Carne Asada Sonorense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Hardwood charcoal grill or wood-fire grill, mesquite preferred
• •Volcanic stone molcajete
• •Heavy chef's knife and large wooden cutting board
• •Cast iron comal for warming the sobaqueras
• •Long-handled tongs

Instructions

1. 1

   Build a mesquite fire

   Light a chimney of mesquite charcoal or, better, a hardwood fire of mesquite splits. Let it burn down until the flames die and the coals glow red under a thin gray ash. This is the heart of carne asada sonorense. Mesquite gives the meat the smoke that the cooks of Hermosillo and Ciudad Obregon recognize as their own. Gas grills will cook the meat. They will not give you carne asada. No me vengas con atajos.

   If you cannot find mesquite charcoal, oak lump is the next best. Briquettes with chemical binders will leave a flavor on the meat that no amount of salsa will cover.
2. 2

   Make the salsa de chiltepin

   Place the tomatoes, garlic, and onion on the grill grate at the edge of the fire while the coals settle. Turn them as the skins blister and char in spots, about 8 minutes. Pull them off when the tomatoes are soft and the garlic is tender. In a molcajete, grind the chiltepin with the salt until it becomes a coarse powder. The chiltepin is the soul of Sonoran salsa, a wild bird-pepper that grows in the hills of the Sierra Madre Occidental and is gathered by hand. It is hot and floral and tastes like nothing else. Add the charred garlic and grind to a paste. Add the onion and tomato and pound coarsely. Stir in the cilantro at the end. The salsa should be rough, not smooth.

3. 3

   Salt the meat

   Lay the diezmillo flat on a tray. Sprinkle both sides with the coarse sea salt. That is all. No marinade, no soy sauce, no beer, no lime juice before grilling. Sonoran carne asada is salt and smoke. The meat is good because the cattle in Sonora are good, and the cooks there learned long ago that a good cut over a mesquite fire does not need to be hidden under a marinade. Asi se hace y punto.

   If your butcher cannot get diezmillo, ask for chuck flap, top sirloin, or arrachera sliced thin. Skirt steak works in a pinch. The cut matters less than the thinness. Quarter-inch is the rule.
4. 4

   Grill the cebollitas

   While the coals are still very hot, lay the cebollitas across the grate. Turn them as the white bulbs blister and the green tops char. They are ready in about 5 minutes. Squeeze a lime half over them and salt them lightly. Set them on the platter where the meat will go. The cebollita is part of the plate, not a garnish. In Sonora it sits next to the meat, eaten in the same bite as the tortilla.

5. 5

   Grill the meat hot and fast

   When the coals are at their hottest, lay the diezmillo directly on the grate. The fat should hit the coals and crackle. Cook for 90 seconds to 2 minutes per side, no more. The meat is so thin it cooks almost instantly. You want a dark crust on the outside and the inside just barely past pink. Pull it off the moment it tightens. Carne asada cooked past medium is ruined carne asada. There is no recovering from it later.

6. 6

   Rest and chop

   Pile the grilled meat on a wooden cutting board. Let it rest for 3 minutes, no longer. Then chop it roughly with a heavy knife into bite-sized pieces. The cooks in Sonora chop the meat right at the grill while the family waits at the table. Squeeze the second lime over the chopped meat and toss once.

7. 7

   Warm the sobaqueras

   Heat the sobaquera tortillas on the comal or directly on the cooler edge of the grill, about 20 seconds per side, until they are pliable and lightly spotted. The sobaquera is the giant flour tortilla of Sonora, paper-thin and almost translucent, named because the women who roll them stretch them across the forearm, under the armpit, until they are wide as a dinner plate. Flour tortillas are a northern tradition. They belong here. Corn tortillas would be wrong on this plate.

8. 8

   Build the table

   Pile the chopped meat on a wooden board or a wide clay platter. Set the cebollitas alongside. Put the sobaqueras in a basket wrapped in a cloth. Set out the salsa de chiltepin, the guacamole, the frijoles puercos, and lime wedges. Each person builds their own taco at the table. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and this is how the cocina of Sonora comes to the table. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Find a butcher who can cut diezmillo or chuck flap to a quarter-inch thick. If the meat is thicker, the inside will be raw when the outside is charred. If it is thinner, it will dry out. The thickness is the recipe.
• •Chiltepin is sold in small jars at Mexican markets in the United States and is worth ordering online if you cannot find it. Substitute pequin chile if you must, but the floral note will be missing. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Sobaqueras are hard to find outside Sonora and the border states. If you cannot get them, use the largest flour tortillas you can find from a Sonoran or northern Mexican brand. Do not use corn tortillas. Flour tortillas are the bread of the north and that is the dish.
• •The salsa de chiltepin is supposed to be rough and chunky from the molcajete. If you put it in a blender it becomes something else, a smooth red sauce that misses the point. The molcajete is part of the recipe, not the equipment list.

Advance Preparation

• •The salsa de chiltepin can be made up to 4 hours ahead and held at room temperature. Past that the cilantro fades and the salsa loses its brightness. Do not refrigerate.
• •The frijoles puercos can be made one day ahead and reheated with a splash of water and a spoonful of lard.
• •The meat itself cannot be prepared ahead. Salt it minutes before it goes on the grill. Salting too far in advance pulls the moisture out and you end up with a dry crust.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)