Street taco on organic corn tortilla with onions and cilantro.
Carne asada — "grilled meat" — is the taco that the northern Mexican grilling tradition built. Thin-cut beef, usually skirt or flap steak, marinated in lime, garlic, and dried chiles, cooked over a wood or charcoal fire until it chars at the edges while staying slightly pink inside, then chopped and piled into a doubled corn tortilla with white onion, cilantro, salsa, and a squeeze of lime. It is the taco by which all other tacos are measured. The cut matters: skirt steak has the right fat content and grain to char on the outside and stay juicy inside. Flap steak — arrachera — is the traditional choice in Sonora and along the border. Neither should be cooked beyond medium — the char provides texture and the pink interior provides juice. Well-done carne asada is dry carne asada.