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Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

spring hill ranch's carne asada, new mexico style

WileyP avatar
Recipe by
Wiley P
@WileyP
Sierra Vista, AZ

We love our carne asada in northern New Mexico and, come butchering time, will often set aside our flank steaks solely for that purpose. Cooked and cut properly, flank steak is tender and delicious, with a unique, rich beef flavor. Some folks tend to marinate their steaks overnight in the thought that it will make them more tender, but I find that 4-12 hours in a marinade is enough to cover much of the great beefy flavor of the meat. Instead, I chose to use a dry rub and refrigerate the steak with the rub on for only an hour or two. The rub is more of a seasoning than a tenderizer.

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yield 6 -8
prep time 1 Hr
cook time 20 Min
method Grill

Ingredients For spring hill ranch's carne asada, new mexico style

  • THE MEAT:
  • 2 1/2 ± lb
    beef flank steak
  • FOR THE RUB:
  • 2 Tbsp
    kosher salt (diamond crystal brand; 1 tablespoon morton's brand)
  • 2 Tbsp
    brown sugar (light/golden or dark)
  • 2 Tbsp
    chipotle powder ( or 1 tablespoon each of smoked paprika and red chile powder [not cayenne!])
  • 2 tsp
    ground cumin
  • 2 tsp
    garlic powder
  • 2 tsp
    freshly ground black pepper
  • FOR THE SAUCE:
  • 3 Tbsp
    fresh lime juice (2-3 medium limes)
  • 2 Tbsp
    vegetable oil
  • 2 Tbsp
    apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 c
    finely chopped fresh cillantro (optional)(or 2 tablespoons cilantro flakes)
  • 2 clove
    garlic, minced

How To Make spring hill ranch's carne asada, new mexico style

  • 1
    Pat your flank steak dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine the salt, brown sugar, chipotle-, garlic- and cumin powders and black pepper. Gently message the rub into both sides of your steak, using all (or nearly all) the rub mixture. Cover the steak with plastic wrap and place it into your refrigerator of 1-to-2 hours.
  • 2
    Meanwhile, make the sauce, which will be slathered onto the steak after it is grilled and while it is resting. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, oil, vinegar, cilantro and garlic. Stir it all together and let it rest until the steak is done. Refrigerate it if you wish, but get it out of the refrigerator when you get the steak out to cook.
  • 3
    Prepare your grill for a relatively hot fire, such as you'd use on any steak or burgers. If you can control the temperature, I like somewhere in the 550-600° range.
  • 4
    Remove the steak from the 'fridge 20-30 minutes before you grill it to allow some of the chill to dissipate.
  • 5
    Place the steak on your hot grill and close the lid. I like to place mine slightly to one side of the grill so I'll have a really hot spot on the grill to flip it onto (gets great grill marks that way!). After 2 1/2 minutes, flip the steak to the hot spot you reserved on the grill and close the cover again. After 2 1 /2 minutes, flip that puppy again, back onto its original (now re-heated) spot on the grill. (If you rotate the steak 45-90° from its original direction, you'll get great cross-hatch marks!) After 2 1 /2 minutes, do it one more time, flipping the steak onto its re-heated hot spot. Starting about 1 1 /2 minutes later, check the temperature at the center of the steak. If it is a thin steak, it may be done already. Thicker flank steaks may take a minute or two longer. Remember that flank steak can get pretty tough if it is overcooked. For medium-rare, take the steak off at about 125° internal temperature. For medium, use about 130-135°. Don't even think about cooking these well done!
  • 6
    Place the cooked steak on a cutting board and slather the sauce all over both sides. Tent the steak with aluminum foil and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
  • 7
    If we're serving this as a main course, I like my slices to be 3-4 inches long, so sometimes I will slice a particularly wide steak with the grain before cutting the slices. The serving slices, however, must be cut across the grain and relatively thin, about 1/4 to 3/8 inch. I like to dab a little more sauce on the slices before serving.
  • 8
    If you want to make carne asada tacos (“street tacos”) or used them in a salad, cut the steak with the grain into strips about an inch wide before cutting thin strips against the grain.
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
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