Hispanic Heritage · México

El Norte

Monterrey · San Pedro Garza García · Linares · Sabinas Hidalgo · Saltillo · Torreón

Explore this kitchen on the animated map ↗

Carne asada norteña con frijoles charros

Carne asada with rice and refried beans, a serving variation. Presentation may differ from this recipe. Missvain · CC BY 4.0. Resized source thumbnail; display may crop to fit.

Descubre

Northern Mexico’s grilling traditions bring beef, flour tortillas, beans, and salsa to the table. Carne asada is a meal built around the fire, with bright accompaniments that make each bite a little different.

La Gente

Cooking the beans ahead leaves time to tend the grill. Slice the beef against the grain, warm the tortillas, and pass the salsa separately. The pleasure is in assembling a plate together, whether this is a familiar weekend meal or a first exploration.

Sabor

The north cooks plain on purpose. Salt, smoke, beef fat, and the sharpness of lime and chile on the side. The complexity is in the beans and the salsa, not on the meat. Cumin and oregano show up in the pot; chile de árbol shows up in the molcajete; garlic shows up everywhere.

Spice DNA · Smoke high · Herb low · Heat medium · Acid medium · Sweet none

Seasonings to explore

Black Pepper, ground. Coarsely ground, on the meat to taste.
Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the beans and in the molcajete. Adds a savory garlic base.
Garlic Powder. On the meat, where a wet garlic would burn on the grill.
Cumin, ground. In the frijoles charros.
Oregano, whole. In the beans. Mexican oregano is the north's herb; ours is Mediterranean, use a lighter hand.
Arbol Pepper, whole dried. For the molcajete salsa.
Onion Powder. In the beans if you run out of the real thing.
Crushed Red Pepper. For the beans if you want them hotter than a jalapeño makes them.

From your market: two pounds of arrachera (skirt steak) or flank, limes, kosher salt, a pound of pinto beans, bacon, Mexican chorizo, tomatoes, white onion, jalapeños, cilantro, green onions, and flour tortillas, or flour and lard to make your own. Badia does not sell the mesquite. Hardwood charcoal will do if you cannot get it.

Cocina

Carne asada norteña con frijoles charros

Beef over coals, beans in a pot, tortillas off the comal. Start the beans at noon. Light the fire at two.

Serves 6

Frijoles charros

1 lb pinto beans, soaked overnight
6 slices bacon, chopped
8 oz Mexican chorizo, casing removed
1 white onion, chopped
1 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 3 garlic cloves minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 jalapeños, sliced
1 tsp Badia Cumin, ground
1 tsp Badia Oregano, whole
Salt
½ cup cilantro, chopped

Salsa de molcajete

4 ripe tomatoes
6 to 8 Badia Arbol Peppers
2 tsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 2 garlic cloves
Salt

The meat

2 lb arrachera or flank steak
Juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp Badia Black Pepper, coarsely ground
½ tsp Badia Garlic Powder
1 bunch green onions, whole
6 jalapeños, whole

The beans, at noon. Cook the soaked beans in fresh water until tender, 1 to 1½ hours. Do not drain. In a separate pot, cook the bacon until crisp, add the chorizo and break it up, then the onion, garlic, tomato, and jalapeños. Cook 10 minutes. Add the beans with their liquid, cumin, and oregano. Simmer 30 minutes, uncovered, until the broth thickens. Salt. Cilantro at the end. Keep warm on the back of the stove.
The salsa. Char the tomatoes and árbol chiles on a dry comal until the skins blister. Pound the garlic and salt in the molcajete, add the chiles and pound to a paste, then the tomatoes until it is rough and red. Taste. It should be hot.
The meat, at two. Rub the steak with lime, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Let it sit 20 minutes while the coals burn down to a steady gray. In Monterrey you use salt alone. Anywhere else, this is allowed.
Grill. Over hot coals, 3 to 4 minutes a side for arrachera, until charred outside and pink inside. Put the whole green onions and jalapeños on the grill beside it and turn them until they blister. Rest the meat 5 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain.
Tortillas. Warm the flour tortillas on the comal until they puff and spot.
The plate. A tortilla, a few slices of beef, a spoon of frijoles charros, a piece of grilled onion, a spoon of salsa, a squeeze of lime, a bite of the blistered jalapeño for the brave. Repeat until the coals are gone.

Pueblos del Norte

Monterrey · San Pedro Garza García · Linares · Sabinas Hidalgo · Saltillo · Torreón · Piedras Negras · Chihuahua · Ciudad Juárez · Delicias · Cuauhtémoc · Hermosillo · Ciudad Obregón · Nogales · Guaymas · Durango · Reynosa · Matamoros · Nuevo Laredo · Tampico