Huge fan of Mexican food. Tacos, fajitas – I love it. And spicy. Decided to try my hand at some marinated steak and threw them on some corn tortillas. And ate some on its own, and what an experience!

The Prep Table

The marinade is what’ll make this dish. Sweet and heat was the name of the game, so I went with the orange juice, lime, lemon and went with the jalapeño. Throw in some cumin, S&P, olive oil, garlic, and cilantro and it made a great liquid.

The thicker cilantro/jalapeno/garlic looks like it would great topper so I saved a little bit for later.

Bit of an expensive cut, but COVID times brings COVID prices

I was really tossing the idea of throwing a seasoning base, but decided to let the marinade do the talking this time. The cut barely fit into a freezer bag – threw that marinade in there and let it sit in the fridge overnight. It probably didn’t need to chill that long – but I wasn’t too hungry last night and this much meat deserves a hunger.

The cilantro, chunks of garlic and jalapeño bits imparted a great flavor

Every hour or two I shook the bag, let the juices ride over the meat and flipped it over to sit for a bit. Overnight I just let it ride, obviously, but gave it one last flip when I woke up. Long marinade time = juicy product.. I couldn’t wait.

The Process

Definitely no smoke happening on this one. I was going to crank the RecTeq Bull to 500 degrees and only grill it for about 15 minutes. Very lean cut, pretty thin – so the wood fire and the sear were going to make it great.

Fresh out the bag and unbelievably moist.

I pat the thing dry after taking it out of the marinade and let it get to room temperature. This gave me time to get the grill to temperature, and chop up some fajita veggies to enjoy with it.

Nothing special with the veggies – julienne cut on the pepper, thinly-sliced onion and jalapeño slices. The veggies weren’t the star of the show, so I just threw them in a grill basket and just kept them there until the meat was ready.

Got the GrillGrates ready for the meat, veggie sides

Those GrillGrates have gotten serious use this summer. I bought them when I bought the grill and it came with three plates. They are dirty as hell (or seasoned) and do a fantastic job for adding serious heat. Have the ThermaPen ready because you don’t want to overcook it.

You’ll see the meat is quite tapered at the ends, so no doubt I’m going to burn the ends, but I was looking for about 125 degrees (rare) internal for the rest of it. When I took the meat out of the marinade bag, it was so moist and juicy.. cooking it rare/medium rare will keep the meat loose and tender.

After about 8 minutes, sear is already looking outstanding

This is one of my favorite moments.. When you do the first flip after the sear and see what the product is going to look like – magical. Already had a great color and I wasn’t even done yet.

We’re skipping right to the finished product – I can’t wait to show you the result

The Result

On a bed of veggies with the garlic/cilantro/jalapeno garnish

It was unbelievable looking and I wanted to cut right into it. Gave it the usual 10 minute resting period to let them juices come back (Not that it needed it, was so juicy to begin with). A spread those fajita vegetables on the cutting board and placed the carne a top. Remember that saved marinade stuff? Threw it on top while it rested. Here’s what it looked like fresh off the grill

You can see that sear gave it a great color. I charred the shit out of the veggies, but that’s also how I like them. Like I said, wasn’t the primary purpose of this cook – but I was very happy with how it turned out.

So hard to slice because it was so tender

So it was apparent again that I could use a good brisket/slicing knife. I ended up taking each slice afterward and cutting thinner slices. Remember, I was making tacos with the carne asada this time.

Grabbed some small corn tortillas, had the chopped up cilantro and onion, and of course my homemade tomatillo/serrano hot sauce. The hardest part was putting it all together and waiting to eat it.. Spoiler: I didn’t wait – I ate a slice or two while I was building the tacos.

Heated the torts up in the pan, two for each taco and some crumbled queso fresco

Another highly successful, and recommended cook. Exactly what I had planned on and what I had hoped to accomplish. A very flavorful, tender cut of meat (Slice against the grain!). The hot sauce was a great addition (Stay tuned for a future post – Triple “S”)

I know the traditional taco doesn’t have the cheese, but I wanted the cheese and fresh crumbled the queso fresco. After having spent most of the week in California and NOT having any tacos – I had to supplement my disappointment. And I am almost happy I had a void to fill.

Leave a comment, recommend a good slicing/brisket knife, let me know what you think. And sign up to get future updates on cooks!

The Recipe

Carne Asada – Marinated Flank Steak

ForensicBBQ

This one was super special. Turned out so great, so flavorful! Thinly slice the meat with a nice brisket knife (I've since upgraded!)

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Ingredients

Marinade

3/4 Cup Orange Juice
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Fresh Cilantro Chopped
2 Limes Juiced
1 Lemon Juiced
3 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
1 Tsp Cumin
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Ground Pepper
1 Jalapeno Diced
4 Cloves Garlic Minced

The Meat

1.5 Lb Flank Steak

The Rest

1 Green Bell Pepper Julienned
1 Onion Sliced Thin

Instructions

In a large bowl, add the orange juice, olive oil, cilantro, lime juice, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, cumin, salt and pepper, jalapeno, and garlic; stir and combine.
Place like a 1/4 cup of the marinade aside – we'll use that to top it later. Otherwise, throw the rest into a ziploc bag.
Add the flank steak to the bag and let it marinade in the fridge. I did it overnight, but at least let it roll for a few hours if you can. I always picked it up and mixed it around, flipped it over when I'd walk by the fridge.
When ready to cook – get the RecTeq rolling to high – I do 500 degrees with the GrillGrates.
Remove meat from fridge, pat dry the meat and take it to the grill.
Place it on the GrillGrates for about 5 minutes per side – keep flipping until desired temperature. I personally wouldn't go anywhere past medium rare (ever, but definitely not for this cut – look to do rare)
Let rest for 10 minutes, add that reserved marinade and slice it thinly for the win!

Optional

I sliced up those onions/peppers and threw them on the grill before I added the meat and let them cook up. When they were done, I spread them out on the cutting board, and during the rest period for the meat, let the steak sit on the bed of pepper/onion.