Carne asada
Good to meet you! Teach us about a good Atlanta grilling recipe and technique - for a novice hobby cook like me! Hope to see you start up a thread or something - Southern Grilling?
Hey there! I'm actually learning how to grill all over again because I recently purchased a kamado-style ceramic cooker from Primo. It's a very different kind of grilling from what I'm used to, but I would very much consider it an Atlanta thing because two of the major manufacturers of kamado-style kamado cookers (Big Green Egg and Primo) are both located in the metro Atlanta area.
That said, the favorite thing I used to do on my old grill, well, I didn't actually do it on my grill. I kind of cheated. This recipe is dangerous, so be careful! Here goes:
Carne Asada
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Ingredients:
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1/2 c olive oil
juice of 4 limes
kosher salt
pepper
1 ea skirt steak, sliced into 3/4" strips against the grain
1 ea red onion, minced
1/2 c cilantro, minced
corn tortillas
Special equipment:
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- 2 Weber charcoal chimney starters
- a grill grate which can rest comfortably sitting on top of the two aforementioned chimney starters when they are upright
Procedure:
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1. In a medium, non-reactive (read: non-aluminum) bowl, combine oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper and which until emulsified. Add strips of skirt steak and stir briefly until all meat is coated. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing out all air in between the coated meat and the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
2. While meat marinates, set the two chimney starters upright and side-by-side on top of your grill grates. Fill the chimney starters with charcoal (and newspaper in the bottom, as one normally would) and place another grill grate on top of the chimney starters. You will be grilling on top of the grate that is on top of the chimney starters! Ignite the charcoal.
3. The fire inside the chimney starters will get very, very, very hot. This is dangerous. Do not try this at home. Don't worry about oiling the top grate because any oil you put on top of it will immediately burn up and turn to ash anyway.
4. When meat is done marinating, rinse and pat the meat try with paper towels. You're just trying to get as much oil off the meat as possible to avoid as many flare-ups as possible.
5. Wearing a oven mitt and working quickly, grill each strip of meat on top of the top grate (on top of the glowing, red-hot chimney starters) until crispy. Move them around to avoid flare-ups. Grilling should take about 1 minute per strip. This is dangerous. Do not try this at home.
6. While meat is cooking, have your significant other heat up the flour tortillas in a cast-iron or non-stick skillet on the stove. You will be working non-stop on the grill, but you shouldn't be doing this anyway.
7. When meat is done cooking, move the cooked meat strips to a cutting board and mince the meat. You can use a chef's knife, but I've found better results using a dough scraper or a cleaver by pressing down with my body weight. You want tiny little nibbles of meat.
8. Place minced steak, onions, cilantro in separate bowls. Place warmed tortillas on a plate under a towel (or in a tortilla warmer if you have one). Move everything and everyone to the table. Assemble tacos by chaotically passing around bowls. Eat until full.
The reason why this recipe is so delicious is because if the fire is hot enough, then you'll end up with meat that is still pink in the middle but delicious browned and crispy on the outside, and every little niblet will be like that. If you hate cilantro, then you can substitute salsa or sour cream or guacamole (and I've done all of those), but the purist way (which is also delicious) is onion, cilantro, and meat. You might want to also add some more salt, pepper, or hot sauce (I like the Cholula chile-garlic sauce) to taste.
The reason why I kept writing "Don't do this at home" is because if you tip over one of those charcoal chimney starters, then you're going to go to the hospital if you don't burn down your house. I suggest having a fire extinguisher on-hand if you're really serious about making this recipe.
I've probably made this recipe about ten times. It's really important to rinse off the oil not only because of the flare ups, but also because the massive smoke will burn your eyes. The tongs you use to turn the meat will burn your hand, so don't forget the oven mitt, either! Yes, this is a arduous recipe to make, but it's sooooo yummy...