Al Pastor Taco--what is it? [Split from MSP Al Pastor Taco Thread]

[karykat]

Just a question for my own food education: What the heck is an al pastor taco? And what makes one good?

[Echotraveler]

HMM....some years ago an old mexican waiter sold me the best taco i ever had, it was al pastor..but it didn't seem like it was roasted in a stick, it was juicy it may have had lemon a lots of cilantro, ive never eaten a better taco since....so tasty =-(

then i wen to another rest. and the Al Pastor were so different, crappy in my opinion it was like bbq tasting gyro....sort of chinese....
didn't like it..

thanx for the info on the topic

[ESNY]

A stack of pork cooked on a vertical spit, similar to how you see gyros being cooked. Right before they are shaved off, the outside is charred by a huge flame and gets nice and caramelized. THen they carve nice small chunks off of the spit and usually a slice or two of the pineapple which is cooked ontop of the spit.

[Eat_Nopal]

Because a picture is worth a thousand words... and a taste is worth a thousand pictures:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/restaurants/071108/tacoalpastor.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Tacos-al-Pastor.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1415/1...

[danhole]

Now you have made me very, very hungry, EN!

[danhole]

Tacos al pastor are very good, best eaten on a corn tortilla, or a Torta with pastor meat. What makes them good is the marinade. The have a bit of an orange color to them, and aren't spicy, but nicely seasoned.

Here is a mexican food glossary to look at:

http://lomexicano.com/mexicanfoodreci...

Go to the Antijito section to see more about tacos al pastor. Here in Houston they have outlawed the vertical spit, but they are just as good grilled.

[babaoriley7]

out of curiosity why did they outlaw the vertical spit?

[danhole]

Here is a link to the article about that. Has to do with cooking the meat raw in the vertical roaster. It can't reach the internal temperature the Health dept. wants . . . yeah, right!

http://www.houstonpress.com/2006-09-2...

[Dax]

al pastor is a preparation of meat, typically pork. The al pastor meat may be served in a taco (ie two corn tortillas, the meat, chopped onions, cilantro, a lime to squeeze and sometimes types of salsa/picante (I prefer a spicy salsa verde) or on a torta (a sandwich with various fillings), etc.

Al pastor pork is typically prepared with pineapple, the way I understand it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_pastor

[babaoriley7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_pastor