Meat, Chicken & Pork

Rick Bayless is chef of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago, creator of Frontera gourmet foods, cookbook author and host of Mexico - One Plate at a Time.

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"Brava" Steak

Carne Asada Brava

Serves 6

Recipe from Season 6 of Mexico - One Plate at a Time

Ingredients

For the marinade:
6 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
4 fresh serrano or 2 fresh jalapeno chiles, stemmed
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil, plus more for the steaks
Salt

6 ribeye steaks about 1-inch thick (they'll weigh about 10 to 12 ounces each)

Directions

1. The marinade. In a small ungreased skillet, roast the unpeeled garlic and the chiles over medium heat, turning occasionally, until both are soft and blotchy black in places - 5 to 10 minutes for the chiles, 10 to 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool, then peel the garlic. Place both garlic and chiles in a food processor along with the lime juice and oil. Run the machine until the mixture is as smoothly pureed as possible. Season highly with salt, usually about 1 1/2 teaspoons.

2. Marinate the steaks. Smear the mixture over both sides of the steaks, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

3. Grill the steaks. Light a charcoal fire and let the coals burn until they are covered with gray ash; position the grill grate and let it heat for a couple of minutes. Spray or brush the steaks on both sides with a little oil. Lay on the grill grates and let cook for 3 or 4 minutes, until the grates have nicely seared beautiful grill marks into the meat - don't attempt to move the steaks until you can see nice grill marks. Flip the steaks and cook until as done as you like (typically about 2 to 3 minutes longer for medium rare). I like to let the steaks rest for a few minutes (on a cool part of the grill, a grate suspended over the back of the grill or a very low oven) before serving to allow the meat to reabsorb all the juices. Serve with Lazy Salsa or another salsa or hot sauce of your liking.