Carne Asada Recipe
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No burrito bar is complete without this staple, but carne asada is equally good served with nothing more than a cold beer.
What to buy: We like this recipe made with Dos Equis beer, but any brand will work. Just don’t use a really dark beer or an IPA, which will make it bitter.
Game plan: You can make this dish ahead of time and warm it when you are ready to eat. If you decide to do that, cook the meat to medium rare, about 5 minutes per side, and then warm it over medium-low heat with the reduced marinade juices.
This dish was featured as part of our Tailgating Recipes photo gallery.
- 2 1/2 cups light Mexican beer, such as Dos Equis
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from 2 medium limes)
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 1 medium lemon)
- 4 medium garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
- 2 to 3 pounds flank steak
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
- Combine 2 cups of the beer, the lime juice, lemon juice, garlic, onion, and measured pepper in a large, nonreactive bowl and mix. Add the flank steak, cover, place in the refrigerator, and marinate at least 30 minutes or overnight.
- When ready to cook the meat, heat a grill to high (about 500°F). Remove the meat from the marinade (reserving the marinade juices), pat it dry, and season well with salt.
- Transfer the marinade to a medium saucepan, add the remaining 1/2 cup beer, and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam or impurities that come to the surface, and let the mixture reduce by half, about 20 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl, mix in the brown sugar, and season well with salt and pepper.
- Place the meat on the grill and cook to medium, about 7 to 10 minutes per side. Remove from the grill and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. If serving as a main, slice the steak against the grain into 1-inch strips; if serving as a filling for tacos or burritos, coarsely chop. Place in a serving dish and cover with the reduced marinade juices.
Beverage pairing: Sol Cerveza, Mexico. A great Mexican meat dish calls for nothing more complicated or intense than a good, clean Mexican lager. Drip some lime into the beer to bring out its bright, citrus tang and it will make a thirst-quenching and mouth-refreshing gulp after each bite of steak.
Oh yeah, I get them to cut thin ovals of top sirloin. Flank steak and skirt steak are 2 more things that used to be dirt cheap, have become popular, and are now really expensive. Top sirloin tastes great and is cheaper than the alternatives. It's also quite tender.
Like a few others, I wouldn't consider this a carne asada recipe. You do get points for trying something different and being brave enough to put it out there, though.
For those who were sad that they can't get really thinly sliced meat at the grocery stores in their areas, try doing what I do whenever I'm in those strange parts of the world. :-) Go up to the butcher counter (or ring the bell for service) and ask the butcher to thinly slice your order, as thin as he can get it. He might have to set his other stuff aside, but will probably be happy to do it. I always go there first so that if I have to wait around I just do the rest of my shopping and return at the end. DO ask to see how thin their thinnest setting is.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
If you live in the Santa Monica area, you must try Bob's Market (on Ocean Park Blvd.) carne asada, which is already marinated. Yummy! I'm going to try this one though, because I'm up for a good alternative!
It looks delicious to me. I don't much scruple about authenticity as long as the food tastes good. And I think it's ridiculous that people feel the need to criticize and bitch without offering something productive or constructive -- suggestions how to improve the recipe or an alternate recipe. Simply bashing that which someone took the time to post isn't helpful.
I won't knock the recipe for trying something different, but I personally wouldn't consider it carne asada either.
I agree completely that cilantro missing from the recipe takes something huge from the dish. Growing up in California and now living in Michigan I constantly explain to people what a real carne asada taco is supposed to be. 2 warm corn tortillas, carne asada, salsa (smooth not chunky with a kick, I like verde, but rojo is just as good), onions, and cilantro. No cheese, sour cream, lettuce, or tomatoes.
Personally, I use a couple chile powders, fresh garlic, fresh cilantro, salt & pepper, a little veg oil, and fresh chiles. For me the beer is all for my consumption, not the marinade. I like skirt steak when I can get it, or flank steak if I can't get skirt. It is hard to find the nice already very thinly sliced meat like Carniceria's in California. I miss being able to cook 30 seconds a side and be eating.
I tried a recipe that I got from a butcher at a santa monica caniceria.
1. Flap meat for bbq'ing and either thin sliced or thin oval cuts of sirloin for pan grilling.
2. Vinegar(enough to give the meat a strong flavor profile, which is really not so much), lime juice(for the citrus accent, just a little!), and papaya juice(the enzymes in this juice breakdown the proteins and give the meat added complexity...) better yet, just use papayas when you can. **Excercise restraint when you add these ingredients, too much of any of these flavors will screw you.
3. A little cumin powder.
Some paprika.
A chili powder of your choice. (I like new mexico chili)
White onions or onion powder(apply sparingly)
Some peppers of your choice(I like Serrano)
Fresh cilantro and a little celery salt.
Sea salt and white or black pepper to taste.
**If you'd like add these, though I usually stop after the celery salt and cilantro..:
Fresh garlic, green onions, parsley, etc.
Veal or beef broth
... beer but.. i don't recommend it because the meat tastes better without it and the beer tastes better paired with the carne...
SO:
1. Marinate to a length of your preference(try dry aging a couple days beforehand and then marinate one or two nights! it becomes all the more awesome!)
2. BBQ(not too hot!!) or Grill(let the pan get pretty hot and let the meat come close room temp or about 55-65 F and then shake off excess herbs and marinade.
3. Crack open a beer and enjoy it right there off the barbie or off the grill or at least, don't serve it on a cold ceramic plate, a paper plate would do much better =) ENJOY.
This is about as Mexican as steak and kidney pie. Key ingredients such as chili and cilantro are missing.
Yuck! The meat was tough and had little flavour even though it was in the marinade for about 18 hours. The sauce at the end was really tastless. The rest of recipes on the Burritto Bar page were good so it was a surprise that the carne asada was so bad.
It 's definitely different...but why beat up on the writer for adding a recipe that they enjoy and wanted to share? True, it's not traditional carne asada...but as others have stated, carne asada is made a hundred and one ways by a hundred and one differnet chefs...
Eat-Nopal, I'd be interested in learning more about Mayan Fish Sauce. Anything like SE Asisan fish sauces?
The photo and recipe does not resemble any carne asada I have seen. What is that strange soup-like broth?
KenWritez... may that is the case for certain cuisines... but when it comes to Mexican... the dish is often best in its most authentic form (given that many of the Mexican classics have been perfected over a 4,000 year period).
The recipe isn't that inauthentic... take out the sugar and its a decent recipe... although like mine with marinated with cilantro as well.
Those who actually now about Mexican cuisine... know there is no single authentic Mexican recipe for carne asada there are dozens of categories (what type of meat & marinade).... and thousands of good variations.
For example in Quinta Roo... thin steaks (usually the Diesmillo or Palomilla cut)... are marinated in a combination of Achiote, Papaya, Pineapple Juice, Red Onions, and Mayan Fish Sauce.
Authentic, schmathentic. Isn't it more important that the food taste as good as it can?
It's funny to have all this "carne asada" craze. Literally, it's all about grilled meat. Marinades have always been a household choice. In mine, for example, we never did use that much vegetable or beer... none at all, actually.
I will leave flank steak to the pros... it's always a touch cut of meat for me! I found a way around it and I go to the local Mexican super market and buy the pre marinated steaks... those always cook up GREAT!
Not sure is "flap steak" is the same thing, but it works well. I add cumin and chili pepper, no sugar at all. Not sure how authentic this recipe is. I wish I could duplicate the marinade I get at the mexican market, or mi aubelas.
The steak in the picture is not cut like any asada I know. Here in LA, Beef for asada come in long, thin sheets. The recipe also forgot to use any cilantro, heaping handfuls are the norm, or any salt or white pepper, or any chili pepper! We also use mexican sweet limes, which look like lemons and are sweeter and yield more juice than a green lime. I've never HEARD of sugar, ick! We use the beer, WHITE onions, lemon, garlic ad the stuff I mentioned above.
Since the beef comes already in the strips, we layer it with the marinade in a big container or bag, let it sit overnight, and grill it, flipping once. It cooks WAY QUICK. Then we serve it right away with fresh, warm, corn tortillas, more cilantro and onion-maybe some avacado sauce (not guaccamole, sauce) and salsa fresca.
Whomever invented this recipe seems to have made up thier own "asadaish" recipe, outta their nether regions.
shortens the length of the tough meat fibers is what I meant to say :)
For skirt steak, it takes some work, but trimming the silver skin on the meat before you cook it should help. Also always cut against the grain. On the bias may also help as it shortens the lengthens the tough meat fibers.
I just can't seem to cut flank or skirt steak in any way that will make it seem tender.
Vass - can you provide one that is?
Karen
My grandmother just turned over in her grave. I sure hope you're not calling this Carne Asada 'Mexican'....cuz it's NOT!!!!