This Is The Best Steak Cut For Delicious Carne Guisada

Carne guisada comes in various forms, depending on whether you're in Texas, Mexico, or other locations in Central America and the Caribbean — but this saucy beef stew is always a comforting dish. For simplicity, we'll focus more on Mexican and Tex Mex versions here: Recipes vary, but it's generally a tomato-based stew with beef, peppers, chiles, pepper and other spices, and sometimes, potatoes.

The name of the dish translates to stewed meat, and that gives you a hint of the cut of beef you'll want to use here: Something that stews well. Chuck steak is a formidable option: It comes from the cow's shoulder, an area that gets a lot of exercise. This makes for leaner but also tougher meat than, say, cuts from the rib. And while those rib cuts are great for the grill, chuck is one that can get tough if you cook it fast in that way. However, it does well when you braise it low and slow in liquid. It has a lot of connective tissue with collagen, and that collagen will turn into gelatin as you cook it slowly. Gelatin acts as a thickener, giving you that gravy-like sauce while also adding a silky smooth texture. It's also a seriously cheap cut: You can find it for around $8 per pound at supermarkets like Walmart (though the exact price may vary by your location) — comfortably more than half the price of ribeye.

You may encounter both chuck steak and chuck roast in the store, and these cuts are almost the same thing. Chuck roast is a bigger cut from the shoulder, and chuck steak is just a smaller steak that's sliced off that bigger hunk of roast. You may pay a little more for chuck steak (although not always), since it requires extra work on the butcher's side.

Realistically, both work well for carne guisada. Chuck steak is a little easier, as it's already cut into a smaller piece so it'll require less work to get it down to smaller, stew-appropriate cubes. Chuck steak has one other advantage, in that its smaller size means you can grill it for a steak dinner, although be careful, as it requires marinating in order to make sure it won't turn into something resembling leather.

For carne guisada, the method is simple, and pretty much the same used for other beef stews. You'll start by searing the beef. Then, you make a stew base with aromatics, peppers or chiles, and other spices, followed by tomatoes and liquid like broth or water. The meat should be submerged and simmered on low heat until it's nice and tender. This should take roughly a couple of hours, although it can vary based on how thick you cut the beef. Ideally, you won't need any thickeners like cornstarch, as the collagen in the beef should do that for you, creating a smooth sauce you can soak up with tortillas.