieces, I used the mortar and pestle to grind them into a finer powder. I combined the chili powder w/ salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin, achiote paste, dried oregano, white vinegar and pineapple juice to make an overnight marinade that the sliced pork went into. Around noon the next day I fired up the egg to a dome temp. of 325*F (indirect) and stacked the marinated, sliced pork on the standing skewer between two pieces of fresh pineapple. After an hour on the grate, I stuck my probe in. It took about an hour and a half more to reach 138*F or so internal, so I pulled it and let it rest on the counter inside for ten minutes before slicing. Served on tortillas w/ chopped white onion, cilantro, avocado & hot sauce! 
Brooklyn, NYC - medium BGE

Comments

  • Sorry for the out of order / incorrectly oriented photos! I’m posting from my phone since I don’t have my laptop currently.
    Brooklyn, NYC - medium BGE
  • Cornholio
    Cornholio Posts: 1,048
    This is this is one of my favorite tacos at local taquerias here in So Cal. Nice job, yours look great. 
  • My only attempt at this didn’t turn out well. The meat was mushy. I assumed because of the overnight marinade with so much citrus in the marinade. Haven’t felt the urge to try again but yours looks great. 
  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 10,082
    Dude.   Great cook.  I have to say that I'm surprised that you only cooked to 138.  I thought this got cooked to a higher temp - maybe even liked a pulled pork temp of 190 or so.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,294
    That looks and sounds amazing!
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 34,102
    Quite the undertaking right there.  Way to pull it all together and deliver the goods.  Great cook across the board.  Congrats.  
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.