Tacos al pastor

 

Al pastor tacos means "shepherd style" and it's a common menu item in Mexican taquerias. This method of vertically grilled meat was brought to Mexico in the late 19th century by a wave of Lebanese immigrants. In the 1920s in the state of Puebla, lamb meat was replaced by pork and the second generation Lebanese immigrants began opening restaurants. Now they are ubiquitous.

In the blink of an eye, an outer layer of cooked meat is thinly sliced off the spit with a large knife into small corn tortillas and topped with cilantro, onion and pineapple. Delicious to eat and fascinating to watch.

Being a paranoid person when it comes to street food preparation, I wonder how long it takes for the inside of that raw stack of meat to finally heat and cook? Well, leave it to the experts. Since they've been making shawarma since the beginning of the Ottoman Empire, they must have the method down. 

 

Last night I made a gringo version of tacos al pastor with leftover roast pork crisped up in a frying pan with spices. It turned into more of fajita thing with all the grilled vegetables, but my goodness that was good with homemade re-fried beans. We both ate several.

Another winter weekend rolls around-- have a good one.