16 French Fries Recipes & A Carne Asada Feast
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Updated August 2026 July 13th is National French Fries Day, a cause for celebration because it’s another reason to have fries—maybe for all three meals! How many types of French fries have you had? Crinkle cut and curly fries, sure. But how about Boardwalk Fries? Carne Fries? Elvis Fries? Newfie Fries ?. Each year we like to serve up a different way to serve French fries. This year, start with the American version of Poutine: Carne Asada Fries. After the recipe, we’ll delve into carne asada itself, the popular Mexican grilled steak that can be the centerpiece of a cookout or warm-weather gathering. Below: > How carne asada is enjoyed in Mexico. > More ways to serve carne asada. > Drinks to serve with carne asada. Elsewhere On The Nibble: > The history of French fries. > The different types of fries: more than 40! > Top 10 favorite dips for fries. > How to make the best French fries. > Make your own signature fries. > French fry styles around the world. > The different types of potatoes: a photo glossary. > The year’s 30 potato holidays. > The year’s 24 fried food holidays. > The year’s 30 potato holidays. > The year’s 25+ Mexican and Tex-Mex food holidays. > Food fun: The world’s largest French fry. Carne asada, which means “grilled steak” in Spanish, is a Mexican dish of grilled and sliced beef (skirt steak, sirloin steak, tenderloin steak, or rib steak). It’s served as a main dish with rice and beans, or as an ingredient in other dishes you’ll find below. This recipe was developed by Jonathan Melendez, food blogger from The Candid Appetite, for the Idaho Potato Commission, a source for great potato recipes. You can save time by purchasing the salsa and guacamole. 1. MAKE the fries. Heat a large pot (a Dutch oven is great here) over medium-high heat. Fill it a bit less than halfway with vegetable oil. Attach a deep fryer thermometer and heat the oil to 350°F. 2. PEEL the potatoes and cut them into thin fries. Immediately place the fries into a bowl of cold water to prevent them from turning brown and to rinse away the excess starch. Drain the potatoes and dry them thoroughly with a clean kitchen towel. Make sure they’re completely dry; you don’t want any moisture in the oil. 3. FRY the potatoes in batches until light golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stir with a slotted spoon and transfer to a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Continue frying the rest of the fries. 4. HEAT the oil to 375°F and fry the potatoes a second time (in batches as well), until deep golden brown and crispy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer back to the wire rack and sprinkle with salt to taste. 5. GRILL the steak. First, heat an outdoor grill or a stovetop grill pan, over medium-high heat until hot. 6. COMBINE in a large bowl combine the flap steak with the salt, pepper, granulated garlic, onion, paprika, oregano, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix until evenly seasoned. Cook the meat until charred on both sides, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and allow to rest for a few minutes before chopping into cubes. 7. ASSEMBLE the fries on an oven-safe platter, baking sheet, or individual ramekins. Sprinkle with the shredded cheese and place in a 350°F oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese. 8. REMOVE from the oven, top with the chopped carne asada, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, cilantro, and queso fresco, as desired. Serve right away. Carne asada, Spanish for grilled or roasted meat, is served in numerous ways (see the next section). In northern Mexico, carne asada is also very often served simply as grilled beef on a shared platter, with tortillas and accompaniments so everyone can assemble their own tacos. The steak is marinated in lime juice, garlic, salt, and spices, then charred over an open flame. It’s then sliced thin across the grain or chopped. In Mexico, a home cookout or carne asada gathering is always festive. How’d you like to host your own gathering? To start with, you need a grill for that open flame (you can also make it in a skillet on the stove top, but you won’t get that great grilled flavor). Here’s the rest: Eating the individual components on a plate is also conventional. It also offers the option of avoiding gluten and carbs from the tortillas, and is potentially less drippy. Mission and other tortilla manufacturers do make gluten-free versions. |
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 [10] An elevated presentation of carne asada at Eddie Merlot’s (photo © Eddie Merlot’s). 4. MORE WAYS TO SERVE CARNE ASADA Alcoholic Drinks Carne asada, literally “grilled meat” in Spanish, was not originally the name of one fixed recipe or a particular steak cut. Rather, it simply described beef cooked over high heat, traditionally over charcoal or wood. Today, thanks to the expansion of Mexican cuisine in the U.S., it usually refers to thin, grilled beef—often skirt, flap, or flank steak—served sliced or chopped. It’s a popular meat for tacos. Its roots are in northern and northeastern Mexico, where cattle ranching developed after Spanish colonization. Cattle did not exist in pre-Columbian Mexico; they arrived with the Spanish in the 16th century. In the ranching regions that became especially associated with carne asada—such as Sonora and Nuevo León*—beef became an important food, and open-fire grilling suited working ranch life as well as outdoor celebrations. Early carne asada was likely quite simple: a flavorful but economical cut of beef, grilled over fire and seasoned primarily with salt. Lime, garlic, chiles, herbs, and more elaborate marinades are now common, but they vary substantially by household, butcher shop, and region. The characteristic smoky flavor is often associated with charcoal or mesquite grilling. The finished meat may be served with tortillas, beans, grilled onions, salsa, and guacamole—or diced for tacos, burritos, tortas, and other dishes. Importantly, in northern Mexico, “a carne asada” can mean the gathering as well as the food: a family-and-friends cookout centered on a grill, rather like an American backyard barbecue. Beef may be the centerpiece, but chicken, chorizo, seafood, vegetables, beans, rice, salsas, and beer are also often part of the occasion. Mexican immigrants carried these grilling traditions to the United States in the early 20th century. Carne asada became especially important in California, Arizona, Texas, and other Southwestern communities, where carnicerías sold prepared marinated meat and taquerias turned it into a familiar taco filling. The BBC notes that printed references to U.S. carnicerías selling marinated meats go back to 1930. Over time, it moved from Mexican and Mexican-American home cooking and neighborhood taquerias into mainstream American restaurant menus. So the short version is: Carne asada began as northern Mexican ranching food, evolved into a beloved communal grilling tradition, and became a cornerstone of Mexican-American taco culture—not merely “marinated steak.” If you’re a beef lover, plan to have some soon. †Every Friday became “Fajita Friday” following an advertising campaign by Mexican-food brand Old El Paso in 2022. It was promoted as a Friday-night, at-home fajita ritual in the U.S., and a major 2023 campaign in the U.K. followed. Fajita Friday echoes Taco Tuesday: Tuesday taco specials appeared in U.S. newspaper ads as early as the 1930s, while the phrase “Taco Tuesday” emerged in the 1970s. Gregory’s Restaurant & Bar in New Jersey began a Taco Tuesday promotion in 1979 and later held a state trademark; regional fast-food chain Taco John’s helped popularize the phrase nationally and received a federal trademark in 1989. CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM. |
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