Step 1 (15 min) Make the marinade by blending all marinade ingredients to a thick sauce/thin paste. Add water if the mixture doesn't pour easily.

Step 2 (up to 3 hrs) Place the meat and marinade into a large container or large bag. Mix well to ensure the meat is fully covered.

Step 3 (10-20 min) Cook the marinated meat on the grill over very high heat, about 5 min per side or until evenly charred but still slightly pink inside. Keep in mind the meat will continue to cook even after pulled off the grill. I strongly recommed you cook directly over very hot coals, but a propane grill or flat-top/plancha will also work great.

Step 4 (5-10 min) Pull the meat off of the grill and slice as thinly as possible against the grain. You need a very sharp knife to do this well. You can rest the meat if you like, but if you slice and serve right away, the meat will not continue cooking and potentially get over done. This is "carry-over" cooking where the outside temperature of the meat still cooks the inside of the meat slightly even after being removed from the grill.

[Tacos] Serve in fresh, high quality corn or flour tortillas that have been warmed on a flat top then allowed to steam for a few minutes in a tortilla warmer. Top with cheese (queso oaxaca is my favorite), cilantro and onion (raw white onion or pickled red onion). Serve with salsas to taste. Most salsas will work great here (red, green, mild or spicy).

[Platter] Serve a large portion on a plate with your choice of rice, beans, and grilled peppers and onions with some fresh warmed tortillas and salsas on the side.

[Torta] Cut a telera or bolillo in half toast both sides. Spread guacamole on the bottom bun, then stack with carne asada, onion, tomato, and finally some queso fresco or cotija. Optionally top with shredded lettuce, thinly sliced jalapeño, and/or a few dashes or hot sauce.

Carne asada is the king of tacos for a good reason. Its simple and delicious. The three keys to great carne asada are (1) the right cuts of high quality beef, (2) a sufficiently salty and acidic marinade to tenderize, and (3) very high heat cooking that slightly chars the outside while not overcooking the center. Most taco shops serve carne asada meat that is pre-cut into tiny pieces and then cooked until its nearly of jerky consistency. This is delicious in it's own right and its done for simplicity and also to avoid and problems with chewyness that can result from improper ccoking or inadequate tenderization of the beef. I would advise cooking the meat as one whole slab of beef cooked to medium and then sliced right before serving to maximize the beefiness and juiciness. Its harder to pull off just right, and the meat can be chewy if you're not careful, but the result is well worth it once you get the hang of the process.

The marinade for this recipe may seem overly complicated... and it probably is. You really don't need all of this for great results as long as great quaility beef is used. You can marinate the meat in a salty orange juice mixture and still get fantastic results. Its critical not to over marinate the meat to prevent over-tenderizing the meat. This is why those pre-marinated bags of carne asada from the grocery stores usually suck and taste a bit 'off'. They have been sitting in marinate for days.

For tacos, I prefer flour tortillas for carne asada. Its important to get good quality tortillas and to warm them up. Whatever you do, NEVER serve tortillas straight from the refrigerator!! I'd recommend to keep the topping sparse and simple here. Be generous with the beef and let it shine. A small sprinkling of raw onion or cilantro will do. Cheese isn't necessary at all, really. I like a nice drizzle of spicy red salsa, or a spicy green jalapeno/garlic salsa.