I recently returned from a short excursion to Mexico and have not been able to shake my craving for Mexican style street food. From fish tacos and fajitas to fresh guacamole and more, of all the things I ate during my stay, my favorite was the al pastor tacos. Tender pork marinated in mild chili sauce, complemented by the sweetness of grilled pineapple—al pastor is a well balanced blend of spicy and sweet. Not wanting to wait until my next adventure south to enjoy this Mexican style pork, I decided to do some experimenting in my kitchen. Al pastor is traditionally made with annotto, a sort of bitter tasting seed that is ground up to give the meat an earthy flavor. Having difficulty finding it at my local supermarket and remembering I had a growler full of beer at home, I decided to substitute the annotto with the mildly hoppy bitterness found in Narrows Brewing Company’s Imperial Red Ale. This beer has a lot of flavor without being overly hoppy, making it the perfect addition to this al pastor pork.
Imperial Red Al(e) Pastor Tacos
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
3 pounds pork shoulder, cut into ¼ inch thick slabs (ask your butcher to do this)
1/2 cup pureed pineapple
8 cloves garlic
1/4 cup chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/4 cup of adobo sauce from can
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice
¾ cup Narrows Brewing Company’s Imperial Red Ale
1 large white onion, diced
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 red onion, sliced
1 pineapple, cut into rings
Directions:
Using a food processor or immersion blender, blend pineapple, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, oregano, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, orange juice and beer until a smooth, red sauce forms. Stir in diced white onion and cilantro until well combined. Reserve 1 cup of sauce.
In a large pan that will fit in your fridge, evenly coat the front and back of each slab of pork with sauce, layering each coated slab one on top of the other. After all pork is coated, cover pan with plastic wrap and allow meat to marinate for at least four hours.
Preheat grill to medium heat and grill pineapple for about 10 minutes (5 minutes on each side). To cook the meat, grill on medium heat for about 8 minutes on each side, or until pork is fully cooked.
While pork is grilling, sauté the red onion. You can sauté it straight up, or add chili powder, cumin, coriander (not too much) and a pinch of salt to give the onions more flavor. Sauté until onion is just sweating.
After the pork has cooked, heat up reserved sauce. While sauce is heating, dice meat into small pieces. Once all the pork meat has been chopped, add to pan with sauce to coat and warm. Serve on tortillas with grilled pineapple, sautéed onions and fresh cilantro.
