The Border Table · Source Edition
Ninfa-Style Citrus Fajitas
Citrus, pineapple, soy and chile make the most layered fajita marinade in the archive.
An archived Ninfa-associated variation, presented without claiming an authenticated restaurant formula.
Cook it
An archived Ninfa-associated variation, presented without claiming an authenticated restaurant formula.
- Mix the citrus marinade. Combine the orange zest, lime zest and ¼ cup water with the lime juice, pineapple juice, wine, soy sauce, garlic, pepper, crushed chiles and clarified butter. The archived direction omits its listed pineapple juice; it belongs in this mixture.
- Marinate. Remove visible membrane from the skirt steaks. Coat them in the marinade, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. If you want to brush the steaks while cooking, reserve some clean marinade now, before it touches raw beef.
- Grill. Discard used marinade. Grill over a hot charcoal fire or apple-and-pecan wood fire, turning once, for roughly 5 to 7 minutes per side depending on thickness. Brush only with the clean reserved marinade. Cook steaks to at least 145°F and rest at least 3 minutes.
- Serve. Slice the beef across its grain and bring it to the table with 12 warm flour tortillas.
Serve it
Serve the sliced steak in warm flour tortillas. Keep toppings modest so the citrus-and-wood flavor is still apparent.
Understand it
What makes this version work
Zest adds fragrance while lime and pineapple juice add acidity and fruit. The clarified butter is part of the written formula, not an optional garnish. The original card says to brush the meat with marinade during grilling, but used raw-meat marinade is unsafe without boiling it first. Reserving a clean portion before the meat goes in keeps the intended basting step. Grill time is only an estimate; measure internal temperature.
Know it
The recorded recipe and its place at the table
Ninfa Laurenzo opened her Houston restaurant in 1973. The Texas State Historical Association credits her with popularizing tacos al carbón, also called fajitas. The owner’s 2021 card associates this particular fruit-and-wine marinade with Ninfa and even notes uncertainty about whether the fruit was a later embellishment. No primary document in this review verifies this exact recipe as the restaurant’s original. We therefore call it Ninfa-style and present its ingredients as the owner’s archived variation.
Sources and method
About this version
The ingredient proportions and core method come from the owner’s 2021 Authentic Tex-Mex Recipes card. The Border Table has clarified the instructions for readers without claiming an undocumented inventor or origin for the exact formula. The external source gives broader culinary context; it does not authenticate the owner’s private recipe.
- Texas State Historical Association, Ninfa Laurenzo.
- FoodSafety.gov, Four Steps to Food Safety — refrigeration and safe handling guidance where relevant.
See our corrections policy to suggest an update.
