Even on vacation, Raul Morales is discovered by fans. On a recent visit to Universal Studios Hollywood, Morales, owner of Taqueria Vista Hermosa in Los Angeles, was waiting in line as he heard the screams.
“People called out, ‘Rev. Chef al! Rev. Chef al!'” Morales said with a laugh. Born in Mexico City, Morales came by his nickname through decades of hard work.
He is the third generation of the family who makes Rev. Al’s tacos, filled with richly seasoned pork, shaved from spinning vertical spits.
“My recipes are very special and very old,” he said.
But Morales’ family recipes go back to generations, with centuries of spitting meat like shawarma and doughna, his tacos represent a kind of dish that is modern and international, as is ancient and traditional. Spinning the meat, spitting out and roasting, it won’t stay in one place for long.
Food historian Ken Albara, a professor of history at Pacific University, says spitting and roasting sticks is likely among the oldest cooking techniques of humans.
Homer’s epic shows an east feast of spitting flesh Iliad and OdysseySusan Sheratt, professor emeritus of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, writes in the Journal Hesperia.
Iron saliva, which may have been used in roasting, has appeared in the Aegean Sea since the 10th century BC. Such spit is excavated in graves associated with male warriors, Sheratt writes, pointing out that roasted meat may be a practice related to male bonds and masculinity.
“I think the reason it’s associated with men is because of hunting and because of tools and weapons that recreate what they do in the war,” Albara said. “When you celebrate your victory, you go outside and sacrifice the animals to God. It’s basically going to be like a big BBQ.”
Roasting meat is not as simple as hanging a mass of meat over the flame. When roasted, the meat is not cooked directly on top of the heat source, says Albara, but it can produce richer flavours next to it.
“Where you have a pointy stick or sword, people get a very quick grasp. If you cook it on the side of the fire, it tastes much more interesting,” Albara said.
These early roasts were probably characterized by whole animals or whole animals. But centuries ago, Ottoman chefs developed different, more specialized techniques, building densely tapered stacks that could be spit and spritted thin slices of raw meat.
A pair of miniature paintings from the 1620 manuscript commissioned by Ottoman politician Hafız Ahmed Paşa says Mary Ishun, author of “The Rich Empire: History of Ottoman Culinary.” Food is served with elegant outdoor dining. This suggests to Ishun that the meal may be featured on the Royal Picnic.
“In these miniatures, you know it’s from the upper class,” Ishun said.
The painting does not specify what the spitting flesh is called. However, Ishun discovered a 15th century Ottoman text explaining the spinning spitting flesh Turn the kebabor “I turned the kebab.” Ishun said the recipe could have spread throughout the Ottoman Empire, and at its height it ranges from Central Europe to North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
From Ottoman Sultan to Shawarma and Tacos
The term “chevirme” later entered as shawarma in both Arabic and English. Meanwhile, in the Ottoman Empire, the words Turning Covered by another Turkish term: rotary.
“Both refer to something that spins,” explained Mary Ishun. The word “Döner” was not printed in the novel by Hüsey in Rahmi Gürpinar until 1908, but Işın believes that the word has likely been widely used by then.
And the way it was eaten changed. Over the centuries, following early depictions of court picnics, sometimes spitting like breasts, and spitting meat, sometimes called breasts, became food for people. By the early 1800s it became a favorite among frequent tourists to the Istanbul Kebab House.
“Foreigners agree that this dish is the best in the country. I have the exact same opinion,” wrote François Pouvil, a French traveler who visited Istanbul in 1800.
And as immigrants crossed continents and seas, they took delicious meals, incorporated different meats into the process, served the results in different ways, and served them under different names. In Spanish, stacks are called a Deception – Top words on spinning for children, with similar vertical shapes of prepared meat.
In the late 19th century, immigrants from the Ottoman Empire – many from the region that later became Lebanon took Shawarma to Mexico, says Jeffrey M. Pilcher, professor of food history at the University of Toronto.
“You have someone to set up a restaurant with what they call them. Arab tacos (Arab tacos) In the 1930s, especially in Puebla, there is a large Lebanon community, but their origins were the Ottoman Empire., It appeared several decades later.
“It was the second generation of Mexican Lebanese immigrants and he identified himself as truly Mexican. Tacos from Mexico City districts like Condesa,” he said.
By then, they are corn tortillas filled with pork, and are more widely available meat than lamb traditionally used in the Middle East. The seasonings came from a Mexican-style marinade, using local ingredients such as pineapple, achiote and chile. “What we now consider as Pastor Tacos Al is a product of the 1960s,” he said.
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In the early 20th century, immigrants from Asia brought favourites Spit roasted meat dishes to Greece. The word “gyro” comes from the Greek verb “turn.” However, it was the Turkish name Döner- that stretched west from Türkiye in Europe.
A wave of Turkish guest workers, who arrived in Germany after World War II, brought them in and innovated a different style from those that were ultimately served in Turkey, writing Ayshe Charal, professor of social and cultural anthropology at the University of Vienna. Now it’s one of the country’s favorite meals.
“No other quotes are often quoted Donor Kebab She wrote. She wrote. Today, the city’s official tourism group Visitberlin estimates there are 1,000 donor kebab shops in Berlin alone, and estimates that for 350,000 euros per year, döner Kebab generally serves meat stuffed in bread or pita.
Some people want to respect the Turkish origins of the food. In 2022, the Turkish government applied to the European Parliament to secure the protected status of the dorna, the same designation that covers Italian mozzarella and Spanish. ham Serrano.
Even in Turkey, dhoners are constantly changing, said Vedat Basharan, chef owner at Istanbul’s Tershane restaurant, who has conducted extensive research into the Ottoman culinary heritage.
“Döner went from street food to restaurant food,” says Başaran, adding that as a child in the 1970s, Döner was not very popular in Istanbul.
Now, he says, the city’s largest Döner restaurant, like Bayramoglu Döner, serves thousands of customers every day, offering very thin slices of meat on plates along with thin rabash breads, fresh salads and onions sprinkled with urushi. “Döner has become a party food at all levels of society,” he said.
And in other small eateries around town, like the cafeteria at Sedev Buffet near the historic centre, the meat of the doner is thickly sliced and stuffed into split pita bread.
Basharan believes sandwich-style döner suggests that the popularized version of Turkish immigrants in Germany have finally found their way home. “They’re doing a new kind of döner. For me, this kind of döner is mostly copied from the German variety,” he said.
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“Donner is definitely Turkish,” agreed Ishun. “But something great trip, is that so? You have this delicious food, and you’ll bring it with you.”
That’s how Ottoman-style spitting meat spreads across the Middle East and Europe, and the Atlantic Ocean arrives in Mexico.
And that’s exactly what Raul Morales did too. Morales was seven years old when she began helping out with Michoacan’s uncle’s taco skirt. “My uncle was my mentor, he taught me everything,” Morales said.
In 2001, he moved to Los Angeles, where he opened Takelia in South La Food Hall Mercadra Paloma, where he marinated pork for Pastor Al in a 24-hour marinade using chile, cumin, garlic, thyme, pineapple juice, orange juice and grape juice.
In 2003, the Los Angeles Times named his Tacos Al the best name of the city, bringing a steady stream of clients to Taqueria Vista Hermosa.
Today, Morales’ family specialization, which he learned on his uncle’s side in Mexico, traveled to North America and around the world. You can purchase Pastor Al’s tacos in Australia, Australia or London. In Levi, Finland, the Lost Taco Taqueria serves the pastor to hungry clients who live above the Arctic.
Morales is not surprised. Pastor Al is delicious – a living heritage that transcends international borders.
“People really love these Rev. Al’s tacos,” he said.
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