#Al pastor taco truck how to
#Al pastor taco truck full
#Al pastor taco truck code

Ideally, if there’s a steady stream of customers, Escobedo will keep the heat on high, chiseling and sculpting to keep the outer layer charred.

Over the course of five or eight hours, that makes the temperature control on the trompo crucial.

#Al pastor taco truck code

Another health code regulation: Once you start cooking meat, you can’t stop and start again. Those street stands all sold a lot of al pastor, and Escobedo quickly discovered that volume is one of the trompo’s biggest challenges. He learned the recipe there, and on the streets he tasted a kaleidoscope of al pastor: some heavy on achiote, some light on spice, but all sliced off a trompo. His failure sent him on multiple research trips to Mexico City, where he attended a one-day intensive on al pastor at El Instituto de Gastronomia Mexico, shadowed a street vendor and devoured at least 50 tacos al pastor in one weekend.Īt the school, he dove into the origins of al pastor, a relatively young Mexican specialty created in the 1930s by Lebanese immigrants.

#Al pastor taco truck how to

That’s why Escobedo tried to teach himself how to stack pork on a home trompo. The texture is dynamic the sweet-spicy-sour flavors of the marinade heightened with smoke. Layers of pork fat melt like butter down the trompo, basting the meat as the flame chars it. Instead, most chefs guide the pork from the trompo to the grill for a few seconds to be assured that it’s brought up to temperature.īut when it all works, the al pastor is a thing of beauty. In a busy kitchen, that’s not terribly realistic. Paul Chinn / The Chronicleįor traditionalists, al pastor must be sliced directly from trompo into taco - but that is complicated under the California health code, which stipulates that pork must reach a cooking temperature of 145 degrees.Īccording to Terrence Hong, principal environmental health inspector in San Francisco, chefs should probe the pork with a thermometer before every single slice, because of the trompo’s layering. Pork al pastor roasts on a trompo at the Al Pastor Papi food truck on Fourth Street in Mission Bay in San Francisco, Calif.

#Al pastor taco truck full

Meanwhile, health department regulations have led some not to bother at all.Īs a result, a chef scooping pre-cooked al pastor from a hotel pan onto the grill - despite the full trompo teasing you in all its glory - is a common sight in the Bay Area. It’s easy to end up with dry, brittle meat. A taquero must make sure the al pastor isn’t cooking too fast or too slowly, and if volume isn’t predictable, neither is the al pastor. After 20 years in the restaurant industry, Escobedo branched off on his own last fall with his first food truck, Al Pastor Papi, stationed at Parklab Gardens in Mission Bay.Ī trompo isn’t expensive, but tending to it properly requires a watchful eye. No trompo? Not true al pastor.įew Bay Area chefs attempt the trompo due to its tricky set of challenges, but Escobedo is among a new generation busting out the spit and serving al pastor in the spirit of Mexico City. Most local taquerias list al pastor on their menus, grilling the pork - typically marinated with achiote, chiles, onions, vinegar and other spices - instead of roasting it on a spit known as a trompo. is not necessarily Mexican food as it is in Mexico,” Escobedo says. In 1980, his family packed up, and the sights and smells of al pastor were gone. He remembers roaming the streets of Mexico City, bouncing from stand to stand, feeling hypnotized by the graceful movements of the taqueros. The reddish marinated pork, stacked on a vertical spit and shaved off with a flick of pineapple, was his first favorite food. When Mexico City native Miguel Escobedo moved to the Bay Area at age 9, he lost a major part of himself: al pastor. Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Show More Show Less Photos by Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 4 of4 Miguel Escobedo stacks layers of marinated pork onto a spit for roasting on a trompo at the Al Pastor Papi food truck on Fourth Street in Mission Bay in San Francisco, Calif.

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of4 The Al Pastor Papi food truck is located at Stagecoach Greens on Fourth Street in Mission Bay in San Francisco, Calif.

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of4 Miguel Escobedo slices thin pieces of pork al pastor roasting on a trompo at the Al Pastor Papi food truck on Fourth Street in Mission Bay in San Francisco, Calif. 1 of4 Miguel Escobedo slices thin pieces of pork al pastor roasting on a trompo at the Al Pastor Papi food truck on Fourth Street in Mission Bay in San Francisco, Calif.