The plan: what we're making and in what order
Alright, here's the whole job before we start swinging tools. I always lay this out first because if you don't know the sequence, you end up like me — three salsas done and the meat still sitting there marinating, wondering why it isn't dinner yet. Planning is the part I'm actually good at. Follow-through is the part I have to work at. So we're doing this in an order that protects you from my exact weakness.
Here's what we're making tonight:
- Al pastor (pork, oven-cooked then seared, no trompo needed)
- Warmed corn tortillas, done right
- Two salsas — a roasted tomatillo and a dried chile one
- Elote, corn cut off the cob
- Grilled onion and pineapple for the tacos
That's the full spread. Looks like a lot written out like that, dont panic. Once its broken into stations it's maybe five things happening at different speeds, not five things happening at once.
The order matters more than the recipes
Here's the thing — almost every home taco night goes sideways because people start with what smells the best to cook first, which is usually the meat. Wrong move. Meat's actually the most forgiving thing on this table time-wise. It can rest, it can wait, it's fine either warm or hot.
What can't wait is char. Char is a technique, not a garnish, and it happens early and it happens fast. If you're not scraping black bits off your poblanos or your onions, you didn't push hard enough. So char goes first while everyone's fresh and paying attention, not forty minutes in when you're tired and the pan's not hot enough anymore.
So the real order is:
- Prep everything — chop, dice, measure, before any flame goes on. This is the boring part and its also the part that saves the whole night.
- Char what needs charring — poblanos, onions, maybe some garlic. Get the smoke happening early, window cracked, we'll talk about why in a minute.
- Get the pork into the oven — low and slow, this is the part that just needs time, so it goes on and then it's out of your hands for a while.
- Salsas — while the pork's doing its thing in the oven, that's your salsa window. Roasted tomatillo first, dried chile second, because the chiles need toasting and that's a technique I want you watching closely.
- Elote and pineapple — closer to serving time, these go fast and taste best hot off the char.
- Sear the pork, warm the tortillas, plate it up.
Warming tortillas is its own thing and we'll spend real time on it, because store tortillas warmed right beat homemade tortillas done wrong, every time, especially your first time doing any of this. That's a mildly contrarian opinion around here but I stand by it. 80% of a good taco is a properly warmed tortilla. We'll get to the masa-from-scratch stuff eventually — I'll be honest, I still cant get that dialed in reliably myself, mine crack or go gummy — but tonight we use good corn tortillas and I show you the dry pan method.
A word about the char and the smoke
Quick real talk before we start: charring poblanos directly on a burner makes smoke. More smoke than you'd think, especially with our dry air up here — everything catches and carries faster than you expect. I set off a smoke detector the first time I tried this at home with zero plan for ventilation. Now I crack a window before the flame even goes on, every time, no exceptions. Cheap insurance against a very loud interruption to your dinner.
I'll tell you, some of my best cooking has happened at the weirdest hours for the weirdest reasons. I was up one night with one of the twins at like 3 in the morning, nothing to do with my hands, so I just started dry-toasting a batch of guajillos right there on the stove while I held him. Mckenzie walked in half asleep and just stared at me like I'd lost it. But that batch turned into a genuinely good salsa. Sometimes the sequence finds you instead of the other way around. Tonight though, we're doing it on purpose, in daylight, with a plan.
Before next time
Take a look in your fridge and pantry for corn tortillas, a decent hunk of pork shoulder, and dried guajillo or ancho chiles if you've got a Mexican grocery nearby — we'll go over substitutes if not. Don't stress about getting it exact, just get a feel for what you're working with before you show up.