What are pineapple chunks doing in my al pastor taco?

[Caralien]

I've been eating tacos all my life, in Chicago, Mexico, and California. Until moving to the east coast, I've enjoyed tacos al pastor across the country; but here (NY and NJ), the al pastor is served with chunks of pineapple or crushed pineapple. I asked friends, and they too thought that the crushed pineapples were odd in tacos.

We thought it might be a northern east coast phenomenon, but the moment I googled "why are there pineapple chunks on my al pastor?", I found links specifying that al pastor is SUPPOSED to have pineapple chunks; what do shepherds have to do with pineapples? Apparently nothing, as it is theorized that al pastor is a Mexican version of Lebanese kebabs/gyros, circa 1930.

I am not a fan of sweet/sour, but will make a quick marinade for pork in pineapple juice. I do not like the texture of cooked pineapple, although I've tried. I understand that a lot of people like slices of pineapple on their burgers or ham, or tacos as it appears, but cooked pineapple reminds me of "exotic" foods of the 70's which used pineapple as the basis for sweet and sour whatever, and to me it seemed that cooking this great fruit ruined the fruit, as well as its texture, and made for an unpleasant mouthfeel.

I'm not comfortable with the idea that the 1000s of places I've been to around the US and Mexico are simply wrong or they too decided that crushed/sliced pineapple on the taco is not very good and decided to remove it from the presentation. It could also be the reason I think that most Mexican food in this part of the country is terrible.

[Cheese Boy]

Quite honestly, I can always count on the pineapple being moist even if the meat on the spit is way too dry. That pineapple "crown" sitting on top of a vertical spit is my favorite ingredient going into my taco sometimes. Love it. Canned OR crushed pineapple shouldn't make its way anywhere near a taco, period. Run away from those places quickly.

[chefj]

Agreed If the meat is not spit roasted it is not really Pastore.

[Jen76]

The al pastor has pineapple with it here in Phoenix at the local Ranch Market. It's my favorite.

[gordeaux]

>>I've been eating tacos all my life, in Chicago, <<

There are several joints in Chicago (usually the better pastor joints) that top their pastor spit with pina. The juices drip down, and add a little sweetness and also allow for caramelization of the meat when the flame of the machine hits it. Your tacos will be served with bits of it also.

[Eldon Kreider]

My experience in Chicago agrees with gordeaux's although some use a very large onion to top the spit. Usually the amount of pineapple bits is pretty small. Once and only once at Taqueria Amigo Chino over an eighth of the taco filling was pineapple. They must have been at the end of the spit with pineapple left over.

[paulj]

Maybe you could order 'sin pina' or 'mas pina, por favor'.

[Caralien]

I think that pineapple that has been grilled with the meat would be fine, just not a fresh can of crushed pineapple added to my taco; all of the places I've unhappily noticed this were those who had ungrilled pineapple chunks. My guess is that I never noticed it in the past because the flavour and texture was part in parcel to the pastor, not an afterthought.

[DiningDiva]

Caralien, I think your right. I've not seen a "fresh can of crushed pineapple" added to any tacos al pastor in Mexico, nor in SoCalifornia, my neck of the world. What I'm most familiar with is what Eldon Kreider describes up-thread...an al pastor taco with small bits of pineapple and in small amounts.

To add a can of crushed pineapple to perfectly good al pastor just seems wrong.

[Cachetes]

I have to agree with chefj. In Mexico City, the pineapple is pretty common. And as he says, it's not crushed, but rather stuck on the top of the spit. It's warm, but still pretty firm when they take their knife to it and let it fly down onto the plate.

[Caralien]

I'm not questioning that there's pineapple used during roasting, simply that I've never been served pineapple pieces with tacos until this year. Maybe every place I went to didn't serve the pineapple from the top of the spit, or the marinade used a pureed pineapple. Then again, most of the people i know in Mexico City wouldn't emigrate north, so maybe those who did move north brought over a different version which I became accustomed to?

[Cachetes]

If I knew more about regional distinctions in pastor consumption in Mexico and patterns of migration to the U.S., I guess I could hazard a guess. I imagine some of our very smart Mexico-philes on chowhound will soon find this topic and fill us in.

My husband has confirmed that pineapple is in the marinade, and that it's a tradition (in Mexico City at least) that they give you a small slice when they serve it.

[chefj]

It is pretty common in Oaxaca to have a pineapple on the top of the spit that the al pastor is roasting on and to cut off little bits for the taco. I believe Anthony Bordain did a episode on Mexico city (which is al pastor central) where he sought out the "best tacos al pastor" and they had pinapple.

[paulj]

I was reminded of that Bordain episode when I recently bought 'al pastor' meat from a carniceria (Michiocan by name). Instead of the spit roast (gyro style), this meat was small pieces, suitable for a quick stir fry. The marinade was similar to that used for adobada (large thin pieces of meat), but with the generous addition of sliced onion and pineapple.

'al pastor' just means 'shepherd style', but apparently some versions (regional?) are distinguished by this use of pineapple.

The wiki article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_pastor
confirms this middle east connection (Lebanese), and the use of pineapple.

[paulj]

More on the Lebanese influence in Mexican cuisine in this article

http://www.los-dos.com/culinary-exped...