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Reverse-engineered

Authentic Tacos al Pastor

★★★★★★★★★3.52 h · 48 min hands-on

This is a tribute to the street food of Mexico City, capturing that signature smoky-sweet profile with tender marinated pork and charred pineapple.

Total
2 h
Hands-on
48 min
Serves
4 servings
Verified cooks
0
real kitchens, finished plates
Trust
B63

mostly unattended — the clock does the work

Reverse-engineered from Masa y Fuego Taquería · Mexico City

Decode confidence90%
ingredients
85%
proportions
92%
technique
90%
AI analysispublished source2 kitchen iterations

Ingredients

for 4 servings

  • 1 kgpork shoulder — cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 2 tbspachiote paste
  • 3chipotle peppers in adobo — chopped
  • 0.5 cuporange juice
  • 0.25 cupapple cider vinegar
  • 4 clovesgarlic — smashed and minced
  • 1 tspcumin
  • 1 tspdried oregano
  • 1 tspground cinnamon
  • 1pineapple — sliced into wedges
  • 1 bunchfresh cilantro — chopped
  • 1white onion — finely diced
  • 12corn tortillas
  • 1lime — cut into wedges

Equipment

checked against your kitchen

  • ✓stovetop

What cooks learned

Only 3 cooks have logged this one in Cook Mode so far — not enough to say anything about where it goes wrong.

Method

  1. 1

    In a large bowl, whisk together the achiote paste, chopped chipotles, orange juice, vinegar, minced garlic, cumin, oregano, and cinnamon to create the marinade.

    5 min

    → marinade

  2. 2

    Add the cubed pork shoulder to the marinade and toss to coat thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 24 hours).

    1 h · 5 min attention
  3. 3parallel track

    In a small bowl, toss the chopped cilantro and diced onion with lime juice to create a fresh salsa garnish.

    10 min

    → garnish

  4. 4

    waits for: step 2

    Preheat oven to 200C. Spread the marinated pork onto a parchment-lined tray or heavy skillet and roast until the meat is tender and edges are slightly crispy.

    45 min · 10 min attention200°C internal
    ⏱ meat pulls away easily from the fork · 45 min

    Done when: meat pulls away easily from the fork

  5. 5

    waits for: step 3

    While meat roasts, sear the pineapple wedges in a hot skillet with a drizzle of oil until deeply charred and caramelized.

    8 min

    Done when: distinct grill marks appear on the fruit

  6. 6

    waits for: steps 4 and 5

    Shred the roasted pork, warm the tortillas over an open flame, and assemble tacos with the meat, charred pineapple, and garnish.

    10 min

    Done when: perfectly assembled tacos

Why this grade?
  • reverse-engineered provenance+40
  • decode confidence 90%+22.5
  • Trust score63/100
mexicanmainporkspicyauthentic