Destination
Puerto Vallarta
The story
Tacos de bistec are the default order at every taquería in Mexico City: thin slices of grilled beef — usually flap steak or skirt — cooked hard on a plancha (flat-top griddle) with garlic and salt, chopped into rough pieces with the edge of a cleaver, and served on two overlapped warm corn tortillas with nothing more than a handful of raw onion, a scatter of coriander and a wedge of lime. Every CDMX taquero has a version; every corner in Roma, Condesa, Coyoacán and Doctores has a stand doing it well. It's the taco you order when you want a taquero's baseline skill on display — no marinade, no elaborate salsa, just the meat, the grill and the tortilla.
Method
In a wide bowl, toss the sliced beef with the oil, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano. Leave 20 minutes at room temperature.
Char the tomatillos, onion and chillies on a hot dry pan 6 to 8 minutes, turning, until blistered. Blend with the garlic, coriander, salt and lime juice to a coarse-smooth sauce. Adjust salt.
Warm a heavy cast-iron skillet or plancha over the highest heat you have until smoking. Add a light film of oil.
Lay the beef in a single layer (work in batches). Sear 60 to 90 seconds without moving, then flip and sear another 60 seconds. It should be dark-charred on the outside, medium inside.
Using a heavy knife or the side of a cleaver, chop the meat directly on the hot surface into small pieces — about 5mm dice. Toss and chop together for another 60 seconds, letting the chopped meat pick up more colour.
On a second hot pan or in the corner of your plancha, warm each pair of tortillas 20 seconds a side. Stack in a tea towel to keep warm and pliable.
Lay two warm tortillas overlapping on each plate. Pile a heaped 2 tbsp of chopped bistec down the middle. Top with a small pinch of diced onion and a heavier pinch of chopped coriander.
Serve with salsa verde cruda, salsa roja, pickled jalapeños and lime wedges. Eaters spoon their own salsa. The tortillas should feel warm through the paper if wrapped for takeaway — a lukewarm bistec taco is a wasted one.
Tips
- Slice the beef 3mm thin. This is the CDMX marker. Thicker slices need longer on the grill and dry out. Chill the beef in the freezer 15 minutes before slicing to make it easier.
- Two tortillas per taco. Always. Mexico City taquerías use two warm tortillas — the outer one holds the shape, the inner one soaks up the juice. This is not stinginess reversed; it's the correct engineering.
- Chop on the hot surface. Don't pull the meat off to chop. The chopping happens on the plancha so the small pieces pick up a second round of char.
- Onion and coriander, not lettuce and tomato. The classical CDMX taco de bistec has no vegetable garnish other than raw white onion and coriander. Add lettuce, tomato or cheese and you're eating a north-of-the-border taco, not a Mexican one.
- The salsa is half the taco. A CDMX taquería lives or dies by its salsas. Make the salsa verde cruda from scratch — it's five minutes of work and the difference is enormous.
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