Carne Asada vs Al Pastor

Beef (usually skirt or flank steak) marinated with citrus, garlic, salt and spices, grilled hot and fast, then chopped and served on corn tortillas with onion, cilantro, salsa and lime. Often a side of grilled onions and a whole roasted chile.

Skirt steak (arrachera) is the classic: thin, fatty and full of flavour. Flank steak is the common substitute. Both need a hot grill, a short cook and a rest, then a cut against the grain.

Keep it simple: finely chopped white onion, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and a salsa (roja for smoke, verde for brightness). Guacamole or a slice of grilled onion if you want more. Cheese and sour cream are a Tex-Mex addition, not traditional.

Thin-sliced pork shoulder marinated in a red paste of dried chiles, achiote (annatto), vinegar, pineapple juice and spices, stacked on a vertical spit called a trompo, roasted, and shaved off as the outer layer chars. Served on small corn tortillas with a little of the charred pork, chopped onion, cilantro, a piece of pineapple and salsa.

Both are pork, but the method is opposite. Carnitas is pork confited, simmered in its own fat until soft, then crisped. Al pastor is marinated pork roasted on a vertical spit and shaved. Carnitas tastes of pork and fat; al pastor tastes of chile, achiote and pineapple.