Cozumel – Part 3 – Time For Trompitos

Our post dive activities were both our fun and entertainment and our meal for the day. We took yet another cooking class, but unlike the one we took at Ix-Kool a few years ago, Ix-Kool, this one took place in someone’s home. Both were great, and totally different experiences. I would highly recommend both.

We met Tanya, our trompito chef, at the Super Aki, supermercado or supermarket. She and I were buying the ingredients needed for the day and she was explaining everything to me as we bought them.

Once we got everything we needed from the supermercado, we went to a tortillaria for some fresh, hot tortillas. Then we were off to the kitchen Tanya uses for her classes. The house belongs to her boss. It was a very nice house with a big kitchen.

I had never heard of trompitos before, but now I definitely know what they are and I know how to make them. They are delicious too. Trompitos, also known as trompos, have a long history, dating back as far as 4000 BCE. It is believed they first originated at the banks of the Euphrates River. There is also evidence that both the Ancient Greeks and Romans ate trompos as well. Trompitos are a variation of al pastor. Lebanese immigrants first created tacos al pastor in Mexico in the early 1900s. These immigrants brought their shawarma-style cooking techniques, which included rotating meat over an open flame—the method still used today to make tacos al pastor.

One of the main differences between al pastor and trompitos is the way the meat is cooked. For al pastor, the meat is roasted over an open flame. Trompitos are slow cooked and then shaved off into very thin slices. The name trompito is derived from their “trompo” or semi-tubular shape. These are very popular street tacos in Mexico, and in the Northeast. Creating al pastor tacos involves a gigantic spit—the trompo—piled high with succulent pork and pineapple, slowly spinning next to an open flame until the meat’s ready to be sliced off and tucked into a tortilla.

Before making the actual trompitos though, we had to make the red sauce or salsa roja. Tanya hasn’t sent me the actual recipes yet, though I mostly remember how to make it from memory.

Tanya and I rinsed and cleaned all the vegetables, then put a few tomatoes and a jalapeno in water to boil until softened.

As the tomatoes and jalapeno were boiling, we got everything else prepared for the sauce, such as fresh garlic, peppers, and the seasonings. Once the vegetables were ready, we blended them together and strained the sauce. The sauce was then the marinade for our thin pork slices.

We let the pork marinate for about 30 or so minutes, and while it was marinating we got busy making all the accompanying dishes. I will give you the recipes for those later. We made pico de gallo Pico de Gallo, guacamole Holy Guacamole, Mexican style sauteed squash and frijoles charros for the main meal. Then some grilled plantanos or bananas with crema for dessert and some cosolitos, or tequila with fresh grapefruit, orange and lime juice as our bebidas to go with our meal. But today, I just focusing on the trompitos.

When the meat was ready, we sliced some pineapple and onions, which were used to stack the trompitos. Nothing goes to waste. The pineapple peels were our base. We stuck skewers in the pineapple peels then added a layer of pork, onion and pineapple, and repeated until the skewers were full. Once ready, we put them in the base of the air fryer, added the sauce, more onions and more pineapple and let it all cook for about 30 minutes. If you don’t have an air fryer, no problema. I do not, just roast it in the oven, and that will work too.

Larry was busy cooking too. We put him to work as well.

Tanya was great. She and I clicked right away, and it was like we had been cooking together for years and were old friends or viejas amigas. Everything was excellent o todo fue excellente. Tomorrow, I will give you more of the recipes we made. We had a great time. Even Larry enjoyed himself, though admittedly, he lost interest after awhile and was more interested in the dog and cats. 🙂

This was so much fun, and I highly recommend it to everyone who likes to cook. Que tengas un gran dia y haz que cada dia sea grandioso. ‘Til next time.