021/18 – Carne Asada with Cauli Rice:
A little while ago I discovered the All Things BBQ website and the fantastic videos that Chef Tom Jackson does with them. The videos cover some great recipes, are really easy to follow and are done to a very, very high standard. There are so many awesome recipes on the website that I created a separate section on my “To Cook” list! Next up on my list was Carne Asada with Cauli Rice. The recipe can be found here.
The last cook I did by these guys was Tacos la Pastor, goodness me that was a cracking dish:
The Meat:
Onglet from Turner and George – 2x 300g for £10. I got 3 bits so they must have been smaller.
The Prep:
No trimming required on the meat, it was all in good shape.
The recipe says to brine the meat in Sweetwater Spice Lime Jalapeno Fajita Bath Brine Concentrate. I didn’t have any of that so made my own version based on the ingredients list: Pineapple Juice, Apple Juice, Water (300ml of each), salt, lime juice, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, Mexican oregano, Jalapeno Peppers, Red Peppers (Cayenne), Celery Seed and Corainder Seed. We didn’t have any Epazote, will need to look out for that!
I put the meat into the brine mix and weighed it down. It went into the fridge for an hour. After an hour I took the meat out and dried it down with kitchen towel. I couldn’t get all the oregano off, maybe I should have blitzed it before it went into the brine? I had all the ingredients from the Tacos al Pastor cook previously. All ordered from Cool Chile.
Next up I made Carne Asada using the same recipe as from the Tacos al Pastor cook: Powdered garlic, New Mexico chilli powder, Pasilla chilli powder, Roasted Arbol Chilli powder, ground cumin, celery seed, onion powder, Mexican oregano, Paprika, Black pepper and Ground coriander all mixed together to form a rub. Using a spice shaker I applied the rub on all sides of the meat.
I fired up a full chimney of Sweet Chestnut lumpwood from Oxford Charcoal and once fully lit I spread it over the base of the grill then placed the grill grates on top.
Time to Cook:
After 10 minutes the Grill Grates were reading 350c on the IR gun so it was time to cook the meat. I added some Hickory wood chips from Hot Smoked to the fire. 
The recipe said it would take about 8 minutes to cook so I turned the meat every couple of minutes and tracked the temperature with my Thermapen, once they hit 50c they came off. What a lovely colour! They smelt great too! 
Once all 3 were off I wrapped them in foil to rest for 10 minutes. 
Whilst the meat rested I made Fire Roasted Chimichurri from Coriander, flat leaf parsley, Poblano and Anaheim Chillies, Red Onion, Garlic, Lime Juice, Capers, Rapeseed Oil and Salt. I also made the cauliflower rice by blitzing a cauliflower in the food processor and heating it in oil in a large pan. I added cumin, salt, coriander and lime juice. Once ready I plated it up then went back out to the hut to thinly slice the meat.
Time to Eat:
The meat was looking really good, nice and pink, very tender, very juicy with a great smell and taste from the rub!
The chimichurri was in a squeezy bottle I got from Nisbets, I didn’t do bad applying it to the meat but some practice is required! 
Once I had plated up I looked back at the meat, it was looking fantastic. I had cooked at lunchtime so I could watch the football later. Was great to have natural daylight helping the photos!
Summary:
Another great dish from Chef Tom Jackson and All Things BBQ. Not too hard to prep or cook but a lovely tasting meal. I haven’t had Cauliflower rice before but a fairly large cauli only lasted lunch for 2 of us so we had half each! That’s got to be some good veg intake right there!
The meat was really tender, I have had onglet before and it’s not been as soft so maybe the brine helped soften it. The Carne Asada rub added a great taste to the dish and the Chimchurri worked really well with the meat and cauli rice. Overall, another great meal and good value at £10 for the onglet, we had loads left as you can see from the photo above!
| Cook Difficulty: | 2/5 |
| Cook Duration: | Short: 2/5 |
| Cook Equipment: | Weber Kettle |
| Cook Method: | Grill Grates |
| Charcoal: | Oxford Charcoal Sweet Chestnut |
| Smoking Wood: | Hot Smoked Hickory Chips |
| Cook temperature: | 350c |
| Cook time: | 8 minutes plus 10 minutes rest |
| Internal temperature: | 50c |
| Notes: | No major changes |