Citrus, garlic, fire — and one strict rule about slicing

Across northern Mexico, carne asada is what happens when lean beef meets a citrus marinade and a very hot fire. No fancy cut required — the tradition runs on hard-working muscles just like round. Orange and lime do the softening, garlic and cumin do the seasoning, and the barbecue does what only a barbecue can. Then comes the rule that makes the whole thing work: slice thin, across the grain, every time. Do that, and a humble round steak comes off the grill eating like something twice its price.

2 hrs 25 mins 4 servings Prep 2 hrs 15 minsCook 10 minsMain CourseMexican

Ingredients

  • 460g Your Farmer grass-fed beef round steaks (thin-cut)
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • Juice of 2 limes, plus extra wedges to serve
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Large handful coriander — stalks finely chopped, leaves reserved
  • Salt to season
  • Warm tortillas and charred corn, to serve

Instructions

For the marinade

Whisk the orange juice, lime juice, garlic and soy sauce together in a shallow dish.

juice of 1 orangejuice of 2 limes3 cloves garlic1 tbsp soy sauce

Whisk in the cumin, oregano, chilli flakes if using, oil and coriander stalks.

1 tsp cumin1 tsp oregano2 tbsp olive oilcoriander stalks

Add the steaks, turn to coat well, cover and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours (up to 8 hours is fine, but no longer — the citrus keeps working).

460g round steaks

For the barbecue

Heat the barbecue grill or plate to its absolute hottest — you want it ripping. Lift the steaks from the marinade, let the excess drip away, and season with salt.

Grill 1–2 minutes per side, pressing gently for contact, until deeply charred outside and still pink within. Rest on a board for 5 minutes.

Slice thinly across the grain — this is the step that makes carne asada tender, so take your time and watch the fibre direction.

Pile the sliced beef onto a warm platter with the resting juices poured over, scatter with coriander leaves, and serve with warm tortillas, charred corn and lime wedges.

Appears in

In every beef share — Round Steaks (~460g)

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Lean Beef, Big Fire

Carne asada was never built on premium steak. The Mexican ranch tradition takes lean, well-exercised cuts — flank, skirt, round — and gets tenderness through technique instead of marbling: an acidic marinade, the hottest fire you can manage, a short cook, a proper rest, and a thin slice across the grain. Every one of those steps is doing real work, and none of them is hard. The thin-cut round steaks in a grass-fed beef CSA share are made for it — thin enough to char hard before the centre overshoots, lean enough that the citrus flavours ring clear. Your Farmer® beef spends its whole life on pasture, and that grass-fed leanness is exactly the style of beef this method was invented for. The rest matters more than usual here, too: thin, hard-seared beef reabsorbs its juices in five minutes, and slicing early tips them all onto the board instead of into your tortilla.

Swaps and Variations

Topside or rump both take the same marinade happily — rump wants an extra minute per side for its thickness. No barbecue? A cast-iron grill pan indoors, opened windows, same timing; we use that trick in plenty of winter steak cooking, and our barbecue steak night guide covers the fire-management side in more depth. Serve it taco-style, over rice as a burrito bowl, or as a straight steak plate with charred corn and a tomato salad. Spring onions charred whole on the grill beside the beef are a two-minute upgrade the tradition would approve of. For a herb-and-yoghurt direction with the same grill-hot logic, try the marinated topside steaks on the BBQ.

Storage and Leftovers

Don't marinate past 8 hours — citrus is a slow-motion cooker, and thin steaks left too long go mealy at the edges. And once raw beef has been in the marinade, the marinade is done — discard it rather than reusing it. Cooked and sliced, the beef keeps 3 days in the fridge. Reheat in a blazing pan for thirty seconds or eat at room temperature; slow reheating undoes the char you worked for. The classic leftover move is quesadillas: sliced carne asada, grated cheese, a hot dry pan, five minutes. There are worse lunches.

Frequently asked questions

How long should I marinate the steaks?

Two hours is the sweet spot; up to eight is fine. Beyond that the citrus starts breaking down the surface of thin steaks and the texture turns soft and mealy rather than tender.

Charcoal or gas?

Either works — heat matters more than fuel. Charcoal adds a smokiness that suits the dish, but a gas barbecue cranked to maximum with the hood down for ten minutes beforehand chars beautifully.

How do I judge doneness on such thin steaks?

By time and touch, not a thermometer — they're too thin to probe reliably. At 1–2 minutes per side over ferocious heat they'll be charred outside and pink inside. When in doubt, pull them early; the rest finishes the job.

What does slicing across the grain mean?

Muscle fibres run in one visible direction, like fine lines through the meat. Cut perpendicular to those lines so every slice contains short fibres. On round it's the single biggest difference between tender and chewy.

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