January 9, 2025

What is Al Pastor

If you see “Al Pastor” on a menu, it’s a dish characterized by marinated pork cooked vertically. You could say it’s “outstanding!” All puns aside, the rotisserie action of the spit gives this Mexican pork recipe a unique and well-rounded flavor.

Al Pastor means “shepherd style.” You get that south-of-the-border experience thanks to adobada, fresh chilis, garlic, oregano, and cumin in the marinade.

As the meat cooks on the vertical rotisserie (trompo), the chef slices off cooked portions, often serving them on tortillas or pita with a hardy portion of salsa and garlic mayonnaise. In Mexico, it’s a very popular street food that passionate grillers in the United States have adopted.

Type of meat?

Boneless pork shoulder is a traditional cut. It’s rich in flavor, and the connective tissue creates an incredibly tender bite. In order to reach this result, you must slice the meat very thinly, then pound it to ¼” thick. After that, the pork gets a bath in marinade.

What, no Rotisserie?

It’s likely that many homes don’t have a handy vertical rotisserie. You can still get the flavor of Al Pastor in your oven by layering bacon with layers of marinated meat. Repeat until you’ve filled your baking dish. Refrigerate this for 24 hours so the flavors marry. Cook this in a 275-degree oven for 4 hours.

Cool and refrigerate overnight. When you’re ready to serve, warm the meat at 350F, spooning off the fat.

PitMaster’s Memo

The kissing cousin to Al Pastor is Shawarma, brought to Mexico with Lebanese immigrants in the 19th century. Around the 1920s, pork replaced lamb in the dish. The children of those Lebanese immigrants started making their versions of Shawarma with a Mexican twist.

Of course, many people had their personal “secret” spice combinations. Some used vinegar, cloves, bay and/or coriander, for example. Others include canned pineapple to mimic the pineapple piece atop the vertical rotisserie.