- 7 months ago
In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef Saúl Montiel demonstrates how to make the best Carne Asada Tacos at home. Using tender, juicy grilled flap steak, a citrus-beer marinade, and a spicy chile de arbol salsa, this recipe is perfect for your next taco night.
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00:00Making tacos de carne asada, it's not hard.
00:02You just have to follow a couple of rules
00:04and pick the right ingredients.
00:11Choosing your right meat is gonna make
00:13a hundred percent difference on your tacos de asada.
00:16Today I'm using flap steak,
00:18which is the bottom part of the sirloin.
00:20If you're looking for this piece of meat on the market,
00:22just look for the bottom sirloin bat.
00:24It's very similar to a flank steak and a skill steak.
00:27And what I love about this meat
00:28is that it's juicier and it's tender.
00:31Some meats are made to be for braising, roasting.
00:34This kind of meat is perfect for grilling.
00:36The marmalization in between is incredible.
00:39So meaty, so juicy, so beefy,
00:41that's gonna make the best carne asada tacos.
00:44And it goes from thin to thick.
00:47So that's why you need to cut it.
00:49The reason why you cut always against the grain
00:51is to break the nerves and to have a softer meat.
00:55I want my tacos to be, you know, nice, tender, juicy.
00:58That's why it's very important how you cut your meat.
01:00You see here, the marmalization.
01:01This has perfect marmalization.
01:03Marmalization means that it's healthy.
01:06It has fat in between the meat.
01:08And fat, when you cook it,
01:09it melts and it keeps a moist, juicy.
01:14The most important part of a taco asada is the marinade.
01:17While making the marinade,
01:19we're looking for two things.
01:20We're gonna make this meat flavorful
01:21and we're gonna make it more tender.
01:23Every single ingredient here
01:24has something to add to the flavor.
01:26Some people do a dry rub.
01:28The dry rub, I feel like it's more better for smokiness
01:30when you cook it for like a longer period of time
01:33instead of just grilling it.
01:34Grilling it, you're just gonna grill it
01:36for like 10 to 15 minutes.
01:37So I feel like it needs fresh ingredients.
01:40Orange juice is going to help it tenderize
01:42and also gonna add some sweetness to it.
01:44Lime juice is gonna cure the meat a little bit.
01:47It's gonna get the meat acidity
01:49that tacos asada should have.
01:50Wojester sauce.
01:52It makes the taste of the meat more beefy,
01:54but it also adds some saltiness to it.
01:55That's why we're not using salt in here.
01:57One of the reasons why I also love to use wojester sauce
02:00is because I can't pronounce it.
02:02I will just want to keep practices
02:04and then I'll get it right.
02:05Wojester sauce.
02:06Wojester sauce.
02:07Wojester sauce.
02:09Now, beer is going to help tenderize the meat.
02:12Today I'm using dark beer
02:14because I want to add that note of caramel.
02:17I'm Mexican, so I use anything to open my beer.
02:21That's what happens when you broke.
02:22You know, you make it work.
02:26And then jalapeños.
02:27You add some spiciness, but without overpowering.
02:29Garlic cures everything.
02:31So, some spring onions too.
02:33I think adding onions will add
02:35a different type of acidity and spice.
02:37And some aroma.
02:39Cilantro.
02:40They're having a good time.
02:41The sweet meat, getting some spiciness,
02:44some sweetness, some acidity.
02:47Everybody here is having a good time.
02:49And we're going to let it sit on the fridge
02:51for like two to three hours.
02:52Any more time than that,
02:53it's just going to overpower the meat
02:55and we don't want to overpower the meat.
02:57So, respect science.
02:59Meat has been marinated for the past three hours.
03:02I can see that the color of the meat changed already.
03:04That means that all the love is in the meat.
03:09Before I cook my meat,
03:11we're going to start grilling some vegetables.
03:12Spring onions.
03:13We use cebollita campray in Mexico.
03:16The longer you cook, the sweeter they'll become.
03:18But look how beautiful.
03:19This is the beauty of grilling something.
03:21You see the char.
03:22You see the transformation from being okay
03:25to being delicious.
03:26What it's going to do to the dish,
03:28it's going to add the sweetness
03:29and it's going to help you to kill the spiciness
03:31of the taco if it's too spicy.
03:33Spring onions are done.
03:34Now I'm going to move into cooking the meat.
03:36This meat looks phenomenal.
03:38You can see that all the ingredients are doing their job.
03:42What I'm doing right now is removing
03:44some of the moist out of here.
03:46This is a very important step.
03:47If you don't do this
03:48and you put it straight from here to the grill,
03:51you won't have the sear.
03:52You won't have the flavor of char.
03:54When making tacos, the carne asada,
03:55the grill is very important.
03:57And if you can do open flame or charcoal,
03:59it will be the best thing.
04:00If you don't have that, you can, you know,
04:02do what I do, have a cast iron grill
04:05and that will do the job.
04:06Before cooking the meat,
04:07I'm going to put a little bit of salt and pepper.
04:10Some people, when they do the salt,
04:11they do it very close to the meat.
04:13So what happens, you don't get the salt evenly.
04:15So that's why you have to go up and do this.
04:16So you get the salt evenly.
04:18Are you ready?
04:19Are you ready to be cooked?
04:23If you don't hear that noise,
04:25you're not doing it right.
04:26If you don't see the smoke,
04:28you're not doing it right.
04:29If you don't see me,
04:31it's because the stew is getting full of smoke.
04:33So we're just going to cook it for, I would say,
04:36three to four minutes.
04:38It depends on how thick it is.
04:40When cooking meat, make sure that the grill is nice and hot
04:43and make sure you don't touch the meat.
04:45Leave it alone.
04:46Doesn't bother you.
04:47It's not on your face.
04:48So when do you know your meat is ready to flip?
04:51It's when you see the sizes changing color
04:54and also when you start smelling the smoke flavor.
04:57That means you're cooking your meat.
04:58So now it's been three minutes.
04:59Now we're going to flip it.
05:02This side.
05:03Patience.
05:04Finish your beer.
05:06Making a carne asada tacos without beer,
05:08you're not doing it right.
05:09So now I'm going to flip it.
05:14Look at that beautiful.
05:15That's what asada means.
05:17Asar, grill, char, smoke, asada.
05:22I'm smelling Mexico.
05:23I'm smelling carne asada, summer, my friends, my family,
05:27kids running around, grilling, drinking.
05:30That's what I'm smelling.
05:32That's what food does.
05:33Takes you to places.
05:35Look at this beauty.
05:37So this is ready to go.
05:39Well, this meat is rest.
05:40I'm going to go cook the other ones
05:42because we're a big family.
05:43Ladies and gentlemen,
05:45meat, my carne asada or my tacos.
05:49Remember, if you don't see that sear,
05:52if you don't see that smoke,
05:53that means you're not doing it right.
05:55So this is exactly what I'm looking for.
05:57The meat has color.
05:58It's seared.
05:59So now the entire meat is nice and sealed.
06:02So that means that all the juices are inside.
06:04They're not going to go anywhere.
06:05So now I'm just going to let this rest
06:07for like eight to 10 minutes
06:08so the juices can stay in the meat.
06:11Resting is very important.
06:13Not just for the meat, for yourself.
06:15Let the meat rest so it tastes good.
06:18Rest yourself so you can be happy.
06:22Now that my carne asada is rested,
06:25I'm going to chop it up,
06:27get it ready for our tacos.
06:28It looks like how carne asada
06:29is supposed to look like.
06:31Charred with nice and golden colors.
06:34And the best part is the smell.
06:36I'm going to show you how to cut it
06:37to prepare it for your tacos.
06:39First of all, you need a cleaver.
06:40Una hacha, taquera.
06:42Why?
06:43The reason why taqueros use this
06:45is because it's so heavy
06:47that you don't need to put that much force into it.
06:49If you see the layers here of meat,
06:51they're going horizontal.
06:53So we're going to cut against it.
06:54So we're going to go vertical.
06:56Horizontal, vertical.
06:58It sounds better in Spanish.
06:59So always go against the grain.
07:01So it will make it less chewy, more tender.
07:03This is how it's supposed to look like.
07:06Little pinkish, so it's nice and moist and tender.
07:09Now we're going to cut it like a taquero.
07:11It's going to be a little loud.
07:12So get ready.
07:13This sound is the sound of someone making tacos.
07:22The reason why I'm chopping it this way
07:27is because I want to make sure
07:29that all the flavors are mixing together.
07:31Every bite of your taco should be nice and tender.
07:34If I use a knife, I will be like this.
07:36I'm putting so much effort, but look at this.
07:38Plus, I look like a badass chef.
07:44There you go.
07:45And that's ready.
07:46I don't know, but this makes me feel so powerful.
07:51Makes me feel like I can do anything I want.
07:53It's looking good.
07:54All the flavors are mixing.
07:55All the moist meats and the dry meats
07:58are mixing together.
07:59So every single bite that you eat,
08:01you will have the same balance of texture or flavor.
08:04When plating tacos,
08:08you have to plate the meat right away.
08:10Heating up the tortillas,
08:11putting the meat, salsa, pass it on.
08:13You eat it right there.
08:14That's the beauty of tacos.
08:15You have to eat it in this pot.
08:17The tortillas, it's a very important part of the taco.
08:20You can have two tortillas, the store-bought
08:22or the frazzemate.
08:23In this case, I'm using a frazzemate
08:25and they're nice and soft, nice and strong.
08:28When choosing your tortilla,
08:29if it has a Mexican name, a real Mexican name,
08:32that's the tortilla you're going to get.
08:33Now I'm going to build my taco.
08:34So now I have my freshly made tortillas.
08:37They smell delicious.
08:38They smell like corn.
08:39I think a really good taco
08:41should be two and a half to three bites.
08:43It shouldn't be big.
08:43If it's big, that means, you know,
08:45it's not, to me, it's not authentic.
08:48So we're going to start with some meat.
08:50So I'm using two types of salsa for my tacos.
08:52One is spicy and the other one's a little mild.
08:55Now my salsa, I'm using chile de árbol,
08:58tomatoes, onions, garlic,
09:00little bit of cumin, and it's spicy.
09:03This is going to add heat, char,
09:05and it's going to also add a little bit of moist
09:08to your taco if it's too dry.
09:10The salsa needs to be the end to the other end.
09:12So every single bite has the same amount of salsa,
09:15same amount of love.
09:16And then we're going to do the avocado.
09:17I'm going to add a texture,
09:18which is smooth, soft, fresh,
09:20and also it's going to balance the spiciness
09:22from the chile de árbol.
09:24A little bit of onions.
09:25They look so nice.
09:26Cooking is fun.
09:27Cilantro.
09:28Cilantro adds aroma.
09:30And there you have it.
09:31My spring onion is on the side.
09:32You get a bite of the taco.
09:34You get a bite of the onion.
09:35Put some lime.
09:36Be happy.
09:37This looking just like the ones
09:39that I used to eat when I was back home in Mexico.
09:41Simple, delicious, well done, well executed.
09:44I think it's going to be the best taco
09:46I've had in my whole life.
09:47Quiz lime everywhere.
09:50I can smell the tortilla.
09:52The, oh, you know what, that's it.
09:53Let me try it.
09:54I eat almost half of the taco.
10:01That's a good sign.
10:02It's spicy and it's creamy and it's charred and it's moist.
10:06You have the flavors of a Mexican street food.
10:10And also you have the consistency of a gourmet taco.
10:13So like the best out of two worlds.
10:16My advice of making tacos de asada
10:18is you have to do it with your family and friends.
10:22I think just making the tacos de asada,
10:24you have to involucrate your whole family
10:26and the people that you love the most.
10:28Cause it will taste even better.
10:32Now the fire department is going to come
10:33and have some tacos de asada.
10:35This is why this is an outdoor dish.
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