Fajita help needed!

TxQGuy

TxQGuy

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Hi y’all. I have an embarrassing admission that I am going to share: I can’t make fajitas. As an avid griller/smoker, this is unfortunate. As a born-and-raised Texan, it is downright shameful. I come before you today to seek your help and advice on how to remedy this situation.

My problem is that I do not understand the cut of meat. I just don’t get beef skirt steak. Sometimes it comes out somewhat ok (but never delicious or awesome). Other times, it is like chewing on a tire, with a weird, gamey flavor. My results are so random that I’ve struggled to find a pattern or correlation. With most meats, there are certain steps you follow, and things you look for that indicate how you should cook that particular meat (i.e. trimming the flap on the back of a rack of ribs, or wiggling the drumstick on a whole chicken to see if it’s tender). I have NO dang idea how to do fajitas. I guess I’ll start by sharing my usual process.

1) Buy skirt steak that is neither too thin nor too thick.
2) Try and trim as much of the fat/silver skin as possible
3) Pound it with a meat tenderizing hammer
4) Marinate overnight in a mixture of beer/Italian dressing/Fiesta Brand Mesquite Fajita Seasoning
5) Sear it quickly direct over a blazing hot mesquite coal bed
6) Move it to indirect and let it come up to roughly medium/medium rare (this is dang hard for me to guess on a thin cut of meat but I usually at least get this part right)
7) Let it sit for 20-30 minutes then slice against the grain

What do I need to be doing differently? Does anyone else have difficulty with fajitas? Help please!
 
Ribeyes or new York strip plus bone in chicken thigh meat
 
Don't pound it, don't marinate it overnight either. It's so thin already that it might be getting tough from the vinegar in the dressing.

Just sear it about 3 minutes a side and let it rest a few minutes.

Are you slicing across the grain? That makes all the difference.

How-to-slice-a-skirt-steak.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcUsLqgFlDQ
 
16Adams said:
Ribeyes or new York strip plus bone in chicken thigh meat
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm with him. Skirt has approached or exceeded the cost of actual steak cuts here in many cases...don't get me wrong I like skirt steak but ribeyes make for much better fajitas IMO, all else being equal.
 
You're doing too much.

1) Buy skirt steak that is neither too thin nor too thick. Nope. Just buy a piece.
2) Try and trim as much of the fat/silver skin as possible OK, but there shouldn't be any silver skin.
3) Pound it with a meat tenderizing hammer. NO NO NO NO leave it alone.
4) Marinate overnight in a mixture of beer/Italian dressing/Fiesta Brand Mesquite Fajita Seasoning Use TonyBel's carne asada recipe. This should only marinate for a few hours. Overnight will rubberize the meat.
5) Sear it quickly direct over a blazing hot mesquite coal bed
6) Move it to indirect and let it come up to roughly medium/medium rare (this is dang hard for me to guess on a thin cut of meat but I usually at least get this part right)
7) Let it sit for 20-30 minutes then slice against the grain. It's a piece of beef. 5 minutes.

Here is a piece of skirt, non-pounded, 3 hour marinated, cooked on a Blackstone (I went a little over):

skirt.jpg


Not only should you cut across the grain, but your should cut it an an angle. Hope this helps.
 
1) Buy skirt steak that is neither too thin nor too thick. Don't go to that much trouble.
2) Try and trim as much of the fat/silver skin as possible There's no silver skin, just the hard fat and the stringy tissue
3) Pound it with a meat tenderizing hammer NO NO NO
4) Marinate overnight in a mixture of beer/Italian dressing/Fiesta Brand Mesquite Fajita Seasoning Get rid of the Italian dressing Whoever thought that a sour Italian flavor makes beef taste good should be shot. No beer. Bolner's stuff is good. Shake enough to your taste, let it marinate in a ziplock for about 4 hours
5) Sear it quickly direct over a blazing hot mesquite coal bed
6) Move it to indirect and let it come up to roughly medium/medium rare (this is dang hard for me to guess on a thin cut of meat but I usually at least get this part right)
7) Let it sit for 20-30 minutes then slice against the grain Nope it's ready to eat without resting. Agree that sometimes the meat is more tender if you slice it at a 45 degree angle to the grain
 
Do they still have that giant arse taco?
 
Thanks, y'all. Wow, I had no idea how horribly wrong I was going about my preparation. :shock::doh:

I'm going to give them another go soon with that recipe y'all linked to.

Edit: I also realized that I call pretty much every connective-tissue like substance "silver skin", haha.
 
SmokinJohn said:
You're doing too much.

1) Buy skirt steak that is neither too thin nor too thick. Nope. Just buy a piece.
2) Try and trim as much of the fat/silver skin as possible OK, but there shouldn't be any silver skin.
3) Pound it with a meat tenderizing hammer. NO NO NO NO leave it alone.
4) Marinate overnight in a mixture of beer/Italian dressing/Fiesta Brand Mesquite Fajita Seasoning Use TonyBel's carne asada recipe. This should only marinate for a few hours. Overnight will rubberize the meat.
5) Sear it quickly direct over a blazing hot mesquite coal bed
6) Move it to indirect and let it come up to roughly medium/medium rare (this is dang hard for me to guess on a thin cut of meat but I usually at least get this part right)
7) Let it sit for 20-30 minutes then slice against the grain. It's a piece of beef. 5 minutes.

Here is a piece of skirt, non-pounded, 3 hour marinated, cooked on a Blackstone (I went a little over):

skirt.jpg


Not only should you cut across the grain, but your should cut it an an angle. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Not to contradict, but that my friend looks like Flank Steak, not Skirt Steak.
 
SmokinJohn said:
Here is a piece of skirt, non-pounded, 3 hour marinated, cooked on a Blackstone (I went a little over):

skirt.jpg
Click to expand...

Ain't never seen a skirt that looks like that? The ones I get are about 2 feet long. Maybe a different cut? Flank maybe?
 
Fajitas are simple. Bolners fiesta is good stuff and my go too. If you want to marinade I use 2 parts pineapple juice 1 part beer 1 part soy. Cook over really hot coals. Get outside skirt if you can find it.

The above is my best copycat of HEB pre-marinated skirt.

The same goes great on boneless skinless thighs.
 
1) Buy skirt steak that is neither too thin nor too thick. :thumb:
2) Try and trim as much of the fat/silver skin as possible Yep, if you get the untrimmed ones from the Mexi Mart.
3) Pound it with a meat tenderizing hammer I Jaccard the crap out of it, the local Mexi Marts run it through their tenderizer.
4) Marinate overnight in a mixture of beer/Italian dressing/Fiesta Brand Mesquite Fajita Seasoning Italian Dressing? This is Mexican food.
5) Sear it quickly direct over a blazing hot mesquite coal bed :thumb:
6) Move it to indirect and let it come up to roughly medium/medium rare (this is dang hard for me to guess on a thin cut of meat but I usually at least get this part right) It's a thin cut 2 - 2 1/2 minutes per side is all you need.
7) Let it sit for 20-30 minutes then slice against the grain I let it sit however long it takes me to get a plate and grab a knife. 2 minutes tops.
 
So you're marinating in ITALIAN dressing to make a Tex-Mex dish?! Are you using parmesan too, or subbing basil for cilantro? What kind of beer? Guinness? You are way overthinking this very simple dish. Marinate in lime juice, cilantro, garlic, salt, pepper , maybe half hour, grill it, rest for 5, maybe 10m, then slice it. The skirt steak is long, 1.5-2ft long and about 6-8in across. The grain goes the short length of the meat, not the long. So cut it into smaller chunks, then slice against the grain/the short width of the meat, "thin to win". Flank is also fine to use instead of skirt too.
 
in Texas restaurants mostly use the following marinade:

3 parts pineapple juice, 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part water.

If you go to Pappasitos or El Tiempo, this is what they marinade their fajitas in. Also, Pappasitos uses sirloin flap meat. I have seen it at Costco a couple times. Looks like skirt steak and is thicker. But good quality skirt steak with silver skin, membrane and fat trimmed would work just fine. Marinade from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Do not marinade overnight. No need. Cook over a very hot fire about a minute and a half per side. Rest for 5 minutes and cut against the grain. Simple.

For me, I just trim and apply course sea salt. Grill as stated above. Baste with some salted butter when it comes off of the grill and a squeeze of fresh lime juice then let rest.

No reason to overthink things.
 
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