The Mission District of San Francisco is known for its famed al pastor pork preparation. It’s a roast pork with marinade. They make the best tacos and burritos ever. The flavors that inspired this.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 9 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 16 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 dried guajillo chilies, seeds discarded
- 2 dried pasilla chiles, seeds discarded
- 1 cup boiling water, or as needed to cover
- 2 pork tenderloins, membranes (silver skin) removed
- ¾ cup pineapple juice
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground dried chipotle pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste (Optional)
- 1 pinch ground cumin, or to taste
- 1 pinch dried oregano, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, or as needed
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 16 (6 inch) corn tortillas
- 16 slices Monterey Jack cheese, divided
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 2 cups shredded cabbage, divided
- ½ cup roasted tomato salsa, divided
- 1 large jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced – or to taste
Instructions
- Place dried guajillo and pasilla chiles into a bowl and pour in boiling water to cover. Let chiles stand 30 minutes to soften.
- Cut pork tenderloins in half crosswise and in half again lengthwise again to make 8 long strips.
- Drain water from chiles and pour in pineapple juice and vinegar. Add garlic cloves, chipotle pepper, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, cumin, and oregano. Transfer chile mixture to a blender and blend to make a smooth marinade.
- Place pork into a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade over pork; knead bag several times to coat pork. Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag. Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat outdoor grill (preferably charcoal) for high heat and lightly oil the grate.
- Remove pork from bag and drain and discard marinade; transfer pork to a platter. Drizzle meat with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and season with salt. Use tongs to gently stir pork pieces to coat lightly with oil.
- Cook pork strips on preheated grill until meat shows good grill marks and is lightly pink in the center, 7 to 8 minutes per side. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the center of the largest piece should read at least 145 degrees F (65 degrees C). Transfer pork to a fresh platter.
- Drizzle a nonstick skillet with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil and place over medium heat. Lay a tortilla into the hot oil and place 1 slice of Monterey Jack cheese into center of the tortilla. Cook until tortilla is hot, lightly browned on the bottom, and cheese has melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining tortillas and cheese slices. Transfer each tortilla to a plate.
- Slice pork strips across the grain into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. Divide shredded cabbage onto each tortilla and top each with about 6 slices of pork, 1 tablespoon roasted tomato salsa, and a few slices of jalapeno pepper. Fold taco over fillings to eat.
- If you can’t get the dried chile peppers, you can use dried ground chiles. Just be sure to use one with a name, such as ancho, instead of using generic chili powder.
- Stop putting shredded lettuce on tacos. Use shredded cabbage. It’s so much better for you, crunchier, and just as easy and cheap.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 256 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 57 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 19 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 310 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Use mango salsa; cabbage salad bag with hint of cilantro dressing
This is my go-to recipe now. I adjust the chiles to my taste but use guajillos as the base. mulato, NM red, and ancho are options. I skip the cayenne and add 1 chipolte in adobo. I grow mexican oregano and have plenty of it dried so that’s my herbal component. Just a tsp or so of light brown sugar rounds it out. Not much to avoid burning.
This was delicious. My husband loved it too and we’re having leftovers tonight. I had to leave out cayenne for health reasons but that was the only change I made.
Great recipe, very easy to make and has a lot of flavor!
I was suprised how flavorless this was. Personally, I think it was in the method, not the ingredients. If I ever make this in the future, I’d use mush smaller pieces and saute vice using the grill.
Didn’t make any changes and it came out perfect. It is now one of my go to favorites!
I have never, to date, disliked anything Chef John puts out. This is the exception. I used New Mexico Hatch Chili Peppers, marinated this for two days, but the pork was entirely too tough. The flavor was sadly lacking, I needed to add so many spices and flavors to make it edible that I may as well not have marinated it at all. Sorry, Chef John, but you’re still my hero!
Delicious marinade and as always, a great video! Thanks chef!
These were excellent! I couldn’t find the appropriate peppers so I did two fresh jalapeños. I took a bit of the marinade out before mixing with the raw pork and heat until bubbling to mix with the pork after cooked. My bbq isn’t out yet so I did them in the oven on broil, turning once. #AllRecipesAllstarsCanada #TacoLove
Turned out good…Family liked the different taste…for myself, I wanted more spice…next time I will spice it up more.
Made it per receipe for company and we all loved it!!! Used cabbage and the extra crunch was great!!! Flavors are wonderful, worth tracking down the chilies for the marinade!!!
Tacos al pastor is one of my favorites so I used this pretty much just for the meat part of the recipe. I setup toppings for the tacos and we topped them to our own tastes. The pork was really delicious and very tender (I marinated it overnight). Even my two year old loved it; she does like things a little spicer than average though. I will absolutely make these again and I’m looking forward to the leftovers!
Fantastic. Company-worthy!
Didn’t have chile peppers, so used some fresh jalapenos, and cooked it in a cast iron skillet on the stove with some chunks of pineapple. Great recipe!
Wow! These turned out very tender and delicious! It’s very close to what my daughter had a few weeks ago at our new favorite Mexican joint. This will definitely be in with our taco collection. The only ingredient that I couldn’t fully use was the cinnamon! I only used half of it. I also used a thin cut pork chop (with a little fat) so that way I don’t have to do any cutting before throwing it in the marinade. Slice or roughly dice it after grilling.