Oven stage: cooking it through
Ok so the meat's sliced quarter-inch and even, we talked about why you dont need the spinning trompo setup, and now we actually cook the stuff. This is the part people rush because they're hungry and impatient, and its also the part where I over-corrected the hardest when I first started doing this at home.
Here's the thing. The oven stage isn't where the char happens. That comes later, in the pan or on the grill. The oven's whole job is to cook the pork through gently and evenly so when you sear it you're just finishing something thats already done, not trying to cook raw pork and get color on it at the same time. Two different jobs, two different heats. Mixing them up is where people get either burnt outside/raw inside pork, or meat thats gray and sad all the way through.
Getting it in the oven
Spread your sliced pork out on a sheet pan in a single layer, give or take. Dont pile it up. If it's crowded it steams instead of cooking, and you lose some of that marinade thats clinging to it. If you've got more meat than fits in one layer, use two pans, or do it in batches. I know thats annoying when your oven's already fighting you at our elevation, but its worth it.
Oven at 375°F. Pork goes in for about 20-25 minutes, till it hits 145°F internal. I actually pull mine a couple degrees under that and let it carryover cook while it rests, but if you dont have a thermometer yet, 145 is your number and dont guess on pork. Get an instant-read thermometer if you dont have one — it's like twelve bucks and it ends more arguments in your kitchen than anything else you'll buy.
Dont walk away for the whole 25 minutes. Check it around 15. Every oven up here runs a little different, and altitude messes with baking way more than it messes with a straight roast like this, but ovens still vary enough that I dont trust anybody's oven including my own without a peek.
The mistake I still think about
I'll tell you what I did wrong the first time I ever tried this at home, before I really understood what the pineapple was doing in the marinade. I left the pineapple in with the pork the whole cook, at full strength, way longer than I needed to, because I figured more pineapple time equals more flavor. Makes sense on paper.
It does not work that way. Pineapple's got an enzyme in it, bromelain, that breaks down protein, and if you let it sit on there under heat too long it doesn't just tenderize the meat, it turns the whole surface to mush. My first batch of al pastor came out of that oven looking like something you'd feed a baby. Tasted fine actually, the flavor was there, but the texture was gone. No bite left anywhere.
Ximena still brings that one up. Its become a whole bit in our house. But it taught me the pineapple's doing its enzyme work in the marinade stage, before the heat, and once its cooked the texture job is done and you dont need it babysitting the meat in the oven on top of that.
Pulling it and resting it
Pull the pork at 145°F, tent it loosely with foil, and let it rest 5 minutes minimum before you touch it again. This isn't fussy restaurant stuff, its just giving the juices a second to settle back into the meat instead of running out all over your cutting board the second you slice into it.
While its resting is a good time to get your pan or grill screaming hot for the sear, which is the next lesson. Dont start that fire cold and then throw meat at it — you want it hot before the pork ever touches it, or you'll get gray meat instead of char.
One more thing on safety since we're pulling stuff out of a 375° oven: use a real oven mitt, not a dish towel folded over. I've grabbed a hot sheet pan with a towel more times than I want to admit and it works right up until it doesnt.
Before next time: if you dont already own an instant-read thermometer, grab one before we sear — Macey's or any hardware store will have a cheap one, and you'll use it for way more than just al pastor. 🔥