Wake up and smell the tacos

Taco Tuesday, of course, calls for tacos, right, well I went a step further and made something new to my cooking repertoire and what a fabulous dinner we had.  Rick Bayless’ tacos El Pastor calls for achiote paste and what luck that I had a package stashed in the pantry and now I need to order more since the recipe called for the whole package.  Goodness abounds in the pork, but fair warning depending on how many chiles you add it can be rather spicy.

At least an hour of marinating time is called for, but I allowed for an overnight marinating time for the pork (about 1+1/2 pounds).  I did remove some of the marinade from the slices before grilling, I thought there was too much and didn’t want to steam the meat,  just use paper towels…maybe it would have been okay leaving so much slathered on the meat, but as it was I did see a lot of smoke while Mike was grilling, BTW, the meat was perfectly grilled.

One of the butchers at the store kindly sliced the meat for me, 1/4″ slices, but I could have used a slicer after the meat was chilled in the freezer for a bit so prep your marinade and coat the meat slices and marinate for at least an hour, but I think a longer period of time is better, refrigerate and remove meat from the refrigerator at least an hour before grilling time.  Set grill to high heat and oil your grill grates, I go for a second coat of oil just before tossing the meat on the grill, grill for a few minutes to get a good char and flip to finish the other side, I love a good char,.  Remove meat to a cutting board and chop.

Of course, before grilling the meat you can prepare a pineapple salsa or follow Rick’s grilling instructions below for the pineapple and red onion slices.  Serve the pork with warm corn tortillas, salsa and any other garnishes that you like for tacos.  Link below for Rick’s Frontera recipe…

El Pastore marinade

Achiote paste-3 1/2ounce package 

3 canned chipotle chile en adobo, plus 4 tablespoons of the canning sauce

1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil, plus a little more for the onion and pineapple

1 1/2 pounds thin-sliced pork shoulder (1/4-inch-thick slices are ideal—the kind Mexican butchers sell for making tacos al pastor)

Rose’s Pineapple Salsa
4 slices of fresh cored pineapple, diced
2-3 Roma tomatoes, small dice
1 small poblano or other green pepper, small dice
1/2 red onion small dice
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons EVOO
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
salt and pepper
a sprinkle of cayenne or pinches of red pepper flakes
6-7 tablespoons cilantro chopped more or less if you like

Blend and chill salsa for a couple of hours before serving.

https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/grilled-pork-tacos-pastor-style/