Although it can be enjoyed anywhere, In Northern Mexico and the southern U.S., primarily along the border of Mexico, “carne asada” means more than just a way to enjoy delicious, marinated and grilled beef. It’s an event. Receive an invitation to “a Carne Asada” and you’re in for a day of gathering together to pitch in on the preparations, bringing items to share, enjoying conversation and, finally, the feast. I was fortunate enough to witness and participate in a Carne Asada in El Paso, Texas and it left such a wonderful impression on me, I wanted to share it with Real Food Traveler readers.

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A Carne Asada: An all-day party

On a small scale, a Carne Asada could just mean grilling up some meats on a backyard grill, served with some accompaniments. On a slightly larger scale, there might be large, flat grates over fire fueled by wood and/or charcoal. But the Carne Asada I got to experience took it to a primo level, with a grilling structure that reminded me of a four-post bed frame, with a large base that had room for the burning wood and coals, racks at various levels, and metal frames with hooks on which sausages, roasts, and even fruit hung.

There’s something cooking on every level at this Carne Asada.

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Everything comes together at a Carne Asada 

It was a fantastic example of making use of space and different heating temperatures. Simultaneously, biscuits for dessert were cooked in a cast iron skillet resting in the embers. Corn on the cob roasted in a cage as did Anaheim chilies, close to the heat. A pig’s head (yikes) hung from heavy-duty wires and a hook suspended from a platform of wracks that supported vegetables including eggplant and chilies that were roasting, and also a pot full of Charros Beans. From the top of the frame draped sausages, roasts, whole pineapples, peaches, and pears. This vertical cooking method was multi-tasking at its best and most efficient. And in some cases, cooking juices (both sweet and savory) dripped onto whatever was below them, further enhancing the flavors.

Those of us not tending the fire and cooking worked in groups at tables to the side, equal parts gabbing while also skinning the roasted chilies, shucking corn, dicing roasted fruit for dessert, and preparing tortillas and drinks to go with the meal.

After the chilies were roasted, we took off the tops and charred skins, leaving the tender flesh and some seeds for heat.

Finally, a buffet line was set up with the various meats, veggies, salsas, and guacamole laid out with tortillas to create wrapped combinations to taste. Veggies accompanied them, including a salad of roasted chilies, corn kernels, tomatoes, and Mennonite cheese which had been heated up over the fire at the last minute, making the cheese melt and meld with the vegetable juices to make its own dressing. Dessert was diced, roasted fruit over creme fraiche spread on warm biscuits. Drinks included beer, wine, sangria, and cocktails featuring mezcal with chili rims.

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As delicious as the meal was, it was even more impressive seeing this coming together of people, food, primal cooking methods, all as local as could be. You might not be able to recreate such a structure to cook on such a grand scale. But the concepts of gathering for a day of cooking together, talking together, and eating together is totally doable, even around the backyard grill.

Dessert was diced, grilled fruit over creme fraiche on biscuits cooked in a cast iron skillet.

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