First Try on Vertical Spit, BGE XL: Tacos Al Pastor

[cayenne]

Hello all!!

Ok, I had a 3x day weekend and last Saturday I decided to make another try at Tacos Al Pastor.

I'd attempted it weeks ago on the BGE XL using the horizontal Joe-Tisserie....and try as I might with extra skewers to secure the pork slices...as they cooked and loosened up, well, a good bit ended up IN the fire, etc. Not good.

So, I found this little vertical spit with a bowl on bottom to catch juices for $20 on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C695S3X8

And my local grocery store once again had sirloin pork steaks on sale for like $0.97/lb again...so I bought two packages.

I used this as my guide for a marinade/Chile paste:

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/tacos-al-pastor-2

I didn't use habaneros, I used Serrano chiles ( I prefer these to most other chiles...especially jalapeños where you can't tell the heat level at any given time).

I didn't use mint.

And I didn't put pineapple IN the marinade as that I Find you usually end up having it turn your pork to mush.

I put pineapple in my salsa and used the top/bottom on the spit.

So, I got my 3 different dried chiles, seeded, toasted, rehydrated them and put in the food processor with the other stuff....oh, I added a splash of OJ too.

I actually left this marinating in my fridge about a week, I actually forgot about it, but everything was ok.

So, I threaded up the spit, and started the BGE XL on lower heat...240F or so...and let it go awhile....once ends were charred, I pulled the rig out onto a sheet pan and sliced off the charred bits and drained juices from pan and put back on.

I did this trimming about 4 times I think....then pulled the whole thing off.

WONDERFUL...and my marinade I'm thinking of slapping that on most anything!!!

Lessons Learned:

after 2nd or maybe 3rd trimming...I'll take the whole thing off, I kept trying to get that char too long and started to dry out the most interior part of the set up. I'd had a probe in there and should have figured that out and not put it back on when temps were 165F....

I might play with using a blowtorch or my "flamethrower" offset propane starter...and do quick char with this on last ones...?

Thoughts?

Also in lessons learned...I forgot to put the base of the pineapple on the spit FIRST...and I see the main reason for that is to keep the bottom layer of meat from burning...ugh...will do that next time.

My pineapple for the cook was a bit small....I grilled what I could and next day hit grocery store to get another one...to supplement my salsa.

By the way, this is a GREAT gadget for doing fresh pineapples fast into rings:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007WTGR90

Worth every penny!! I've had it for years and still works great.


I just winged the salsa, some grilled some regular fresh pineapple, Serrano, salt, pinch of cumin, a chipotle in adobo finely shopped, 1/4 each of diced red and yellow bell pepper, handful chopped cilantro, Juice of 2 very small limes, and maybe 2 tsp local raw honey.

I let this sit for a couple hours for flavors to marry...very nice.

ON day of cook I didn't have the salsa and served it with a bit of Cole slaw on the tacos..and the was also very good.

I'll be doing this again....and Im excited about leftovers this week!!


cayenne

 

[bschoen]

Looks very good.

 

[Charny]

Awesome! That gives me ideas.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

That looks and sounds fantastic. Wonder if that would fit on my Large BGE

 

[cayenne]

Check it...

That looks and sounds fantastic. Wonder if that would fit on my Large BGE

I think it would, I *did* have to try to line up my spit in center of grill to center the spit under the smoke stack.

The link I gave for the vertical spit...comes with 3 different length spits, so I"m guessing if the longest one that I used in my BGE XL was a bit too tall for you, the next size down would do the next size down BGE....

Just test it out before you load one up with meat.


This thing worked great...with the caveats I listed in "lessons learned"....but I'm happy with it, especially for such a cheap little gadget.

 

[Stingerhook]

My oh My that looks great.

 

[Charny]

I suppose that would fit on the charcoal grate of a 22" weber kettle or WSM, with a ring of charcoal around it. Possibly raised with some brick or similar. But maybe it would be better to have the spit lower and the charcoal higher, to get that direct char.

 

[PitRow]

And I didn't put pineapple IN the marinade as that I Find you usually end up having it turn your pork to mush.

Yep. I followed that recipe exactly once... and what I ended up with was pork paste. Totally gross.



Your version looks great though, and might actually tempt me to try it again! :eusa_clap

 

[creek bottom]

That all looks incredible! Nicely done! :clap2:

 

[ModelMaker]

Strikes me as being hugely messy, but tasty I'm betting.
Ed

 

[cayenne]

A little messy...

Strikes me as being hugely messy, but tasty I'm betting.
Ed

Well, a "Little" messy, but not really too bad.

I mean, yep...my hands got the marinade all over them when taking out of marinade container and onto spit....

But other than that, not too bad actually.

I had heat gloves on to pull the spit device out, I'd set it on a sheet pan outside the grill and run my slicer knife down the outside to take off the charred bits, and I'd tip the spit "bowl" at the bottom to empty the juices int the sheet pan too.

Once done, I'd set the spit device back on the grill...and then I'd just pick up the sheet pan and dump the meat and juices into a big bowl I have set aside to catch everything.

So, really not THAT bad.

Now, to be perfectly honest...I"m STILL soaking the spit bowl in the sink to clean everything out that charred on the bottom...haha.

But so far....WORTH IT.


Like most things in life....the BEST things involve a mess.....

wink wink...nudge nudge...

 

[Smoking Piney]

Fantastic! :thumb:

I haven't used my Trompo in a while. Might be time to break it out again.

 

[cayenne]

A real one?

Fantastic! :thumb:

I haven't used my Trompo in a while. Might be time to break it out again.

Do you have a real one....that spins vertically and has a heater on one side?

If so...pictures please?

Where'd you get it?

Thanks in advance!!

C

 

[SYBQ]

That looks great. I’m going to have to get a set up like that.