Carne asada -- wow!

Prof Dan

Did my first carne asada -- amazing. Carne asada is very thinly-sliced sheets of beef, marinated in onion, salsa, etc. It's a Mexican dish. I think the butcher slices the meat while it's frozen; otherwise, I can't see how they would get such thin slices.[p]I pumped the dome up to 400 and tossed on some oak chunks. I arranged the "meat sheets" across the grid lines -- otherwise it would fall through. I cooked it, dome closed, for a total of about 5 minutes, turning it halfway through. Then I chopped the meat up so we could put it into tortillas with rice, beans, and salsa.[p]If you can find a Mexican butcher shop, this is worth a try.

Wise One

Prof Dan, I've got onions, I've got salsa, but I am all out of etc. Can you elaborate on how to make that etc? It sounds good. How big are the "sheets" of meat?

Gooba

Prof Dan,
There are different ways to do carne asada.Skirt steak is the popular choice in my area,although other cuts of meat can be used.It is up to each person's preference.When I make the sauce for my carne asada or for my pollo asada I use Hunts original barbeque sauce,green onions,lemon juice,lime juice and jalapeno.I let it sit at least 24hrs and cook it over ironwood with mesquite chunks added.Some of the best eating on my egg.

RedFish

Prof Dan, Carne asada is my favorite Mexican dish. I grew up in South Texas about 15 minutes from the border and believe me I have eaten my share of carne asada and then some. But down here I don't think I have ever had it sliced so thin. Most of it in these parts are just small cubes. But I am sure there are many different ways of fixing it. Anyway it sounds good and you done flung a craven on me. I may have to try some on the egg this weekend.

Unknown

Prof Dan,
We just did some great carne asada the other day ourselves. It's one of my favorite ways to have beef.[p]We only use skirt steak. Get it from a butcher so that the membranes will be trimmed off both sides, and you can tell him not to bother pinwheeling it.[p]I don't personally marinade the meat, I just pound it enough to be uniformly flat, and toss the strips on direct at about 400 - 500 degrees. I like to get a good char on the outside. The rest you give it in foil a the end will help loosen that crust by soaking in its own juices.[p]We serve it with some warm tortillas, frijoles, aroz y queso.[p]I made a sauce this last time that turned out excellent:
2 sticks real butter (softened)
1 half bunch parsley
1 full bunch cilantro
1 half of a white onion
juice of 1 full lemon
a few slices of lemon zest from said lemon
smoked habanero or jalepeno to taste
kosher salt to taste[p]Toss all the ingredients into a food proccessor and blend until smooth, usualy a minute or so. When done you can plop it all into a covered dish. Even better roll it all up in some waxed paper and just slice of little rounds as you need it.[p]Muy bien.[p]bc

Unknown

bc,

I forgot to mention that the sauce recipe mentioned above makes a good bunch of it. That was intentional, I wanted plenty of leftovers![p]I used this same sauce on some Copper River Salmon the next day: Eggcelent.[p]Its a great sauce for almost anything. It's nice and tart without being overpowering.[p]bc

Prof Dan

Wise One,[p]BC's recipe, just posted above, provides better "ETC" than mine! Also, in Southern California [where I live] there are so many Mexican meat markets competing with each other that they now carry pre-marinated, pre-sliced skirt steak sheets for about $3.50 a pound. So I didn't have to marinate it myself -- I just picked it up on the way home from work, MAPP-blasted my lump, and tossed those sheets onto a hot grid. Very easy!

Gloria

Prof Dan,
Thanks for the info. I am going to try this real soon. I have been using pulled pork; I use a bit of oil in a non-stick frypan, throw in the pork, some chopped onion, and cumin. Then we use it for tostados, etc. But, we have to wait to do this until we do a pork butt so this will be great to know how to do the skirt steak.