Entry tags:
what I made in class
Tacos al Pastor
Ingredients:
10 chilies pasilla
10 chilies guajillo
1/2 garlic bulb
1/4 liter white vinegar
5 cloves
salt
fresh whole pineapple
2 lbs thinly sliced raw pork (pork shoulder)
1 onion
fresh cilantro
2 limes
achiote paste
Method:
Cut the pork meat in thin slices in necessary (I had to break down a whole pork shoulder--fun times).
Take the seeds out of the chilies, cut them in little pieces and mash them together with the garlic, cloves, and cumin. Avoid touching the chilies and vinegar with your bare hands if possible. The vinegar and chilies can "cook" your hands. A food processor would help here.
Boil the ingredients from the above step in the vinegar until it makes a sort of heavy paste. To make sure it won't burn, stir it often. Once fully cooked let the mixture cool down.
Apply the paste to the meat putting one steak on top of the other. At a real taquerias they would form a pile that eventually goes into the rotisserie. Since we do not have a rotisserie, place the marinated pork on a sheet pan, and cover that with a wire rack.
Now peel and slice the pineapple. Place the pineapple slices on the wire rack. Put the whole thing in a preheated 350 F oven for thirty minutes. Next dice the onion and chop the cilantro for toppings/garnish. You can dice the pineapple afterwards and also use it to garnish.
10 chilies pasilla
10 chilies guajillo
1/2 garlic bulb
1/4 liter white vinegar
5 cloves
salt
fresh whole pineapple
2 lbs thinly sliced raw pork (pork shoulder)
1 onion
fresh cilantro
2 limes
achiote paste
Method:
Cut the pork meat in thin slices in necessary (I had to break down a whole pork shoulder--fun times).
Take the seeds out of the chilies, cut them in little pieces and mash them together with the garlic, cloves, and cumin. Avoid touching the chilies and vinegar with your bare hands if possible. The vinegar and chilies can "cook" your hands. A food processor would help here.
Boil the ingredients from the above step in the vinegar until it makes a sort of heavy paste. To make sure it won't burn, stir it often. Once fully cooked let the mixture cool down.
Apply the paste to the meat putting one steak on top of the other. At a real taquerias they would form a pile that eventually goes into the rotisserie. Since we do not have a rotisserie, place the marinated pork on a sheet pan, and cover that with a wire rack.
Now peel and slice the pineapple. Place the pineapple slices on the wire rack. Put the whole thing in a preheated 350 F oven for thirty minutes. Next dice the onion and chop the cilantro for toppings/garnish. You can dice the pineapple afterwards and also use it to garnish.
* * *
We also used some sliced mangoes. It was unutterably, sinfully delicious. I cannot even begin to imagine what they would tast like if they were made totally authentic. The chef said it's hard to find recipes for tacos al pastor because the taquerias keep their recipes secret, and he had to search long and hard for this one.
I was feeling artsy.
The guy who made this with me shares my insanely high tolerance for spicy food, and after we made the paste and tasted it, we looked at each other and said, it needs more heat, so we surreptitiously grabbed some extra chilies and tossed them in. When the chef came by and tasted it, he had this really great poker face, so we couldn't tell if he liked it or not. He just said, "you might want to use only half of that. It's really hot." Which of course was the point! We did have some left over, but it wasn't for lack of trying to get every smidge of flavor we possibly could on that pig.
See, when I said International Cuisine was the best class ever, this is why I said it. Because the chef goes out of his way to find really authentic recipes, or as close as he can find. He said that the textbook the college gave him to use had a recipe for nachos con queso in the chapter on Mexico. It was written sometime in the early eighties, I think, but still. I am so glad I have a chef instructor who realizes that none of us are paying thousands of dollars of tuition to make nachos con queso.
See, when I said International Cuisine was the best class ever, this is why I said it. Because the chef goes out of his way to find really authentic recipes, or as close as he can find. He said that the textbook the college gave him to use had a recipe for nachos con queso in the chapter on Mexico. It was written sometime in the early eighties, I think, but still. I am so glad I have a chef instructor who realizes that none of us are paying thousands of dollars of tuition to make nachos con queso.