#TROMPO DE PASTOR IN ENGLISH PLUS#

But if you’re craving al pastor in Mexico City, don’t knock yourself out looking for an outpost of El Tizoncito. Not historic, perhaps, but fresh, authentic and delicious.Įl Tizoncito has franchises all over Mexico City, one in Cuernavaca and even one in McAllen, Texas. We were sitting a few feet from the sword-wielding chef as he whittled down the pineapple and pork and served up each taco on a small square of paper. Suffice it to say we ended up in double digits. How many tacos? I started with three and my husband with four.

#TROMPO DE PASTOR IN ENGLISH PLUS#

We managed to grab a table, and an efficient server promptly rewarded us with a tower of small cups of salsa and other toppings, plus a few tortilla chips, to hold us until the tacos and beer arrived. That came about on a sunny, mild Saturday afternoon when Condesa’s many open-air bars and restaurants were packed. Grimy metal shutters covered the entrances at that hour, but we were intrigued and made a mental note to return. My husband and I stumbled on El Tizoncito (a tizon is a half-burned stick or log) one morning while strolling down Calle Campeche looking for a coffee shop (to start a food tour, naturally) a couple of blocks east. Was she the first? Fifty-plus years later, who cares? Her successors do a bang-up job on tacos al pastor. The restaurant’s web site says its founder, Concepcion Cervantes, set up shop on Calle Campeche in 1966 and devised an original recipe for tacos al pastor. With all of that history, El Tizoncito’s claim to being the birthplace of al pastor might seem a bit thin, but here goes. Eventually the lamb was swapped for pork, more seasoning was added, and tacos al pastor were born.įor tacos al pastor, try El Tizoncito in Mexico City. In the Mexican state of Puebla they were made of lamb and known as “tacos arabes.” They were more lightly seasoned than al pastor and were served on flour tortillas. The story starts with Lebanese immigrants who brought shawarma to Mexico early in the 20th century. So who thought up all this deliciousness?

The spits are positioned to be visible from the street, assuring hungry passers-by that these tacos are prepared the old-fashioned way, not sizzled on a grill in the city center, spits of al pastor meat the size of steamer trunks are proudly displayed. Taquerias serving al pastor are found all over Mexico, and in the capital city they’re ubiquitous, the ultimate purveyors of street food. In fact, tacos al pastor are a good reason to learn to count to 10 in Spanish. One of these beauties is nothing more than a light snack. Most often it’s served up on a fresh corn tortilla, not much bigger than the palm of your hand, and topped with a few essentials: Chopped raw onion, fresh cilantro, a healthy sliver of pineapple, maybe a squeeze of a tiny Mexican lime, maybe a dribble of salsa. Traditionally the spit is topped by a peeled pineapple, so its juices will seep down along with the pork juice and fat, flavoring and tenderizing the meat as the whole thing cooks.Ī grill tender shaves the meat off of the spit, a little at a time, producing shreds of tender, savory meat with crisp, slightly burned edges.

And then-the crucial step-the marinated pork slices are impaled on a spit (known as a trompo, Spanish for a spinning top) and roasted in front of a vertical broiler, similar to those used for shawarma and gyros. The meat is sliced thin and marinated in chiles and achiote, giving it an orange cast and a tangy but not overwhelmingly spicy flavor. The name means “shepherd style” but there is no lamb or goat involved, only pork. Tacos al pastor are among the simple glories of Mexican cuisine. Though our “discovery” WAS a bit like Columbus’, in that plenty of people already knew about El Tizoncito, a pleasant street-corner taqueria in Mexico City’s Condesa neighborhood it was only news to us.įirst, a little background on why this was such an epiphany. OK, lumping the last one with the first two is a stretch. And my husband and I discovered the birthplace of tacos al pastor while looking for a coffee shop in Mexico City.

Trompo de pastor in english