Carne Asada Tacos

Adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt’s “The Best Carne Asada Recipe” at Serious Eats. I don’t cook ANYTHING without first checking to see if he’s published a recipe for and/or think piece about it.

Equipment 

  • Gallon zip-top bag

  • Tongs

  • Chef’s knife and cutting board

  • Grill 

  • Bag of cherry wood chips

  • Vegetable oil (for oiling the grill grates)

Ingredients 

  • 2 lbs flank steak

  • 1 can chipotles in adobo

  • Lime juice 

  • Olive oil 

  • 6 cloves garlic, smashed

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce

  • 2 tbp Asian fish sauce (Red Boat)

  • Cilantro, chopped

  • Red onion, diced fine

  • Juice of two mandarin oranges

  • 1 tbsp Cumin

  • 1 tsp Coriander

  • Salt

  • MSG

Method

The night before

  • Put steak in gallon zip-top bag

  • Add chipotles, lime juice, orange juice, olive oil, garlic, coriander, cumin, MSG, soy sauce, salt, fish sauce and ½ of cilantro

  • Be sure there’s enough liquid to coat the steak

  • Squeeze air out of bag and place in fridge

The day of

  • Every few hours, squeeze and flip the bag to move the marinade around

About an hour before cooking

  • take the bag out of the fridge and place on counter

  • Soak the wood chips

Cook time

  • Remove steak from bag and wipe down thoroughly (dry steak = better char!)

  • Add wood chips to grill smoker box

  • Preheat grill on high until wood chips begin to smoke

  • Clean and oil the grill grates

  • Put steak on grill and close lid

  • Grill for five minutes

  • Flip steak

  • Grill for two minutes

  • Remove steak to cutting board

  • Rest for five minutes

  • Slice thin against the grain

  • Serve with homemade corn tortillas, red onion, cilantro and hot sauce

Brian Snyder