Guide · Tacos · Beef
What Is Carne Asada? The Cuts, the Cookout and the Taco
Carne asada means grilled meat, and in northern Mexico it means your whole Sunday too. On a taco menu it's chopped grilled beef, usually skirt or flap. The steer below shows which cut is which.
There's no one specific cut, a point most American recipes skip. Mexico's food dictionary, Larousse Cocina, says only that carne asada is a cut of beef grilled over charcoal or on a griddle. It can be fillet, round or something else, and the quality depends on who's cooking.
| Cut | Where it is | What it's like | US butcher code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SkirtArrachera | The plate: the diaphragm, along the lower ribs | Long and flat, about 18 inches long and under half an inch thick. More flavor than tenderness. Slice against the grain. | NAMP 121C (outside), 121D (inside) |
| 2Flap | Bottom sirloin | Very thin and chewy, but full of flavor. Often confused with skirt and hanger. | IMPS/NAMP 1185A |
| 3Flank | Abdominal muscles, behind the plate | Long and flat with a strong grain. Sliced thin to cut the chew. | NAMP 193 |
| 4ChuckDiezmillo | The shoulder | Some cooks use it instead of the flat cuts. | None listed |
| 5Palomilla | The rear of the animal | Tender steaks. Sonoran restaurants serve them big and thick. | None listed |
A cookout before it's a dish
Larousse calls carne asada a real social and family event. In Baja California, families grill in the yard for birthdays and to spend Sunday with relatives. It's also a good excuse for a picnic. If someone in Monterrey or Hermosillo invites you to a carne asada, that's the event they mean, not a plate. Show up with beer.
What's on the table depends on the state, and Larousse is unusually specific about it:
| State | The meat | On the side |
|---|---|---|
| Baja California | Any beef cut as a thin or thick steak | Corn tortillas, hot salsa, refried or maneados beans, and almost always beer |
| Coahuila | Grilled beef | Frijoles charros or French fries |
| Sonora | Big thick steaks, often palomilla | Frijoles maneados, fried or baked potatoes, simple lettuce and tomato salad |
| Nuevo León, Durango | Arrachera (skirt), oil, salt, pepper, over mesquite | Guacamole, salsas and corn or flour tortillas, on a hot metal plate |
Two bean words on that table are worth knowing. Frijoles charros are soupy beans with onion, chile, tomato, bacon and cilantro, and they're filling enough to be a meal. Frijoles maneados, typical of Sonora and Chihuahua, are refried in lard or oil with asadero or Chihuahua cheese, mashed right in the pan. Larousse says that's the main way people there eat beans.
How old is carne asada?
There's no founding date. Cattle reached Mexico with the Spanish Conquest, so it can't be older than that. The usual explanation points to northern Mexico, especially Sonora and Nuevo León, because of their ranching culture. Wikipedia words it as "it is believed," and that's the right amount of confidence. Larousse just says that in Sonora it has always been a very important food.
Marinade, or just salt?
Both camps exist. Plenty of cooks and butchers use a marinade of lime juice, salt and seasonings, and Mexican meat markets sell carne ranchera ready-marinated. Larousse describes arrachera in the north with just a little oil, salt and pepper over mesquite charcoal. Thin, fibrous cuts like skirt and flap do well either way, if they go on high heat for a short time and get sliced against the grain.
Supply is part of skirt's story. Larousse says one steer gives only about 6 kilos of arrachera on average, and that it competes hard with fillet on Mexico City restaurant menus.
How do you cook it at home?
- Season it. Salt alone, or a marinade of lime juice and salt. Skirt and flap are thin, so they don't need long.
- Get the fire very hot. Charcoal if you can, mesquite if you're lucky. A heavy griddle works too.
- Cook it fast. You want a dark crust on the outside. The FDA says steaks should reach 145°F.
- Rest it 3 minutes, as the FDA also says.
- Slice against the grain, then chop. Cutting across those long fibers is what keeps it from chewing like a shoelace.
What makes a good asada taco?
Chopped small, with the crust still on the pieces. A warm corn tortilla, onion and cilantro, then salsa and lime. The thing to look out for is a pile of gray, steamed meat, which means it was cooked ahead and held. For how it compares with al pastor, barbacoa and the rest, see our chart of 16 tacos. Guacamole is the traditional partner, and we wrote a guide to that too.
Where skirt shows up on our menu
Ours is on the taco list as the menu describes it: grilled skirt trimmings, charred onions, onion & cilantro. So that's skirt, the cut at number 1 on the diagram, in small pieces.
Skirt and the things that usually go with it, on our menu now:
Tacos: Three corn tortilla tacos per order, with creamy zucchini sauce, chile de árbol sauce, onion, cilantro & lime. Flour tortillas +2.
Carne asada questions
What does carne asada mean?
Grilled meat, in Spanish. In practice it means grilled beef, and in northern Mexico it also means the cookout itself.
What cut of meat is carne asada?
There's no required cut. In the US it's usually skirt, flap or flank. Larousse Cocina says that in Mexico it can be fillet, round or several others, depending on who's cooking and where.
What's the difference between carne asada and arrachera?
Carne asada is the way of cooking. Arrachera is a cut: Mexico's name for skirt steak, and a very common choice for carne asada.
What's the difference between carne asada and fajitas?
Both are often skirt. Carne asada gets chopped for tacos or served as a steak with beans and tortillas. Fajitas come in strips on a hot plate with peppers and onions, which you wrap yourself.
Is carne asada spicy?
Not usually. A marinade of lime, salt and seasoning brings no real heat. The salsa does.
What temperature should carne asada be cooked to?
At home, the FDA says steaks should reach 145°F, with a 3-minute rest.
Do you serve carne asada tacos?
Yes. Carne Asada: Grilled skirt trimmings, charred onions, onion & cilantro. $20 an order. See our tacos.
