Tacos al pastor

los tacos al pastor

Pork on a spinning spit, a slice of pineapple caught on the tortilla, and a taquero's questions you need to be ready for. A midnight dish with a Lebanese grandfather.

In this topic

Told from a Mexico City taquería, where the pork-and-pineapple version was made. The ordering ritual it shows is the capital's; the dish is eaten far beyond it.

How to order

¿Qué van a querer? The taquero asks The usual question, with ustedes: what are you going to want?
Tres de pastor, con todo Say how many and how "Con todo" means with everything: onion, coriander, pineapple and salsa. Or spell it out: sin cebolla, con piña.
¿Salsa verde o roja? Choose the salsa Green is made with tomatillo, red with dried chillies; both can be hot. "Pica mucho" means it is spicy, not that it is warm.
Dame dos más Ask for more Tacos come a few at a time; you order again as you go.
¿Cuánto le debemos? Pay at the end How much do we owe you? "Le" is for usted. The taquero may offer a refresco, a soft drink.

A good taquero cuts the meat from the spit and catches it, and the pineapple, on the tortilla without looking.

Tres de pastor, con todo.

Three al pastor, with everything.

Sí. Se corta con el cuchillo y cae directo a la tortilla.

Yes. It's cut with the knife and falls straight onto the tortilla.

From shawarma to the trompo

The name means shepherd-style, but the meat is pork. As the taquero in the piece tells it, Lebanese immigrants brought the idea of meat roasted on a vertical spit about a hundred years ago, and made it with lamb. In the capital it was changed: pork marinated with chilli and achiote, and a pineapple on top of the spit.

The vertical roaster is called el trompo, the spinning top, because the meat turns as it cooks.

"Al pastor" means shepherd-style; the meat is pork, not lamb.
The dish descends from the lamb spit that Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico about a hundred years ago; in Mexico City it became pork with chilli and achiote, with pineapple on top.
The vertical spit is called el trompo, the spinning top.

Lo trajeron los libaneses, hace cien años. Ellos lo hacían con cordero.

The Lebanese brought it, a hundred years ago. They made it with lamb.

En la capital lo cambiaron: cerdo con chile y achiote, y piña arriba.

Here in the capital they changed it: pork with chilli and achiote, and pineapple on top.

What a tortilla is here

In Mexico a tortilla is a thin corn flatbread; in Spain the same word is a potato omelette. Corn, beans and chilli are the foundation of the cuisine that UNESCO listed in 2010, and the maize is treated with lime, nixtamalization, before it is ground.

In Mexico a tortilla is a thin corn flatbread; in Spain a tortilla is a potato omelette.
Corn, beans and chilli are the foundation of traditional Mexican cuisine; maize is lime-hulled (nixtamalized), which increases its nutritional value.
UNESCO inscribed "Traditional Mexican cuisine - ancestral, ongoing community culture, the Michoacán paradigm" on its Representative List in 2010.

Gracias, señora. ¿Dónde hay tortillas?

Thank you, madam. Where can I find tortillas?

Words at the taquería

la taquería: the taco place
el taquero: the person making the tacos
el trompo: the vertical spit
con todo: with everything (onion, coriander, pineapple, salsa)
picar: to be spicy hot
el refresco: the soft drink

Verde, pero poquita. Pica mucho.

Green, but just a little. It's very hot.

¿Cuánto le debemos?

How much do we owe you?

Words to know

los tacos al pastor: shepherd-style tacos: spit-roasted pork
la taquería: the taco place
el trompo: the vertical spit
con todo: with everything
la piña: the pineapple
la salsa verde: green salsa, made with tomatillo
picar: to be spicy hot
el achiote: achiote, the red seed that colours the meat

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