One of the best types of Mexico tacos is tacos al pastor, which are traditionally made with thinly sliced marinated pork shoulder served with pineapples. The pork is usually cooked using a trompo, a rotating meat spindle that can be hard to buy yourself, but luckily, there are other ways to ensure perfectly cooked pork for your al pastor at home.

Firstly, if you can't find pork shoulder, try layering salty, fatty cured meat with cuts like pork sirloin to mimic the fat and richness of a shoulder cut. Layering bacon in between pieces of sirloin while cooking adds fat and ensures that the meat stays tender, flavorful, and crisp at the edges, and this layering is also vital for correctly slicing the meat.

After thinly slicing and marinating your pork, layer it with pineapple, onion, and the optional bacon on a sturdy skewer, and push the whole stack together into a compact loaf before baking. The finished meat will be easy to shave into thin slices, and you can even find recipes that use a loaf pan for cooking, if you're nervous about skewering.