- My name is ArnieTex,
and you're invited to my carne asada,
but don't come empty handed.
Carne asada, what is it exactly?
Is carne asada that delicious meat
they fill your tacos with when you go to a food truck?
Is carne asada fresh off the hot plate
at your favorite restaurant?
Or is carne asada grilling meats over an open fire
partying with your family and friends?
In this video, I'm gonna tell you
what carne asada means to me and where I come from.
This is what it is at Mi Rancho.
So what is carne asada?
Most people know it as the most common filling
in street-style tacos
and it's pretty much always beef.
Today, carne asada is kind of a generic term
that's used very often for barbecue.
Generally, it's the backyard barbecue
along with other meats, not just beef.
Growing up, carne asada always meant a party.
It meant a backyard barbecue.
And my dad would get all the meat together,
he would season it, get the fire going,
because our house was always the place
where everybody got together.
For me, carne asada meant a family barbecue.
We always had finger ribs, beef loaded ribs,
we always had fajitas,
we always had chicken, usually leg quarters
or half chicken, and always, always there was sausage.
It was never without sausage.
The sausage has to be part of the carne asada experience.
Now maybe traditionally
carne asada, basically, was beef over coals.
But for us, carne asada means a get together.
It means a party.
It means let's have a backyard barbecue.
I heard it a lot more in recent years
than I ever did most of my life.
I decided to do this video is to kind of share with you guys
what carne asada means to different people,
and to also share with you
that it doesn't have to mean one thing.
All carne asadas are different,
but mine has rice, beans, red and green salsa,
and I gotta have my pico de gallo.
Now let's get fired up and go cook us some carne asada.
We're gonna let the leg quarters and the beef ribs cook
for about 30 minutes before we bring the fajitas,
that way everything comes out at the same time.
It's been about 15 minutes
and these chickens are already
starting to get a little bit of color.
We're gonna go ahead and put them right over the coals
now that they warmed up a little bit.
That is the true carne asada flavor
when you put it direct, right over the coals.
We're starting to get that little bit of color underneath,
but it's not burnt, not too charred.
The beef ribs are the same.
And, yes, I did pull the membrane out,
but you can see them sizzling a little bit really nice.
Try to get a little char on the bottom as well.
We'll be back in a little while
with a little bit more of the meat.
Got our beef ribs and leg quarters about halfway cooked,
we're gonna lay some wings in here.
Back in the days, we really didn't eat wings.
It was the fajitas, the beef ribs,
and the chicken, and always, always the sausage.
Put the lid on and be right back.
In between rotating meat, flipping meat,
taking some out, adding some meat,
you gotta hydrate.
All right, friend, the meat that's in there
is about halfway done, maybe a little better,
we're gonna go ahead and throw in
our iconic sausage, Eckrich.
Before I do that, I'm gonna flip these beef ribs back.
Look at that beautiful, little sizzle
they got going on there, just gorgeous.
The chicken leg quarters,
you can tell when they're almost getting done,
because the skin starts to get a little bit crumbly looking.
And we're gonna drop this sausage right in the middle there.
Now the sausage cooks really fast,
so you gotta definitely keep an eye on it.
We'll be right back.
All right, it's been a couple of minutes.
It's time to check the wings and flippity flip that sausage,
because I guarantee you
it's getting a little bit of color under there.
You see that right there?
That's a little color on the sausage.
We're gonna flip it over this way a little bit.
We're gonna flip our wings.
They're right over the fire.
All right, friends, the sausage is done,
the beef ribs are done.
The wings are gorgeous, they're just about done.
We're gonna take out the beef ribs
and the sausage in a tray.
Look at that pretty color right there.
They just look really, really pretty.
Look at the color on those wings.
These are pretty much done too.
Look at that gorgeous little char they're getting
down there on the bottom.
They're just about done.
We're fixing to pull those too.
Carne asada means grilling meat.
Let's grill some meat.
These are some pre-marinated fajitas.
Ooh, listen to that sizzle.
Yeah, buddy, that sounds amazing.
Oh baby, I love you!
I love that sound.
Got one more strip,
we're gonna lay this over here on the side
so it can start sweating a little bit
and get some of the moisture out,
that way it'll cook a little bit quicker.
(whistles) Look at that, we got that open flame going.
It's gonna be nice, nice, nice, nice.
Yep, it's coming along real pretty.
Now one of the things about cooking carne asada
is the aroma, the smell.
When you have the chicken dripping down there,
the sausage dripping a little bit,
the beef dripping a little bit,
you just get this amazing aroma
that you don't get any other way.
You don't get that from smoking meats, friends, trust me.
You only get that by cooking carne asada like this.
Look at that color coming along really, really nice.
(whistles) Look at that, gorgeous.
(Arnie speaking Spanish)
All right, and, of course,
we all know the chef has his privileges, right?
So one of the things I have to do always
is do the taste test.
That looks perfectly cooked, we're fixing to pull that one.
I gotta try it, man.
I gotta know what I'm feeding my friends and family.
So this is really just quality control.
Mmm-mm, that's wow!
Mm-mm-mm-mm.
Yum, yum, yum.
All right, friends, all the meat's done.
The carne asada is done.
I'm ready to eat, we'll see you guys inside.
Now this is carne asada.
We're gonna start with our beef rib.
Do little taste test here.
I always like the ones on the end,
'cause they're a little crunchier on the outside,
but the inside is always perfect.
(chuckles) Oh my goodness.
OG, that old-school salt and pepper with little a garlic,
mm, that's all you need on beef, folks.
That OG just really makes an awesome rib.
Remember I said earlier,
you can't have carne asada without some sausage.
Look at that pretty color in the sausage.
You got a nice color there.
Just super moist, that's the way I like my sausage.
Mm-mm, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.
Man, that's good, mm-mm-mm.
Iconic in carne asada in South Texas is the leg quarter.
Perfectly done, look at that moisture, it's so juicy.
I know this is gonna be good.
Mmm, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.
Now that's a wow piece of chicken right there.
Gonna get a second bite, mm-mm-mm.
As I've gotten older,
I actually like barbecue sauce on my wings.
But we're not doing it today,
'cause this is old-school carne asada.
We're just gonna pull it, pull the bone off.
Mhmm, yep.
(upbeat music)
Okay, that was wow, wow, wow.
The true carne asada superstar, beef fajitas.
That marinade did its job.
I can tell it's pretty much falling apart,
but it's very soft,
and yet very, very moist and juicy I can tell.
But that marinade really, really made this meat soft.
Can you see that perfect pink center there?
That's just perfect fajita.
Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.
Gotta be a taco for me,
so we're gonna lay this tortilla down right here.
This is a store-bought tortilla, it's all we got.
We're up in Austin, Texas, hanging out with my kids.
I'm so blessed and fortunate
to be able to do this with my family.
That's really what the whole thing
behind the carne asada is,
good time, good memories with family and friends.
No taco's complete without salsa or a pico de gallo.
Now this has a little bit of avocado chunks in it too,
so this is gonna be great just like that.
I usually do two things.
So let's put some green salsa on there too,
this stuff's hot.
Little crunchy on the tort, but that's okay.
Nice, big and fat.
Mm-mm, wow.
That's amazing.
Man, I wanna tell you, folks,
this is carne asada right here.
When I grew up, carne asada meant all this good stuff
on one grill, all at the same time,
with an amazing commingling
infusion of flavors cooking inside the grill,
makes everything amazing.
I'm gonna finish eating my taco.
I hope you guys like this video.
If you did, make sure you hit the like button,
make sure you share it with your family and your friends.
Y'all remember to keep the smoke light
and make it a wow kind of day.
Boom, I'm gonna eat me at taco!
Time to get our carne asada on,
I hadn't cleaned the grill though.
(squeegee squeaking)
The sausage has to be part of the carne asada.
Salt (laughs).
Am I supposed to put that in there?
- Yeah. - Okay.
(upbeat music)
All right, we are ready.
No, all the YouTubers get through about a whole taco
and half of another.
I wanna be like them.
(Arnie speaking Spanish)
All carne asadas are different,
but mine has rice, beans, red and green salsa.
I hope I don't burn the (toy squeaks) outta myself.
Do not try this at home.
Gotta get my charcoal back over there
or we don't get lit up.
Get fired up!