This Classic Steak Becomes Crazy Flavorful Tacos With These Methods

Your steak tacos never quite taste like that taco chuck and I promise you it has nothing to do with expensive meat. I'll show you how a cheap cut becomes the most flavorful, insanely tender carne asada you've ever made. A line cook taught me this 25 years ago and after all the time in the kitchens it's still how I do it at home. Just a couple simple techniques. That's it. Sound good? Let's cook. I've got about one and a half, call it one and three quarter pound skirt steak, better known as arrechera, but don't sleep on flank steak or even flanken style short ribs, which I actually happen to have one and a half pounds of to use in this carne asada tacos recipe. Just give them a quick slice along the bone to remove them. Those bones are great for snack. Now for the skirt steak, this one's pretty big because it's the inside skirt so all I'm going to do is simply slice it in half. And while you're at it, pay attention to those grain directions because we'll follow those at the end of the video. But first, make sure there is no silver skin that needs to be removed. And if you're good, just set them to the side. And real quick, just a bath for the cutting board and knife. Alright, at this stage I'm going to add all the beef to a 13 by 9 casserole dish. What I want to do is season it well on all sides with salt and really work it in. And as a general rule of thumb, you'll use about one to one and a quarter teaspoon per pound. And I'm using diamond crystal, just an FYI. Now for a little extra love in this and totally optional, how about mixing in one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I actually picked this up from the man himself, Ricky Bayless. It gives it more umami and a beefier flavor. What I like to do now is cover it up and add it to the fridge while we work on the marinade. This will allow that salt and Worcestershire sauce to start penetrating and working into the meat, making it perfectly seasoned. Little techniques like this always make meals worth remembering. Okay, real quick, just going to medium dice a half of one yellow onion, which should give you around three quarter cup or so. Don't worry if it's a little more or a little less. This marinade is very forgiving. Next, I'm taking that right back to the cooktop along with a few other goodies. In a medium to large size saute pan over low to medium heat, I'm adding in one teaspoon of cumin seeds. The goal here is to get a little toast on them. It'll only take three to four minutes and it will start to become really fragrant. And at that point you'll know it's good. But be sure to get all the smells you can because it is amazing. At this stage I'm going to add them right to a molcajete or mortar for a quick second. And while our pan is still hot, add in those diced onions along with six to seven whole garlic cloves. And we'll occasionally stir those for a total of about six to eight minutes of cooking. I just want to get a little toast on these as well. And while I do that, why not grind down the roasted cumin with a pestle until it's finely ground. And you for sure could use a spice grinder as well. And in the end it should look just like this. Now transfer it over to a medium sized bowl, but keep that mortar and pestle close by. Let's go have a look at the onions and give them a little stir. And this is great, just looking for that little brown around the edges. Just another minute or two. Then we're going to transfer all this goodness back over to the mortar and we're also going to grind this down until it becomes like a paste. And I know it may seem weird to do this, but several of the guys I used to work with, they would just pop the garlic or onions right in a pan or on the griddle. That little toast, I promise you, is just going to make the marinade that much better. Okay this is looking really good. And don't sweat it if there are a few chunks in there. It is all good, I promise. You can absolutely pull this off. Let's add it right to the bowl with the cumin. And next I'm slicing up three limes. I'm going to squeeze them right into the bowl. This should render about five to six tablespoons total of juice. Again, it is totally cool if it's a little more or a little less. At this point I'm going to add in two-thirds cup of fresh orange juice. And how about some cerveza? Preferably a Mexican beer is what you should use. Just two-thirds cup will add some great moisture and some nice malty flavors, which are great for brownie. Okay sprinkle in one tablespoon of oregano. And we're just about done, but first we'll need a quarter cup of finely minced cilantro. The stems are also good to use. A lot of really good lemon-lime flavors in those. A bit of salt and more pepper. Don't forget the steak is already salted up, but that doesn't mean the marinade shouldn't still be seasoned. Now whisk in about a third cup of olive oil. It'll add flavor, help prevent some sticking while cooking, and just add more fat. And give it a taste while you're at it. There's no better way to become a better cook than to taste things throughout the entire cooking process. Plus it makes cooking more fun. Okay let's go grab the beef. Just pour the marinade all over the top and really take one to two minutes to work it in so that all sides of the beef are completely covered in it. And it's weird, but it already smells insanely delicious. I have a feeling you are gonna love this. All right let's wrap it up and pop it back in the fridge for as little as four and up to 24 hours. The closer to that 24 hour mark, the more flavorful the carne asada will be. A few of my friends have been texting me lately telling me that if they allow for themselves to have a little bit more time when cooking, that their meals are absolutely delicious. And honestly, that's all it really is. If you can just give yourself a bit extra time when it comes to cooking, your food can go from good to absolutely incredible. Now when you're ready to start cooking, let's pull it out of the fridge and just set it to the side to take the chill off of it. And being a good cook is about being a good steward of your time. So while this warms up a bit, how about a quick roasted salsa roja to go on top. Start by slicing down a half yellow onion into wedges. Take them over to the cooktop along with a few other ingredients. Next in a medium-sized cast iron skillet, turn the heat up to low medium to medium ish and heat it up for a minute or two. Then add in the onions along with three garlic cloves and two serrano chiles. The goal here is to get a little char on them and while I don't have a comal, cast iron works great. It should only take about two to three minutes per side and in the meantime some quick mis. Simply remove the stem from eight fresh roma tomatoes. It's a really decent tomato to use all year round. Okay time to give everything a little flip ski and yep this is what we want. Crazy how these few ingredients roasting up makes my kitchen smell incredible. Once we're brown on the other side for two to three minutes, I'm just going to set them to the side in a bowl. Now add those tomatoes right to the skillet and let them char up on each side for two to three minutes. But don't forget there's four sides to these. While we wait, just going to be proactive and stem and seed the serranos. And of course if you love all that heat, you'd be sure to leave the pith and seeds in there. But you know me, I'm a bit weak in this department. But I will say I'm definitely getting better. Add those right to the blender and then let's go turn over our tomatoes to continue charring them up a bit. This process of doing this to the veg, it really just helps to get a more roasted flavor to the salsa. It's easy to do and well worth the few minutes. You've got this my friends. And after a total of eight to ten minutes of cooking, these look great. Add them right to the blender with the other roasted veg and let's give it a little blend to break things down. Now since the veggies are a little hot, be sure to remove the center cap from the lid to let the steam escape or else this thing could blow up on you. And I don't want my name to be cursed out, so be sure to do this. Once it's a nice chunky salsa consistency like this, I'm next adding in some salt, two to three tablespoons of olive oil for some fat, then three tablespoons of roughly chopped cilantro. Lastly, the juice of one lime, which is about one and a half to two tablespoons. Just blend it in and don't forget to give it a taste and make sure it's good to go. If so, transfer to a container and chill it down a bit in the fridge. Now let's cook the beef, but first heat up your grill to high, which should be about 500 to 550 degrees F. And I'll also show you how to do this on a grid, so heat that up to right around 350 to 375 degrees F. And yes, I know I'm spoiled having these side by side, but I'm pretty sure you have a grill and a lot of you all have one of those black stones. Once the grill is fired up, I feel like it makes the most sense, traditionally anyways, to serve all this up with a side of grilled green onions and jalapenos. Just a few minutes per side to give them a smoky little char and this really helps set off the flavor. While they do that, personally, I love an additional side of sliced radishes with these tacos to go with the onions and jalapenos. This is what my old co-workers would always serve these up with and it's always so good. Okay, once you've got that little char on the grill, just set them to the side and now let's grill some beef. I'm going to place down half of the marinated beef right on that grill. This will only take about two to two and a half minutes per side to achieve a medium rare-ish plus to medium internal temperature. Now here's how it's done on the flat top. Hit it with a few tablespoons of tallow or neutral cooking oil, then place the remaining beef right down. It'll cook for the exact same amount of time, which is great. And while both methods are different, they really give similar flavors. I'll hat tip the flat top because all those juices stay right there as the beef cooks. The marinade isn't dripping through the grates, but that little extra smoky char is also insanely good. It's just a personal preference, that's it. Okay, let's give everything a flip and yeah, just some char marks like this is mostly what we're looking for. Now do the same thing on the griddle and again we'll cook this for about two minutes or so. I usually pull everything right around 125 to 130 degrees F internal. Let's place the beef on a rack and it's just about time to eat, but first we need to rest it for a few minutes. And while I do it, another quick little chef tip, I always squeeze on a little bit of lime juice for some clean acid, a bit of olive oil for some fat, and then a gentle sprinkle of maldon salt. As it rests, it's going to soak up all that goodness and be incredible. Now for a few additional garnishes, some small diced sweet onion and finely minced fresh cilantro. I also absolutely love homemade guacamole for this. It'll definitely enhance the flavor of these tacos and I'm sorry to say that I love my guac recipe the most. It's got a few little tricks of the trade in it and it is dang tasty. You can grab this recipe on my site at billyparisi.com and I'll drop a link below. Next let's toast up some corn tortillas for a minute or two per side just on that flat top. And it's fine to grab them pre-made or you can for sure make them at home. I also have a great overly tested and foolproof recipe video if you want to check it out. Okay at this stage let's slice up the beef and get going already. Remember those grains? Yeah we want to slice against them. So to make it easier to cut let's slice this in half and then very thinly slice it and slightly on a bias against the grain. Doing this will break up those long muscle fibers so that it becomes much more tender. Nothing worse than chewing on a bite of beef for 20 minutes. It's not going to happen here. Then after slicing just a little 90 degree turn and slice again so that you have small bite-sized pieces. But seriously try not to eat all this because it smells amazing and the flavors are so good because it's time to finally plate this up. Hot tortilla, a good amount of the carne asada, a bit of guacamole, next salsa roja, then finish it off with some sweet onion and fresh cilantro. This right here is perfection in my book and I know my uncle could for sure eat these all day every day. Now the perfect sweet to finish this off with has to be my tres leches cake. So good once it hits your lips I can taste it already. I've got a great recipe video and I'll see you there. Dying to eat this. I don't even care. Oh my gosh you guys. Waves and waves of delicious flavor. Fresh sweet onion, fresh cilantro. Do it! Don't wait! Do it!