It’s often difficult to get the motivation to make a dinner from scratch on a Tuesday night. It’s even more difficult to get flavor out of pork tenderloin – a meat so lean, I can’t believe it lives in the same animal as bacon. And yet I’ve managed to do both in a package that, by Man B Que standards, is like health food. Hopefully future generations will remember me for this.

This, as you may have guessed, is my quick weeknight take on al pastor. The real thing requires 23 more hours and 60 more ingredients, but this isn’t bad with a cold Tecate.

The Setup

- 1 pork tenderloin, ~1 lb
- 1 pineapple, cored and sliced into rings
- 1 can chipotles en adobo, pureed
- 1 white onion, chopped
- Chopped cilantro, to taste
- 2 limes
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- Salt
- Queso fresco
- Roasted habanero sauce
- Warm corn tortillas

Cooking

1. Trim the tenderloin if necessary and place in a large plastic bag. Add the juice of one of the limes, a few pinches of salt, the garlic, and all but 2 tbsp of the adobo. Let marinate for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat your grill or pan to medium heat and grill the pineapple rings 5-6 minutes per side, until well-caramelized. Remove and chop into bite-sized pieces.

3. Increase heat to medium-high. Remove tenderloin from marinade, shake off excess, and grill for 3 minutes each side, 12 minutes total, until the meat hits just under 145 degrees at the thickest part. Remove and rest 5-8 minutes, depending on size.

4. Toss the onions with the cilantro, salt, and the juice of the other lime.

5. When meat is finished resting, chop into bite sized pieces, toss with remaining adobo, and crisp in a skillet placed on the grill. This gives it a nice bite, like the flattop at a taqueria does. If you don’t feel like the extra step, then just toss the meat with the grilled pineapple and into the taco.

6. Top with onions, queso fresco, and habanero sauce. Vamos Chicago!