Authentic Tex-Mex FajitasIngredients:2 1/4 lbs BEEF skirt steaks (about 3/4 inch thick) - (only beef has skirt steaks, i.e. fajitas/arracheras, the meat used in traditional Tex-Mex fajitas).
12 -20 warm flour tortillas (corn toritllas are the norm, btw - flour tortiallas are from the "frontera" [frontier], and aren't indigenous to Mexico).
1-2 onions
Fajita Marinade (optional - you can just tenderize the meat with a meat hammer)
1/3 cup canola or olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (substitute lemon juice if no limes are available
1 medium-large onion sliced
4 large garlic cloves, crushed
3 fresh jalapeños, stems and seeds removed, minced (optional - you can skip this if you don't like your meat too spicy)
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 - 2 teaspoon meat tenderizer
salt, to taste
Marinate in a large container (or ziplock bag) for approx. 1/2 hr. to 1 hr. - don't overdo the marinating or else the flavors will be too intense.
Pico de Gallo2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded, pulp removed, finely chopped
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced cilantro leaves
3 -4 fresh serrano chilies, seeded, very finely chopped (add the seeds if you want more heat - added by the capsasin in the seeds)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
salt, to taste
Guacamole2 large ripe Haas avocados, peeled and pitted
1 chopped jalapeño chile (less if you don't like it spicy)
1 1/2 teaspoons lime juice
1 tomato, minced
1 -2 green onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cooking the fajitas:Prepare Mesquite wood/charcoal (or gas grill if you don't have charcoal) for cooking (around 375°F). Grill the fajitas for 6 to 8 minutes on each side or until cooked to the desired degree of doneness (medium rare keeps it nice and juicy, just like I like them - my wife loves them extra thinly cut [less than 1/4 inch thick] before marinating/grilling, and a tad overcooked [crunchy edges]). Remove from grill, place on a clean tray and cover with foil. Keep warm until ready to slice.
Place the grilled fajita skirt meat on a cutting surface and cut into thin strips across the grain of the meat. Place the sliced fajita meat on a platter and serve with the hot tortillas, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole (some people add sour cream - that's a big no-no in these parts of the woods).
History of Fajitas
Low Steaks
HOW A CUT OF MEAT FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE STEER ROSE TO CULINARY STARDOM, PLUS A GUIDE TO TEXAS’ MOST AUTHENTIC FAJITAS.Back in the old days, “fajita” had a very specific meaning. “ Faja” is Spanish for “belt” or “strip,” and “fajita” is the diminutive form of that word. Skirt steak, or just skirt, as American butchers call it, resembles a cummerbund and refers to the diaphragm muscle from the forequarter of the cow (outside skirt) and the secondary flank muscle from the hindquarter (inside skirt). Before fajitas became popular, you could count on getting skirt steak when you ordered fajitas. But once the fajita fad took off, things changed. Since one cow yields only about eight pounds of fajita, demand quickly overtook supply, and restaurateurs bestowed the term on a host of foods that have nothing to do with the original meaning of the word: steak fajitas, chicken fajitas, even—heaven help us—seafood fajitas. Little by little, the word “fajita” came to refer not to the meat, but to the technique of cutting any meat into strips, marinating, and grilling it.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with eating “chicken fajitas,” “pork fajitas,” or “shrimp fajitas” as long as you realize that these terms are as much a misnomer as “zucchini potato chips” or “cilantro pesto.” And as long as you realize that the supermarket label “meat for fajitas” almost always refers to some cheap generic cut of meat and not skirt steak.
History of fajitas is short, flavor is notFebruary 22, 2012 8:00 am • By Jan Roberts-Dominguez, Food for Thought
Most people aren’t compelled to ponder the geneses of the foods they like. But some dishes are so unique — Caesar Salad, the sandwich, the ice cream cone — that someone inevitably wants to go back and figure out how they came into being.
Well, in 1984 Texas A & M University animal science professor Homero Recio was wondering about the origins of fajitas. This popular Tex-Mex dish, made from marinated and grilled skirt steak served in a wheat tortilla, had an amazingly short history as far as he could tell. In fact, the word “fajita,” as a reference to a particular food, didn’t even appear in print until 1975. Yet, within a decade, it had become the hottest food craze in the country.
So Recio obtained a fellowship to get to the bottom of the phenomenon. Two years later, he concluded that, coincidentally, it was his grandfather, a butcher in Premont, Texas, in the 1930s, who may have started the ball rolling by using the term “fajita” to describe the cheap cut of beef — a thin layering of muscle that covers the diaphragm — that many of the locals considered to be somewhat undesirable. The word derives from the Spanish “faja,” for “girdle” or “strip.”
The tradition of marinating and grilling this piece of meat began in the 1940s with Mexican ranch workers living in West Texas near the Mexican border. When a steer was butchered, the workers were given the least desirable parts — the head, intestines and fajitas (also known as skirt steak). Well, the fajita, of course, was a delicacy compared to the head and intestines. The workers would tenderize the meat by pounding it and marinating it in lime juice before cooking it over an open fire. Then they’d serve it with a variety of condiments rolled in a flour tortilla.
Recio hypothesized that the first restaurant to serve something similar to what those ranch hands were eating around their campfires back in the ’40s was the Roundup in McAllen, Texas. The dish was called “botanzas,” meaning appetizers, and would not begin to capture the imaginations of Tex-Mex chefs for many more years.
The really major break through for the modern fajitas, concluded the Texas
A & M professor, was the development of Tacos al Carbon, a menu item at Ninfa’s Restaurant in Houston in 1973. They were created at the suggestion of a customer who had just returned from a trip to Mexico City and asked the Ninfa’s staff to slice a piece of steak into thin strips so he could make a rather upscale taco. Once some tasty accompaniments were added — cilantro, onion, tomatoes, Serrano chilies, sour cream and cheese — it became a house specialty.
Then, in 1981, Ninfa’s created a variation of tacos al carbon with grilled meat strips, condiments and flour tortillas. They were placed on the menu as Fajitas for One, and Fajitas for Two. Meanwhile, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Austin, Texas, began featuring fajitas, describing them as “a Tex-Mex beef and tortilla sandwich,” using boneless sirloin instead of the characteristic skirt steak. By 1982 they were selling 13,000 orders a month.
Technically, only beef has a fajita, but the term has been corrupted to mean any kind of meat or seafood wrapped in a tortilla. Its popularity, I think, lies in the fact that it’s a delectable combination of flavors and textures, and can be assembled with such ease.
*Edit: I inserted the "History of fajitas" because it's one of my pet peeves when people call
anthing with cooked onions/bell pepper fajitas.