Carne Asada

Salted and nothing else, over a fire that has burned down to embers with no flame left.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg beef — rib-eye, sirloin or flap — in steaks 1 cm thick
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve
• guacamole, as on its own page, to serve
• salsa, as on its own page, to serve
• 4 spring onions, whole
• lime wedges

Method

1. IT IS SALTED AND NOTHING ELSE, OVER A FIRE THAT HAS BURNED DOWN TO EMBERS WITH NO FLAME LEFT. Both halves are the dish. There is no marinade -- no lime, no chilli, no beer, no garlic -- because the whole proposition is beef and smoke, and a marinade on a one-centimetre steak that cooks in three minutes can only sit on the surface and burn. Coarse salt, twenty minutes before it goes on, and that is all. And the fire must be embers: grey-white, no visible flame, radiating hard. Flames lick a thin steak and leave black bitter patches in the thirty seconds before it is ready to turn, and sooty beef is the commonest fault in this dish.
2. THE STEAKS ARE THIN AND THAT IS NOT A COMPROMISE. One centimetre. A thin steak over very high heat develops a crust across its whole surface in the same time it takes the middle to come up to temperature, which is the proportion wanted here -- a lot of crust per mouthful. A thick steak needs lower heat and longer and becomes a different dish.
3. IT IS SALTED TWENTY MINUTES AHEAD, NOT AT THE GRILL. Salt on the surface draws out a little moisture, which then dissolves it and is reabsorbed, so the seasoning is in the meat rather than on it. Salted as it goes on, most of the salt falls into the fire.
4. THE SURFACE IS PATTED BONE DRY BEFORE IT GOES ON. Any moisture has to boil off before browning can start, and on a steak this thin that is most of its cooking time spent steaming. A sheet of kitchen paper over each side, pressed down, immediately before it hits the grill.
5. IT IS TWO OR THREE MINUTES A SIDE AND IT IS RESTED. Turned ONCE. Then off the fire onto a board for five minutes before anything is cut, and then chopped coarsely across the grain. Cut straight off the heat, the juices run out onto the board and the tortillas get none of them.
6. The fire lit well ahead and left to BURN DOWN. It is ready when the coals are grey-white with NO FLAME and a hand held above them can be kept there about 2 seconds.
7. The steaks salted with the coarse salt and left 20 MINUTES at room temperature.
8. The spring onions laid at the cooler edge of the grill to soften and char slowly.
9. Each steak PATTED BONE DRY with kitchen paper immediately before it goes on.
10. Laid on the grill directly over the embers and left 2 to 3 MINUTES without moving.
11. TURNED ONCE and given 2 to 3 MINUTES more.
12. TESTED by pressing: it should feel firm at the edges with some give in the centre.
13. Lifted onto a board and RESTED 5 MINUTES.
14. Chopped coarsely ACROSS the grain, and any juice on the board scraped back over it.
15. The tortillas warmed on the grill 20 seconds a side.
16. Served with the tortillas, charred spring onions, guacamole, salsa and lime, built at the table.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes