Al Pastor

Lunch | Mexican

Prep time: 4 min Cook time: 45 min Servings: 8

After visiting some great spots around Sydney and getting their tips, here is my take on cooking Al Pastor at home - pork marinated in smoky, tangy chillies, then cooked on a rotisserie with sweet pineapple until charred and irresistible. Perfect for tacos, even better eaten straight off the skewer.

What is Al Pastor?

Al pastor is a Mexican taco filling built around pork cooked on a vertical rotating spit called a trompo. The technique traces back to Lebanese shawarma, brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants in the early 20th century and adapted to local chillies, spices, and pork.

The marinade is built around dried chillies and achiote paste, which gives the pork its characteristic deep red colour and earthy, mildly smoky flavour. As the trompo turns, the outer layer chars and crisps while the inside stays tender from the fat rendering through the stack.

The Steps

The marinade is cooked first, not just blended raw. Toasting the dried chillies in fat with the aromatics blooms their flavour before the stock goes in to deglaze, and the whole thing gets blended smooth with chipotle, vinegar, and sugar to balance the heat and acidity. The pork is sliced thin so it stacks tightly and cooks evenly on the skewer. The pineapple isn’t just for serving: as it heats on the spit, it caramelises and the juice bastes the outer layer of pork, adding sweetness that cuts through the richness of the fat.

Ingredient Notes

Achiote paste: A dense paste made from annatto seeds, which gives al pastor its signature deep red-orange colour. The flavour is earthy and slightly bitter, and it works alongside the dried chillies to build the base of the marinade. You’ll find it at quality greengrocers, Latin American grocery stores, or online. Don’t substitute with ground annatto powder without adjusting the quantities, as the concentration is very different.

Dried chillies: I use three types here: ancho for depth and mild sweetness, pasilla or guajillo for a fruity, earthy character, and arbol for heat. Together they build a layered flavour that you can’t get from chilli powder alone. Seeding and stemming them before cooking removes the bitterest parts. If you can’t find one of the three, guajillo is the most widely available and can be used in greater quantity to cover for the others.

Pork butt: Also sold as Boston butt or square-cut shoulder. It has enough fat marbling to stay moist on the rotisserie, where leaner cuts would dry out. Ask your butcher to source a whole piece rather than pre-cut. To get the thin, even slices you need for the trompo, partially freeze the pork for 30 to 45 minutes before slicing. It firms up just enough to cut cleanly with a sharp knife.

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Large deep frying pan
Blender
Large bowl (for marinating)
Charcoal grill with rotisserie
Rotisserie skewer with spikes
Vase, wine cooler or deep container (to stand skewer upright)
Small cardboard container (to catch drippings)
Sharp carving knife
Small frying pan (to catch slices as you carve)
Tongs

Ingredients

2 tbsp pork lard or neutral oil (vegetable/peanut/canola oil)
½ small white onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
2 ancho chillies, seeded and stemmed
2 pasilla or guajillo chillies, seeded and stemmed
2 arbol chillies, seeded and stemmed
125ml (½ cup) chicken stock
125ml (½ cup) water
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp achiote paste
1 tbsp chipotle chile in adobo sauce
60ml (¼ cup) apple cider vinegar
2 tsp sea salt
cracked black pepper, to season
2 tsp caster sugar
3kg pork butt, sliced thinly
1 pineapple, peeled
corn tortillas, toasted
finely diced white onion, coriander leaves, salsa verde, salsa roja, to serve

Directions

Prep the marinade
Heat the lard or oil in a large deep frying pan on medium heat. Cook onion and garlic for 4-5 minutes until starting to brown.
Add bay leaves and dried chillies, cook for 1-2 minutes until softened fragrant. Stir in oregano, cumin and achiote paste and cook for a further 30 seconds to toast.
Stir in chicken stock and deglaze pan, stirring until achiote paste dissolves. Remove from the heat, and remove the bay leaves.
Transfer to a blender along with the water, chipotle, vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. Puree until very smooth.
Toss the marinade through the pork in a large bowl until very well coated. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours up to overnight.
Prep the pork
Stand your rotisserie skewer upright and secure it in a vase, wine cooler or umbrella stand with rocks or sand - this is to keep it upright for loading. Thread a small cardboard container onto the skewer to the bottom to catch the drippings.
Halve the pineapple crossways to make 2 rounds, then thread 1 half onto the skewer and secure in place with the spikes.
Start skewering the pork slices, aiming for an even layer all the way around, with the pork being just wider than the pineapple. Continue until all the pork is skewered and you have an even log shape. Make sure you're mixing up the leaner pieces of pork with the fattier pieces.
Thread the other piece of pineapple on top and secure in place with the other spike/prong.
Cook
Preheat a charcoal grill with rotisserie to 200°C (390°F). Pile the coal up on 2 sides of the grill, allowing a gap directly underneath to avoid any flare up during cooking.
Place the skewer in place and begin rotating the meat.
Once the outer layer of pork starts to char (about 45 minutes in), you can begin carving. Keep the rotisserie turning and hold a small frying pan directly under the meat to catch the slices. Use a sharp knife to shave off thin pieces of pork and pineapple from the outside. Work carefully and stay clear of any hot coals.
Finish and serve
Continue to thinly slice off the cooked outer pieces of the pork along with some pineapple as it continues to rotate.
Serve pork in toasted corn tortillas with diced white onion, coriander and salsa verde or salsa roja to drizzle.

Ingredients

Directions

Recipe notes