Proper way to order 'Carne Asada' from a deli?

I’d reckon a restaurant rather than a deli in a supermarket would carry carne asada, especially the closer you are to NYC. There’s no harm calling to ask, though, and if they don’t have it, perhaps someone in that department knows where it might be found. Good luck!

@aprilsimnel Well I want to cook it myself so a restaurant is kind of out of the question there.

Isn’t carne asada meat usually something like skirt or flank steak? Could you just order one of those? Of course, you’d have to slice it yourself, or if the butcher is friendly, you could ask him to slice it thin for you.

Just ask them, I don’t think you need to fear a backlash for saying the wrong thing, if they correct you, then you know.

I dunno, frickin’ Taco Bell was selling Carne Asada burritos, if they know what it is, I’m sure an respectable deli would. If you go to a place with a decent meat counter and a knowledgable butcher, you’d be amazed at how well they know their meats, I wouldn’t assume anything uless you ask.

carne asada is just thin sliced beef, are you asking about tampiqueña o arrachera? sorry to answer with a question, but just to get a clear understanding of what is your consideration of “carne asada”.In spanish it just means meat that is cooked on a grill…

According to wikipedia

Carne asada is a roasted beef dish, literally meaning “roasted meat”. The dish mainly consists of pieces or thin cuts of beef (e.g. flank steak, skirt steak), sometimes marinated, sometimes lightly salted or rubbed with salt, pepper and/or spices, and then grilled.

To get paper-thin beef in New Jersey it is possible that you could ask for beef for cheese steaks. I know that is a Philadelphia thing, but might be familiar to someone behind the butcher counter.

Here in South Texas we tend to use skirt steak for carne asada and for fajitas both. It is cut from the diaphragm muscle, and is flavorful but tough, so it needs to be marinated. It is called the “faja” in Spanish. From what I can see from Google, it appears that skirt steak is indeed the term used in New Jersey for this cut.

Otherwise, ask for flank steak (from the belly muscles also, and also known as London Broil, or “Bavette” in French, or arrachera in Mexico), or possibly even hanger steak (a different cut but also thin and a bit more tender than skirt steak).

One of the above terms should get you something you can use to make carne asada.

I would say it’s Flank Steak or Skirt Steak.

Ended up using Flank Steak and cutting it up. Turned out awesome!

Thanks everyone!

You didn’t make enough to share?

Sorry, it was my first time and you guys are worth more to me than that.

Plus it was really expensive to make :(