Al Pastor Chicken
The perfect option for everyone who prefers chicken or whose lifestyle avoids eating pork.
Utensilios/Equipment/Ustentsiles
- Small saucepan
- Blender
- Kitchen spoon or silicone spatula
- Big Bowl
- Baking sheet with rack
- Cast Iron pan
Ingredientes/Ingredients/Ingrédients
- 5 pieces Guajillo peppers deseeded and deveined
- 1 cup water
- 5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 pinch cumin ground
- 2 cloves
- 1 slice pineapple 2 cm thick (3/4 inch)
- 6 chicken thighs with skin and bones
- 1 onion thinly sliced
To Serve:
- 12 corn tortillas
- 2 slices pineapple cubed
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- Limes
- Salsa verde or salsa roja
Preparación/To Prepare/Préparation
- Add the clean chiles in a small saucepan and cover with water. Let it come to a boil. Turn off, and let the chiles hydrate about 15 minutes.
- Place the garlic, cloves, pineapple, hydrated chiles and ¼ cup of the water where the chiles were hydrated in the blender glass.
- Blend the lot. If necessary, add a bit more water. Taste it, and if you feel it too spicy, add a dash more vinegar.
- Place the chicken pieces previously pat-dried in the bowl and season them over and under with salt.
- Finely slice the onion and add it on top of the chicken.
- Pour the thick sauce gently while mixing with the spoon or spatula.
- Once everything is covered with the adobo sauce, cover with plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.
- Preheat your oven at 180 °C or 350 °F. Then, set your cast iron pan on the stovetop to heat as well with a drizzle of oil.
- Drip the chicken pieces on a baking sheet with a rack on top.
- Sear the pieces, one by one and on both sides starting on the side of the skin. Once well seared, set aside on the rack the pieces once more.
- Once all the chicken pieces are seared, sweat the onion with a pinch of salt. It won't need much time. Maybe just a couple minutes.
- Distribute the onion throughout the pan's surface and the chicken pieces in one even layer. If you need to use a second pan, use it.
- Bake for about 20 minutes. Verify the chicken is cooked to 75 °C or 165 °F.
- Personally, I like serving the pieces already deboned. So what I do is debone and either cut or mix the meat to mix with the now caramelized onions for my guests to prepare their tacos family style.
Notas/Notes
* This recipe is adapted from the Tacos al Pastor recipe from the book Mexico: The Cookbook, Margarita Carrillo Aponte, Phaidon.