Pork al Pastor on the grill and then on a tostada

This is not an intimidating recipe. It's fun and super easy. You just need 3.5 hours all of which you can do something else while the meat cooks!  

Marinade: 

2 New Mexico chilis, dried

1 Guajillo chilis, dried

2 TBSP canola oil

3 TBSP achiote paste

1/2 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1 TBSP cumin

1 TBSP garlic powder

1 TBSP oregano

2 TBSP pepper

2 TBSP season salt

1 tsp cumin

1 cup orange juice

1 cup of pineapple juice

1/4 cup of white vinegar

4 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast

1 pineapple

2 cans of Mexican beer such as Tecate or Modelo

Directions: 

1. Add the first 12 ingredients to a large pot. Heat over medium heat to "toast" the spices and cook the onion a bit - about 5 minutes. 

2. Turn off the heat. Add the juices and vinegar, stir and let cool down all the way. 

3. When the marinade is completely cool, remove the stems from the peppers and blend everything together.  You can use a blender or immersion blender.

4. Slice the pork into thin slices and pound them out thin like a pork cutlet. 

5. Use a large ziptop bag, put a few pieces of pork in, pour some marinade, a few more pieces of pork, more marinade and repeat until filled up. 

Chef's tip: If you trimmed a very fatty piece from the pork roast - save it.  I put it on top of my meat tower on top of the last piece of pork before the pineapple topper. 

6. Marinate for 24 hours. 

7. When ready to grill, attach your vertical skewer to the grill plate. Place inside a foil pie plate to catch more juices. 

8. Skin the pineapple. Cut the very top off. Cut a top slice and a bottom slice. Place the thin bottom slice on the bottom of the skewer. Skewer the meat in layers pressing down as you go. Place a thin pineapple topper at the very top. 

9. Light the end burners of your grill to medium. Place one grill proof container of beer on one side over the burner and another grill proof container of beer on the other side.  This will help keep the grill environment moist for your pork while it cooks.  Place the meat in the center and close the lid.

10. Maintain 275-300 degrees for 3 hours. Rotate once halfway through. 

11. At 3 hours, rotate once more, turn up the burners a bit and cook another 20-30 minutes to caramelize the outside a bit more. At the end, your pork should be 190-195 degrees internal temp to be tender and juicy. 

12. When ready to serve, carve thin pieces down the sides and place on a tostada. 

13. While you're eating the first few, keep the pork on the grill. The exposed pork will caramelize a bit while you eat.  Carve more meat as you need it. 

To serve, put meat on a tostada, top with pineapple salsa (recipe below), cilantro, white onion and cotija cheese.  Tabasco optional. 

Pineapple Salsa: 

Use the middle of the pineapple that you didn't use for the meat tower! Dice into small pieces. 

Dice all of the following:

2 jalepenos

3 green onion

2 TBSP cilantro

3 cloves of garlic

Add 1 TBSP orange marmalade, a few dashes of tabasco and S+P. Mix. Reserve until ready to serve. 

Optional additions:

Cilantro

White onion

Cotija cheese

Tabasco

Lime juice

Pair with a nice rose like Summer in a Bottle from Wolffer Estate.