How do I organize an authentic Carne Asada and what food should I serve? We got 15 essential Mexican food on how to throw an authentic Carne Asada.
This post is all about 15 essential Mexican food for an authentic Carne Asada. We have food recommendations for a typical Mexican BBQ on a Sunday afternoon.
Mexicans are famous for their grill skills and their delicious meat. There's no other place in the world that can offer both fresh produce and meat at a reasonable price. Learn what a carne asada is, the popular food served, and how to organize an authentic experience.
"Carne Asada" essentially is a Mexican BBQ party. Obviously, there's meat involved, but there's so much more! Normally there's also tortilla, grilled green onion, cactus paddle, guacamole, Coca-Cola, and beer! Those are the essential items, but there's so much more we have not mentioned!
Typically Sunday in Mexico is a day to grill meat and drink a bottle of beer with friends and family. Families here gather to eat, talk, and enjoy each other's company. There are adults chatting and cooking, children running around like feral animals, and dogs begging for a piece of meat from their owners.
Firstly, let me tell you something, Mexican knows a lot about delicious food and where to get it. But most importantly they know more about the importance of family time. Carne Asada is not about eating and dashing. It's about spending half the day reconnecting with families and friends while sharing amazing BBQ food with each other. There's no better way to start a conversation over a cold beer and hot sizzling meat.
Before we take a look at the 15 essential Mexican food for an authentic carne asada, let's discuss how to organize a GREAT Carne Asada party.
Location
It doesn't matter if it's at a park or at the back of your house. There's no discrimination when it comes to where you're going to do the Carne Asada. There are times people would throw some wood in a metal can, start the fire, and bbq meat right there.
Mexicans are great like that. As long as there's a fire, people will start to bring the things you need to make a Carne Asada successful!
Company
Firstly, carne asada is nothing if you're not with great company! So invite your close friends and families with whom you want to hang out. These are the people you want to share a beer with on a Sunday afternoon.
A big gathering table
Essentially we like to eat together and share everything together as well. It is not important to have one perfect big table. If we find extra tables laying around somewhere, we move them all together and join together an uneven-shaped round table.
food cover
There's nothing more annoying than eating when flies are landing or worse, flying around while you eat. Having plastic covers or even clean clothe to cover the food is great to avoid these pesky flies.
If you're using coal to cook food, another way to eliminate these bugs when you finish cooking is to lay some fresh citronella and rosemary leaves on the coal. The scent will help deter them away.
label cups
Let's save plastic usage! Usually, we have more than one variety of drinks here in a carne asada and that means more than one cup of usage per person. All parties here in Mexico use plastic cups for easy clean-up reasons, and that saddens me.
Labelling guests' cups can significantly save on plastic usage and unnecessary dishwashing at the end of the day.
Additional Children-Friendly food
Sometimes carne asada may not be a good fit for children. We sometimes prepare something extra for kids like macaroni ham pasta, pesto pasta, or club sandwiches.
coal - our favourite way of BBQing
Most of the time in Mexico we use coal for all our carne asada. Be aware coal requires some time to heat up. Give it a minimum of 30 minutes before it heats to the ideal temperature.
I love this charcoal chimney starter. It can get your coal ready in 10-15 minutes (depending on the weather).
Is Carne Asada Seasonal?
heck no! Carne asada is very common here in Mexico, most notoriously in the north of Mexico. Rumour has it that they have carne asada almost every Sunday.
Now that we talked about some helpful organizational pointers on how to make a successful and authentic Carne Asada. Let's take a look at the 15 essential food for an authentic Mexican Carne Asada.
1. Meat
Mexican's Carne Asada needs to be beef. There's no chicken or pork. Rarely do we see seafood on the grill. Having good quality meat is essential for a Carne Asada!
What kind of beef?
First, let's talk about how the meat is cut. For Mexican Carne Asada, all meat slices are cut thinly. Most butchers here cut all the meat thinly for carne asada purposes. The types of cut we use are usually top sirloin, arrachera (skirt steak), ribeye and ribs.
Marinate
We do a simple marinade for the beef. Because the meat here is very fresh, we don't want to overpower it with a strong marinate and take away the fresh flavour.
In my family, we toss all of the meat in a large container. We drown the meat in a bottle of beer (whatever beer we are drinking that day), Tajin, and salt. Give it a good rub and mix. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes and BBQ. Normally we prepare the meat while we heat the coal up. By the time the BBQ is ready, the meat has finished marinating.
2. bean soup "Frijoles Charros"
A popular Mexican bean soup we serve during the colder days while having a Carne Asada is called Frijoles Charros.
A delicious hearty, warm soup made with bacon, beans, sausages, the stomach of the cow, tomatoes, cilantro, onion, and jalapeno. It's a soothing bean soup packed with flavour and ingredients. Once this Frijoles Charros soup starts to cook on the stove, people will start gathering and lining up for it. Trust me, on a cold evening, this soup will bounce you back with warmth and soul.
3. Tortilla
Tortilla is an essential food for any Mexican BBQ. We have both flour and corn (masa) tortillas. We sometimes eat it as is, or we wrap it with some cheese and make quesadillas with it. When we have tortillas at a Carne Asada, we always use them to dip into the guacamole or insert meat, grill onions, and salsa on top to make a taco with it.
4. green onion bulbs (cebollin)
We find the typical green onion very different from the Mexican green onion. I find the Mexican green onion is strong in taste both the green and white part of the spring onion. The only aesthetic difference is that the Mexican green onion is larger and rounder at the root of the vegetable.
We tend to roast the white parts of the green onion on the BBQ. We keep the green onion's green part so it is easier to grab and toss around on the grill. After grilling, we cut it up into smaller pieces (usually one bulb into four pieces) and toss it with some lime and salt.
On Sundays, we see many produce vendors selling fresh cebollin because this green onion is essential for a carne asada!
5. nopales
One of my favourite thing to look forward to in a Carne Asada. Grilled nopales have a very green and acidic taste. Once cooked over charcoal it takes on a bright, smokey taste that I simply adore! We tend to cut the wings of the nopales with 3 - 5 slices just so it doesn't curl up when it is cooking.
Do you want to learn how to make some nopales tortillas at home? We got the perfect recipe for you and learn how to make Healthy Green Nopales Tortilla!
6. potatoes in tin foil
Once we get the fire settled and going, we wrap our potatoes in tin foil and huck it into the outer rim of the fire. After 25 minutes or so (depending on the size of the potato and the strength of the fire) we take them out and add butter to them. Simple and so tasty!
7. poblano peppers stuffed with cheese
A favourite if you have a vegetarian in the family. Just two or three of them and it is quite filling to the stomach!
We cut the peppers' top, clean the inside and stuff them with manchego cheese. We also tin foil the bottom so it doesn't burn that much. Cutting into these cheesy peppers is so good with a side of green onion bulbs.
8. Corn
Grilled corn with it's leaf on it is so delicious. We keep the leaves on it so the leaf help steam the kernels inside with their own flavour. This is how we get some al dente corns! Typically we put butter and some salt around the corn. Or we cut the kernels out and mix them with some lime and mayonnaise. Garnish with Taijin.
9. guacamole
10. Sausages: Salchicha / longaniza / chorizo
In Mexico, we have so many different kinds of sausages for different occasions. We got some sausages that are typically used only for Carne Asada. For example, the longanesa sausage, a thin long sausage, is used only for Carne Asada. It's acidic to the taste and packed with flavours and fatty particles.
Other sausages we use are chorizo and "salchicha para asar". Salchicha is essential for both adults and kids when it comes to bbq-ing in Mexico.
11. Coke
America is the land of the free, and Mexico is the land of the Coke. Coca-Cola is THE DRINK for all Carne Asada and THE ESSENTIAL thirst quencher for any Carne Asada. You can't have a Mexican BBQ without it!
If you're invited to a real Carne Asada bring a bottle of Coke. Pepsi is not welcome at an authentic Carne Asada unless you want to stand out like a real foreigner.
12. limonada and chia seed
Mexico is also known for its delicious green lime and they love it in water. A healthy drink to have during a Carne Asada is Limonade with chia seed.
Take out your 2L Jug. First hit 2tbsp of chia seed and half a cup of sugar with some hot water to dissolve the sugar and for the chia seed to swell. Then add your regular room temperature water. Serve over ice.
13. banana with chocolate chips
Yes, you can make dessert on the grill too! The type of banana we use is called "Macho Platino" which is a bigger and thicker banana variety. First, we take the banana (with its peel) and split it in half without breaking through to the other side. Stuff chocolate chips inside and wrap it all up with tin foil. Grill over the fire for about 10 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
14. Beer
There's no such thing as a fiesta without a beer in your hand. We love beer here and it's the ultimate essential drink to cool down and chill lax on a nice Sunday afternoon. The beers we usually like to have while having a Carne Asada are Corona, Morelo, Pacifico, and so much more!
15. tequila
As the days draw to an end with a belly full of delicious food, nothing closes a day more pleasantly than a shot of tequila. We sometimes trade in tequila for mezcal liquor.
This post is all about 15 essential Mexican food for an authentic Carne Asada. We have food recommendations for a typical Mexican BBQ on a Sunday afternoon.
