Tasajo Asado al Comal con Salsa de Molcajete

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy flat griddle, well-seasoned
• •Volcanic stone molcajete and tejolote
• •Wire rack and sheet pan for overnight curing
• •Sharp slicing knife for butterflying the beef
• •Kitchen tongs

Instructions

1. 1

   Butterfly and salt the beef

   If your carnicero has not already butterflied the meat, lay the piece of round on a cutting board and slice horizontally through the center, stopping a half-inch from the edge, then unfold it like a book. Continue making parallel cuts and unfolding until you have a single thin sheet, roughly 1/4-inch thick. The goal is one continuous piece the size of a large placemat. Salt both sides generously with the coarse salt, pressing it into the surface with your palms. You want full, even coverage. The salt is doing two things: curing the meat and pulling moisture to the surface so it chars instead of steams on the comal.

   If your knife skills are not there yet for the spiral butterfly cut, ask the butcher to slice the round into 1/4-inch sheets on the deli slicer. Not as traditional, but better than hacking it at home and ending up with uneven thickness that cooks unevenly.
2. 2

   Cure overnight

   Lay the salted sheets flat on a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Do not stack them. Refrigerate uncovered for at least eight hours, overnight is best. The surface should look dry and tacky when you pull them out, not wet. In Oaxaca, the carniceros hang the sheets in the open air. Your refrigerator does the same thing with less drama. La sal hace todo el trabajo.

3. 3

   Roast the salsa ingredients

   Heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over medium-high until it is properly hot. Place the whole tomatoes, unpeeled garlic cloves, and the stemmed chile pasilla oaxaqueño directly on the surface. The tomatoes need about eight minutes, turning them with tongs as each side blackens and blisters. They should collapse and release juice onto the comal. The garlic takes about six minutes, the skin will char and the clove inside will soften. The pasilla oaxaqueño needs only forty-five seconds to a minute per side. Watch it. It is already smoked and dried, so it goes from toasted to burned faster than you expect. The smell will fill your kitchen: smoky, fruity, deep. That is the pasilla oaxaqueño telling you it is ready.

   Chile pasilla oaxaqueño is smoke-dried, unlike pasilla from other states which are only sun-dried. That smokiness is the whole identity of this salsa. If your chile vendor sells you a regular pasilla and calls it oaxaqueño, find a different vendor. The real thing is wrinkled, dark reddish-brown, and smells like a wood fire. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
4. 4

   Grind the salsa in the molcajete

   Peel the charred garlic cloves and drop them into the molcajete with the salt. Grind to a paste. Tear the toasted pasilla oaxaqueño into pieces and add them to the mortar. Crush and grind until the chile is broken down but still has visible texture, rough flakes, not powder. Now add the roasted tomatoes one at a time, crushing each into the chile and garlic base. Work it until the salsa is combined but uneven. You want chunks of charred tomato skin, streaks of chile, pockets of garlic. That texture is the point. If the salsa is too thick to move, add a tablespoon of water. Taste for salt. The salsa should be smoky first, then acidic from the tomato, with a slow, moderate heat that builds.

   Do not use the blender for this salsa. The molcajete crushes the fibers and releases oils in a way that blades cannot replicate. A blender salsa from these same ingredients will taste thinner, smoother, less alive. The molcajete gives it body and depth. No me vengas con atajos.
5. 5

   Sear the tasajo on the comal

   Wipe the comal clean and set it over high heat. You want it scorching. Rub a thin layer of asiento or manteca de cerdo across the surface. When the fat shimmers and just begins to smoke, lay the cured beef sheets flat on the comal. Do not crowd them. One sheet at a time if your comal is small. The meat will hiss and curl at the edges within thirty seconds. Let the first side char for about sixty to ninety seconds. You want dark spots and crisp edges, not a gray boil. Flip once. Cook the second side for another forty-five seconds. The total time on the comal is under three minutes. If you cook it longer, the thin meat dries out and turns to leather. Pull it off the comal onto a cutting board.

   Asiento is the dark, flavorful sediment left at the bottom of the cazo when pork lard is rendered. In Oaxaca, it is sold separately at the market and used to brush on tlayudas, memelas, and the comal before grilling meats. If you cannot find it, use manteca de cerdo. The flavor will be cleaner but less complex.
6. 6

   Grill the cebollitas

   While the comal is still hot, lay the whole green onions directly on the surface. Let them char and soften, turning once, about two minutes total. They should be wilted, blackened at the tips, and sweet inside. Pull them off and set them alongside the meat.

7. 7

   Cut and serve

   Slice the tasajo across the grain into strips about two inches wide. Arrange on a warm plate alongside the charred cebollitas, a bowl of frijoles negros with their broth, the molcajete of salsa, sliced avocado, pulled quesillo, and a stack of warm tortillas. Put the lime halves on the table. Each person builds their own taco: a strip of tasajo, a spoonful of salsa, a thread of quesillo, a squeeze of lime. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The quality of the beef matters more than the seasoning. You are salting it and searing it, nothing else. If the beef is bland, the tasajo will be bland. Look for grass-fed round from a butcher who can tell you where it came from. In Oaxaca, the carniceros at the Central de Abastos know every rancho that supplies them.
• •Do not rinse the salt off the cured meat before cooking. Some recipes will tell you to soak the tasajo in water to remove excess salt. Ignore them. The salt is already calibrated for this thickness of meat. Rinsing washes away the dry surface that creates the char. If your tasajo tastes too salty, you used too much salt in the cure. Adjust next time instead of trying to fix it at the comal.
• •If you cannot find chile pasilla oaxaqueño, a chipotle morita will give you smokiness, but it is a different smoke, a different chile, a different salsa. It is a compromise, not a substitute. Online vendors ship pasilla oaxaqueño dried, and it keeps for months in a sealed bag in a cool, dark place.
• •The frijoles negros must be the Oaxacan style: simmered with avocado leaf and a little asiento or lard, not cumin, not epazote, not onion powder. A single dried avocado leaf in the pot changes everything. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Advance Preparation

• •The beef must be salted at least eight hours ahead. Overnight is ideal. This is not optional. The cure is the preparation.
• •The salsa de molcajete can be made up to four hours ahead and held at room temperature in the molcajete itself. It does not improve with refrigeration. Cold dulls the smokiness. Make it, cover it with a cloth, leave it on the counter.
• •The frijoles negros de olla should be made one to two days ahead. Like most bean dishes, they improve overnight as the broth thickens and the flavor deepens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 450g)