Tacos al Pastor

Have you ever tasted Tacos al Pastor? If you have not, you should! These little tacos are the perfect combination of sweet and spicy, and the flavor is a fun change to traditional Mexican tacos. I order them all of the time at Taco Diner. This weekend we went to a Bourbon tasting party at the house of one of Bunker's bosses. Bunker really does enjoy Bourbon, but I personally cannot stand the taste or smell! However, we both had a wonderful time because of the people, the setting and the fun atmosphere. Rather than having someone come in and cater the event with the typical catering fare, the host and hostess hired a food truck, a taco truck to be exact, that set up shop in their front drive-way. They had homemade chips and salsa, and then a huge selection of unique tacos, including, tacos al pastor! They were the tastiest I had ever had. Therefore, I was inspired to try my hand at making these little treats.

Sleepy puppies...we were at the lake this weekend and that always makes for super sleepy puppies come Sunday night!

I found this recipe on Epicurious, and I changed a few things based on personal preference and the reviews written by fellow home cooks. Do you ever look at the reviews when you are using a new recipe? You really should. I find them to be so helpful, because people share far more than if they liked the recipe or not. They share wonderful tricks, ideas and suggestions.

I love Shafer's fluffly puppy paws!

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Ingredients:
1 pineapple, peeled and cut into rounds or chunks (I bought a pre-cut package of pineapple, I suggest this, as cutting a pineapple is not the most fun preparation task!)
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup chili powder
3 garlic cloves, halved
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons adobo sauce (you can also add a chipotle chile or two from the can, I opted not to as I didn't want it to be too spicy...as I have learned...you can always add spice later...but you cannot take it out once it is added! Bunker added some heat to his tacos but I thought mine were just perfect without any additional heat)
1 1 1/2 to 3 pound boneless pork loin, cut into 1/2 inch slices
Flour or corn tortillas

Steps:
1. Gather your ingredients.

2. In a food processor, combine the orange juice, vinegar, chili powder, garlic, salt, oregano, cumin and adobo sauce. This is now your marinade.

3. Slice the pork loin into 1/2 inch slices.

4. Place the pork in a ziplock bag and add the marinade to the pork.

5. Refrigerate the pork in the marinade for at least 4 hours and up to 1 day. The original recipe added pureed pineapple to the marinade, but many of the reviews complained that this addition made the pork mushy, as pineapple is rather acidic and broke the meat down as it marinated.
6. Grill or saute the pineapple chunks. You want them to be slightly charred, about 4 to 6 minutes per side.

7. Chop the pineapple into 1/2 inch cubes.

8. Grill or saute the pork slices. Make sure the let the marinade stick to the sides of the pork. I also poured a little pineapple juice over the pork as it cooked. Cook about 4 minutes per side.

9. Cut the pork slices into 1 inch cubes.

10. Mix the pork and pineapple together.

11. Spoon mixture into warm flour or corn tortillas and enjoy this special treat!