Taco catering advice needed

Hello everybody,
I need an advice in this area: I'm going to cater some carne asada and al pastor tacos next week and I want to know this thing: a few of trained chefs told me that I should grill the meet right before the service, chop it up right there and either put it in the steamer or serve right of the griddle. So even if I put the meat in the steamer it will not have any liquid base - I'm afraid it's going to dry out this way. At the same time in most mexican restaurants I see that the meat is sitting in the steamer in some kind of liquid base and therefore I'm assuming it's little juicier compared to the case without the liquid. I personally would prefer to precook everything at the comissary, put everything in the steamer and deliver to the event. Therefore I want to have the liquid in there. Can you explain how to cook the meet this way?  Can I grill everything and use the leftover of the marinade for the liquid in the steamer? I'm not looking for the most authentic and from-the-book official way of cooking tacos. I need to know the production version, where the length of service can be up to 2-3 hours and meet has to be still warm and more or less juicy. Thanks

Hey Pablo, you picked two hard items to hold for long periods of time. If your going to hold these items, you will need liquid and maybe spooning the liquid over the top of the meat to keep it moist. The sauce is another thing, in most cases the marinade for these meats is more of a paste/sauce and then let set for a few hrs.I would use a loose marinade to put in the bottom of the pan. I think the steamers you talk about are warmers. I would keep the meat in a hotel pan with sauce/liquid and hold at 140 degrees. The quality of the meat is the star of the show, so take care of the quality............good luck......pnwc

PNWC
 
Thanks for your response. I was going to use my steam table, I'm assuming it acts the same as warmers. When you say that you "would keep the meat with sauce/liquid" do you mean submerged or with a little bit of sauce on the bottom, so I can maybe stir it from time to time to keep all the meat moist? How do I cook the meat? Can I cook it with liquid or should I grill the meat on the grill as I do for immediate service, chop it up, put it in the steam table with a little bit of sauce and then deliver? I would like to know the entire scenario.
Can I may be dilute the marinade with some beef stock and use as a sauce? Can the meat be completely submerged?
I will have a griddle with me, so I can maybe sear the cooked meat right before the serving...  Thanks

I would cook the meat as you always do, keep it from drying out. I wouldn't keep it submerged in liquid, but I would keep it coated and moist. The steamtable in a restaurant is for holding, a steamer is for cooking and reheating. The steamtable will be fine for your needs. If I was doing this, I would keep the meat whole and cut it on site just before I need it. This will keep the meat in better condition for service. It not easy to hold cut up meat in a small amount of liquid, the steamtable will dry things out over a period of time..............pnwc

Use a good cut of meat, properly marinated and cook as close to serving time as possible.  Cut into chunks after cooking and fill up your steam pan.  The natural juices from the meat and the marinade will drip into your steam pan and with some periodic mixing will keep the meat moist for a long time.  Make sure you are not holding the meat at too high of a temp or it will evaporate the water from the bottom of the pan and eventually dry out the meat.  Add a little liquid marinade to your pan if necessary, but dont over power the meat with too much.