These BBQ tacos with bavette steak are really something special. Medium rare steak meets charred pepper salsa, creamy avocado and spicy mayo in this vibrant summer recipe. We love the unusual addition of grilled avocado inspired by Dan's trip to Mexico — it makes the colour and flavour really pop.

Ingredients

Beef Steak Tacos Recipe

• 1kg Bavette steaks
• 12 Tortillas
• 4 Garlic cloves
• 20g Thyme
• 1 Fresh jalapeños
• 3 Green peppers
• 3 Mild green chillies
• 1 Red onion
• 1 Coriander
• 2 Avocado
• 100g Hot sauce
• 100g Mayo
• Salad
• Olive Oil

Equipment

• Thermapen ONE
• Cooking Tongs
• Container with a lid
• Marinating bag or container

Bavette steak temperatures

Rare: 52 °C

Medium: 60 °C

Well done: 71 °C

Cook your steak to temperature to get the finish spot on. We recommend our Thermapen One thermometer for the job because the steak will cook really quickly, so fast readings are essential.

These temperatures are the goal for your steak once it has finished resting. The temperature will rise by 5-10 °C as it rests, so remove the steak from the heat a little before it reaches your final goal temperature.

Directions

• Trim off any sinew or unwanted fat from the steaks.
• Finely chop the garlic, thyme, jalapeños and coriander stalks. Combine with a drop of oil and some salt, and rub into the steaks so they are covered in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least an hour but longer if possible.
• To make the salsa, char the green peppers and chillies on the BBQ until the skins of the peppers are black and blistered. Once the peppers and chillies are blackened, put them into a tub with a lid to steam the peppers and make sure they are cooked all the way through.
• Once the peppers are soft, peel off the skin. Don’t worry if you can’t remove it all, but if there is too much burnt skin, it will make the salsa bitter. De-seed the peppers, then hand chop the flesh into bite-sized cubes.

• Finely dice the onion, coriander and juice two limes. Combine with the roasted peppers and chillies. If it looks too dry, add some olive oil to loosen up the salsa. Season with salt to taste.
• Mix your favourite hot sauce with some mayo to create a spicy mayo for the base of the tacos.
• Get your steaks out of the fridge to come to room temperature.
• Chop some salad ready for building the tacos. We used lettuce and radish.
• We want to cook the bavette steaks fast and hot so get the BBQ to a high temperature. You are looking for the coals to be burnt down and glowing orange, almost white.

• Once your grill is ready, put your steaks directly over the hottest part. The oil from the marinade should help the steak not stick and also cook a bit quicker. You may get a few flare-ups from the oil on the coals, but this isn’t anything to worry about.
• Bavette steaks are very thin and cook very quickly, so make sure you have your Thermapen thermometer ready. For a medium rare finish, cook the steaks until the internal temperature is 48 °C in the thickest part. Remove from the heat and rest until the internal temperature reaches 55 °C.
• While the steaks are resting, grill your avocado. This will make the colour vivid green and enhance the flavour. Once charred, slice the avocado and it use to garnish the tacos.
• Once the steaks have finished resting, slice against the grain for softer meat. Build your tacos using the spicy mayo, steak slices, green pepper salsa, salad garnish and grilled avocado.

Dan Cotton

Chef, The Coal Shed

@thecoalshed

"Working in a fast paced kitchen I need something I can rely on every time to give me fast and accurate temperatures. Thermapen gives me the confidence to make sure my food is not just safe but consistent every time."