Recipe and Technique: Marinating and Chopping Your Own Carne Asada

A few years ago, I was lost in the vast depths of the internet.  There, I came across a video recipe for carne asada. To my surprise, the chef added oranges to his marinade. I had to pause the video and rewatch it a few times as well as make sure my translation of narajanas was indeed oranges.

I started asking some of my coworkers about the legitimacy of this recipe. Sure enough, they all replied unanimously with agreement. They said that it helps bring out the flavor as well as make the meat more tender. I could understand the flavor component, but I had to disagree with the latter.

It is true that some fruits have a tenderizing agent in the form of enzymes, such as pineapples or kiwis, but acidity alone does not "break down" anything in meat. Instead, the tender consistency of carne asada comes from two entirely different concepts: the specific cut of beef and the chopping of the meat.

(This photo is not mine. I found it on google. I forgot to take pictures of the post-chop meat product, and I'm saving my pictures of another post. Forgive my noob moment.)

On my last visit to my local carniceria, I asked the butcher for his opinion on the best cut of beef to use for carne asada because I saw both marinated ranchera and chuck roll on sale. His personal preference is chuck roll (thinly sliced beef chuck shoulder) because it contained more fat and is juicier. However, ranchera (flap meat) is the traditional cut to use. So why not have the best of both worlds?

After marinating and cooking, I decided to chop the beef into small bits, much like how it is served at Mexican restaurants. My family originally cut the meat into larger strips and pieces simply because it was easier to do. Besides, larger pieces of meat should give a better mouth feel, like eating a piece of grilled steak. Turns out, the high collagen content in these cuts give the meat quite a chew to put down. By chopping up the steak, the tough mouthful works in our favor by not letting the chopped meat taste like ground meat (the "ready to fall apart and crumble" texture). 

After tasting the carne asada, I've come to the conclusion that the orange and lime marinade worked in perfect unison with the texture of the chopped meat. This was accomplished by the slight "pucker" reaction I had when chewing. Imagine yourself eating your favorite sour candy: war heads, sour pop, and all the other childhood favorites. The sour candy is some how able to elicit a "succulent" taste on your tongue. I believe that this same thing is happening with carne asada. The tough chew, chopped consistency, and fragrant lime and orange marinade all come together to help create this feeling that the meat you are eating is incredibly juicy. Or maybe I'm just crazy for thinking so.

Ingredients:

1 lb Beef Ranchera 

1 lb Beef Chuck Roll

1 Orange

2 Limes

1/2 Onion

Cilantro

1 tsp Cumin

2 tsp Oregano

Salt and Pepper

DO's:

-If you have a tin of chipotle peppers, add in one or two into the marinade!

-Use any proportion of beef cuts! I used a 1:1 ratio of beef chuck and ranchera. Beef chuck was half the price/pound, so it is definitely a budget cut!

-If you're unable to get thinly sliced beef chuck roll, cut your own! You're looking for 1/2 inch slices, which is fairly easy to do without exact knife skills.

-Use a grill if you can! It makes the meat so much better! But if you don't have the time, just sear it on a skillet. I used a cast iron skillet for this recipe.
-Reduce the amount of orange and lime to your own taste.

DON'Ts:
-Use too much lime and orange. I used one whole orange and two limes for a little less than 1.5 pounds of beef. It actually became overwhelming!


The Marinade

You can layer your ingredients or just toss everything into a zip loc bag. It really doesn't matter!

I decided to layer my ingredients to make it fancy. I wouldn't do it again though, it didn't make a difference.

Make sure to marinade this for at least 1 hour! No more than 5 hours!

I was too lazy to set up my charcoal grill, so this cast iron pan will do the trick for me. Make sure you get that delicious sear on your meat. I have here two steaks of ranchera sizzling away.

Honestly, the marinated meat cost the exact same as the unmarinated variety. I would only do this if I had a specific flavor I had in mind, different from the ones available in store. It was definitely worth the experience though. So the next time you show up to a BBQ, bring a giant zip loc bag of carne asada with you. You can never go wrong if you do!

Recipe: Justin's Kitchen Specialty BBQ Sauce

Making BBQ sauce is not easy. For the past two years, I've been tweaking and improving my BBQ sauce with every time that I make it. I've made all the possible mistakes and I definitely still have room to improve. That being said, I am also immensely proud of this sauce!

For some history, I originally planned my BBQ sauce to be free of region-specific traditions. For example, Kansas City BBQ is generally very sweet and candy like. The Carolinas have a vinegar based mop sauce and in Memphis, they forgo sauce all together and use only dry rub! Well, here in Los Angeles, I can do whatever I want. I've taken inspiration from all of the areas and put them together.

Ingredients
1/2 Smoked Onion
1/2 Smoked Apple
Aromatics
2 cloves Garlic
1-2 tbsp of my special Dry Rub
1 Guajillo Chili Pepper
1 Ancho Chili Pepper
1-2 Bay Leaves
Hot Chili Flakes
1 tbsp Chicken Bouillon Powder
Wet Ingredients
2 tbsp A1 Steak Sauce
2 tbsp Ketchup (without High-Fructose Corn Syrup)
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
3-4 tbsp Maple Syrup
1-3 tbsp Brown Sugar
3 cups water
1 splash of Apple Cider Vinegar
Thickening Agent
1 heaping tbsp of rice

DO:
-If you don't have access to a smoker, use a regular onion and apple instead, but add in a splash of bourbon whiskey!
-Play around with the flavors and taste! Allow the sauce to simmer for at least 30 minutes before adjusting the final flavors.

DON'T:
-Use that liquid smoke bullshit. I mean, what is that?!

The Onions and Apples
One of the very first inspirations I had when making BBQ sauce came from making Japanese curry. To help achieve a sweet and light taste, apples are grated into curry. It helps to add a refreshing flavor in the background, but makes an incredible difference.

I begin by smoking the onions and apples in my smoker using a mix of cherry and apple wood. By doing this, I can naturally impart smokey flavors into the sauce. Do NOT use liquid smoke as a substitute. There's all sorts of who knows what in that bottle.

Simply chop up your onions and apples (or grate in the apples) to a pot and stir fry with olive oil and 2 tbsp of your dry rub mixture. The reasoning behind using the dry rub in the BBQ sauce is to unite the flavors of meat and sauce. Sure, that might sound like a load of made up fluff, but I love the way it makes my smoked ribs taste and I shall stand by it proudly.




The Aromatics
After sweating the apples and onions, add the rest of the dry aromatic ingredients. Stir frying the ingredients in this step helps any oil soluble flavors to be extracted from the seasonings (said by someone somewhere...).

The Wet Ingredients
Add 3 cups of water to start, and all of the wet ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

If you don't have a smoker (most people don't), try using bourbon whiskey instead! I would not recommend using both smoked ingredients and whiskey, for I feel that may be too many competing flavors.

Adding Rice And Blending
The addition of rice is a very recent development in my sauce. Taking inspiration from making tomato bisque, the addition of rice allows for the thickening of the sauce without changing the taste, shelf-life, or cooking process! A corn starch slurry will eventually break down if kept overnight. Flour needs to be cooked and turned into a rue before using. Too much reduction will result in an overly salty or sweet sauce.

I add my rice after the initial 30 minutes of simmering. Allow the rice to fully cook and become saturated with liquid. After doing the final taste test and adjusting water levels, I remove the bay leaves from the pot and blend the sauce. I use an emulsion blender, but any house hold blender will work!

The final consistency of the sauce should allow it to coat the back of a spoon as shown above.

After much thought, I have finally decided to share my recipe with everyone and to anyone who wishes to learn it. It is surely a lot of work for just sauce, but for anyone who has tasted it, you know just how amazing it is.

There are no added preservatives (only the ones already included in the products used), no xanthum gum thickening agents, no food coloring, and none of those mystery ingredients listed in other store brand BBQ sauces. This is as good as it gets, until I discover something new to change about it and improve it further!

Recipe: Justin's Kitchen Secret Dry Rub

The secrets out! I'm going to share my secret dry rub that I use for all of my barbeque, smoked ribs, and pulled pork!

I originally created this with some inspiration from Amazing Rib's Memphis Dust. Although I don't use as thick of a coating as I would need for Memphis styled BBQ, I do believe that the variety of herbs and spices help create a very fragrant and savory bark when smoked or roasted. I recommend using the core ingredients listed below every single time, but the variants are for everyone's own tastes to decide for.

Core Ingredients:
Salt
2 parts Brown Sugar
1 part Black Pepper
1 part White Pepper
1 part Smoked Paprika
1 part Chili Powder
1 part Onion Powder
1 part Garlic Powder
1/2 part Cayenne Pepper
1/2 part Oregano

Variable Ingredients:
1/2 part Ground Mustard
1/2 part Ground Cumin
1/2 part Ground Coriander Seeds
1/2 part Ground Nutmeg
1/2 part Ground All Spice
1/2 part Ground Ginger

DO:
-Salt your meat separately from the dry rub. This allows you to fully control how much salt you use and avoid double salting your meals, especially if you plan to use barbeque sauce.
-I use all of the variable ingredients with the core ingredients combined, but depending on what I am cooking, I may choose to change some ingredients. For example, I would exchange out ginger for sage or fennel.
-Try grinding your own spices! I keep my cumin, coriander, all spice, and nutmeg as whole grains. I also have mustard seeds and fennel whole too, but I don't use them as often.
-Make a little extra to make your BBQ sauce also!

DON'T:
-This is not an all purpose dry rub! I use this dry rub specifically for barbeque and smoking ribs and the sort. Don't use this rub for pan-searing chicken for a normal day's dinner.
-Store the rub for too long. Many of the spices are volatile and lose their potency with time.