Beef Fajitas

My husband smoked/grilled the most awesome fajitas over the weekend.  They are seriously the best I have ever eaten.

The recipe came from the cookbook Smoke & Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison.  Fajitas are usually made with skirt or flank steak, which is usually pretty tough.  The authors of this book suggest smoking the meat.  This slower method of cooking makes the meat nice and tender.

We now have a kamado style smoker and convection grill.  The method he used for cooking the fajitas was a cross between smoking and grilling.  The results were amazing.  The meat was tender, smoky and perfectly charred around the edges.  I know these types of grills aren't extremely common.  The instructions I have here are an abbreviation of the original recipe.  I also put how we cooked it, just in case anyone has a similar style grill.  Regardless of your preferred cooking method, this is a delicious marinade for fajitas!

 

Bona Fide Fajitas

Smoke & Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison

12 oz beer

¾ c vegetable oil

½ medium onion, finely chopped

Juice of 2 limes

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

2 T Worcestershire sauce

1 T chili powder

1 t freshly ground black pepper

1 t Tabasco sauce (We used Tapatio.)

1 t ground cumin

2-3 pounds of whole beef skirt steak, trimmed (We used flank steak.)

Combine the marinade ingredients in a blender and puree.  Place the steak in a plastic bag with marinade and refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally.  Prepare the smoker for barbecuing, bringing the temperature to 200^oF to 220^oF.  Remove the steak and drain it.  Transfer the steak to the smoker.  Cook for about 1 hour.  If your smoker has a spate grill area for cooking directly over the fire, or if you have another grill handy, move the meat there and sear it for 1-2 minutes per side.  This step adds a pleasant crispy exterior texture, but isn’t necessary for flavor.  Alternatively, smoke the meat for an additional 15 minutes.  Let the steak sit for about 10 minutes.  Slice at a diagonal angle against the grain.  (If you don’t have a smoker, I think you could follow these instructions using your oven then your grill.  You wouldn’t have the same smoky flavor but it would still make the steak nice and tender.)

Smoker and Convection Grill Instructions

We have a kamado style smoker and convection grill.  These aren’t extremely common.  But if you do have one, this is how we cooked it.  Set the dome temperature to 300 ^oF for a grill temperature of 280^oF.  Add a few wood chips to the charcoal and cook for about 1½ hours.  We used flank steak, which is generally thicker than skirt steak and would need to be cooked a little longer.  Because it is a grill and a smoker, there isn’t any need to do anything else and it turned out awesome!

Put your cooked fajita meat on warm flour tortillas or gluten-free corn tortillas and top with your favorite toppings, like this fresh avocado salsa.