What is Al Pastor Beef? An In-Depth Look at This Delicious Mexican Specialty

Marination Revelations: Creating a Marinade that Brings Flavor and Texture

The flavor base for al pastor is pretty well defined. The marinade is essentially an adobo—a sauce made with chiles, garlic, and vinegar, along with whatever other aromatics youd like.

Using fresh dried chiles is essential. They should be pliable and flexible. If your chiles are crackly, crumbly, or dry, its because theyre old and most likely, all their flavor has dissipated along with their moisture. Do yourself a solid, throw out those old chiles, and get some new ones. I found that a combination of rich and raisin-y ancho chiles along with bright guajillo chiles was a great complement to the pork. I toast them in a dry saucepan before soaking them in chicken broth.

Achiote is a mildly earthy, ever-so-slightly bitter spice with a distinctive bright red color. It comes in paste, pellet, and powdered forms. I personally find the powder easiest to store and work with, though any form will do.

To get the most flavor out of it, toasting in oil is essential. For my marinade, I toast the achiote powder along with some powdered cumin and Mexican oregano.

If you are a regular reader of this column, youd know that marinades are largely a surface treatment. That is, they dont penetrate particularly far into a piece of meat; its on the order of a millimeter or two per day, and it gets considerably slower the deeper into the meat it gets. Point is, in most applications, theres not much reason to marinate beyond a few hours.

But there are exceptions to this rule, and they mostly involve salt.

Salt is special. See, rather than simply flavoring meat by working itself in between muscle fibers, it actually alters the structure of meat, primarily by causing certain parts of the protein myosin to become dissolvable in water.

What does this accomplish? Well, by dissolving myosin, muscle structure is greatly loosened, allowing it to retain more moisture (this is the principle behind brining), and more importantly in this case, it allows proteins between muscle groups to cross-link, causing them to stick to each other.

This is why, for instance, sausages get a nice bouncy, snappy texture, and why if you remove the salt from one, it becomes crumbly and dry (see here for some deeper scientific info on the process of salting meat.

This is all well and good, but why is it important to tacos al pastor?

The thing is, in a well made trompo of meat, as the carver slices meat off of it, it should come away in coherent slices, not crumbles, and it should have an almost cured, bacon-like texture—moist, juicy, and crisp as opposed to crumbly or chalky—two sure signs that there is some salting action going on. To get to this stage, you need about 1 to 2% salt per unit weight of meat, and at least a few hours of marination time.

With a good flavorful marinade, you could just grill the meat and call it a day—many respectable and delicious recipes do just that—but thats not what Im after here. What I want is the real deal. Cured texture, crispy bits, shaved slices and all.

This requires a bit of tinkering.

Homemade Tacos Al Pastor Recipe

For the Pork:

• 2 whole ancho chiles, seeds and stems removed
• 2 whole pasilla or guajillo chiles, seeds and stems removed
• 1/2 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried ground cumin seed
• 1 tablespoon achiote powder or paste
• 1 chipotle chile packed in adobo sauce, plus 2 teaspoons sauce from can
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 pounds boneless blade-end loin or sirloin pork roast
• 8 ounces (1/2 pound) sliced bacon

To Finish and Serve:

• 1 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into quarters lengthwise
• 32 to 48 corn tortillas, heated and kept warm
• 1 medium white onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup finely minced fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
• 1 cup basic salsa verde or your favorite salsa
• 3 to 4 limes, cut into 8 wedges each

• Place chiles in a large saucepan over medium high heat and cook, turning chiles occasionally, until puffed, pliable, lightly browned in spots, and very aromatic, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock (it should boil immediately), then pour contents of pan into a small bowl. Cover loosely and set aside. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• Wipe out saucepan, add oil, and return to medium-high heat until oil is shimmering. Add cumin, oregano, and achiote and cook, stirring frequently, until aromatic but not browned, about 30 seconds. Add chipotle chile and sauce and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds longer. Add vinegar, salt, and sugar and remove from heat. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• Scrape contents of saucepan into a blender along with garlic and chiles with their soaking liquid. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides as necessary. Set sauce aside to cool slightly. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• Using a very sharp chefs knife or slicing knife, slice pork sirloin as thin as possible. If necessary, place meat in freezer for 15 minutes to firm it up. Split the sides of a heavy duty zipper-lock bag. Place one slice of meat inside bag and pound with the bottom of a heavy 8-inch skillet or a meat pounder until less than 1/4-inch thick. Transfer to a large bowl. Repeat with remaining meat. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• Add marinade to bowl and toss with hands until every piece of meat is evenly coated in marinade. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• Line the bottom of a disposable aluminum loaf pan with a layer of bacon. Add a layer of thin-sliced marinated meat. Continue layering in bacon and meat until all the meat is used. (It may pile above the pan a little bit. This is ok.) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 36. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• To cook indoors: Preheat the oven to 275°F. Uncover aluminum loaf pan and place on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven and cook until meat is completely tender (It will drip lots of fat), about 4 hours. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, cover with aluminum foil, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• To cook outdoors: Light half a chimney of charcoal and allow to preheat until coals are mostly covered in gray ash. Spread out under one half of coal grate, and place cooking grate on top. Alternatively, set one set of burners on a gas grill to low and leave the remaining burners off. Unwrap aluminum loaf pan and place directly over cooler side of grill, placing a drip pan underneath if desired. Cover grill and cook until loaf registers 180 to 190°F in the center, about 4 hours, adding more coals to grill or adjusting burners as necessary to maintain an air temperature of around 275°F for the duration of cooking. Remove from grill, allow to cool slightly, cover with aluminum foil, and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• To Serve: Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove cooked meat from aluminum tray, scraping off any fat or jellied juices from its sides. Use a spoon to collect fat and juices from tray, reserving each separately. Using a sharp chefs knife or slicing knife, slice meat as thinly as possible to create fine shavings of meat and fat. Transfer to a bowl. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• If fat from meat is solid, heat gently in the microwave or in the oven until melted. Transfer pineapple pieces to a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Brush with fat. Transfer to oven and roast until completely tender, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• About 10 minutes before pineapple is done roasting, transfer meat and 1 tablespoon of fat to a large cast iron or non-stick skillet. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until meat crisps and deeply browns in spots. Add any reserved juices and toss to combine, allowing it to cook until reduced to a moist glaze. Transfer meat to a warmed serving bowl. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom
• Chop roasted pineapple into large chunks. Serve meat and pineapple immediately with warmed tortillas, onion, cilantro, salsa, and lime wedges. Meat will be very moist and should be packed into double-stacked tortillas for serving. Serious Eats / Melissa Hom

How Tacos Al Pastor Is Made • Tasty

FAQ

What is al pastor meat made of?

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Is al pastor the same as carne asada?

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Can al pastor be beef?

• Traditional Al Pastor:

  Al pastor is a Mexican dish, typically featuring pork (often marinated pork shoulder) cooked on a vertical rotisserie (trompo). 

• Beef Variations:

  While the traditional method uses pork, it’s possible to adapt al pastor to beef. This involves using a suitable cut of beef (like flank steak or chuck roast) and adjusting the marinade and cooking time accordingly. 

• Marinade:

  The marinade for al pastor, often using guajillo chiles, achiote paste, citrus juices, and spices, can be adapted to complement the flavor of beef. 

• Cooking:

  The vertical rotisserie method, while ideal, can be replicated on a grill using skewers. Alternatively, you can grill the beef directly on a grill or even bake it. 

• Serving:

  Beef al pastor can be served with traditional al pastor toppings like pineapple, onions, and cilantro, according to Allrecipes. 

Why is al pastor meat red?

The red color primarily comes from a seasoning called achiote, also known as annatto, which in small amounts doesn’t have a lot of flavor, but can be bitter and peppery in larger amounts.

What is Al Pastor meat?

Al Pastor is a traditional Mexican dish made with seasoned and marinated pork. Many people might see it on the menu but refuse to order it out of fear of the unknown. Thankfully we’re here to explain to you exactly what it is and why you should try it asap!

What is al pastor?

Al Pastor is a traditional Mexican dish made with seasoned and marinated pork. The name translates to ‘Shephard Style,’ which is derived from the origin of the cooking method. Although al pastor is a Mexican meat, the style of cooking is an original of the Lebanese.

What is al pastor taco meat?

What is al pastor? Despite its ubiquity as a taco meat, al pastor is actually a relatively recent creation. Al pastor tacos involve meat, almost always pork, that is cooked on a spit and sliced as it chars.

What is al pastor in Mexican food?

Al pastor is a specific style of marinated and roasted meat that holds a special place in Mexican gastronomy. It has a rich history and an unmistakable taste, making it a beloved culinary tradition.

What is al pastor birria & carne asada?

Al pastor, birria, carne asada — they all refer to different ways to prepare meat. Al pastor, a method largely associated with the visual of shaving meat as it rotates around a heat source, is a method of roasting pork that Mexicans borrowed from Lebanon after Lebanese immigrants settled in the North American country more than 100 years ago.

What is al pastor pork?

“Al pastor” literally translates to “in the style of the shepherd” in Spanish. To make authentic al pastor, pork is marinated in a dried chile paste made from guajillo and pasilla chiles. Chipotle, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, vinegar, pineapple juice, and other seasonings are also added to the marinade.