Skirt Tenderness, Juiciness Test...

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darita

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Lately I've been trying to get Carne Asada down to the point where it's tender and juicy...a tough goal when you're not able to afford top quality meat. Anyways, I've been experimenting with SV kinda good results in tenderness. Only issue is, it's not as juicy as I hoped and by the time the meat's been marinated for 3 hours in citrus juices, the meat comes out just a bit mushy. So I ran a test.
I cooked 4 pieces of the same steak. One I marinated in the usual citrus marinade, another two I marinated in some Italian dressing, the third I left plain. I SV/grilled one of the Italian dressing steaks for 3 hours and straight grilled the rest. All were grilled hot and fast.
Turns out, the three that were not SV were extremely chewy or tough, even the citrus marinated one. The SV steak came out just a bit chewy, but nicely juicy. Some parts were even tender. Best part was, none of it was mushy.
So I guess from now on, I'll be SVing at 130* for 3 hours, with no citrus marinating. I'll put a little in the SV bag along with the other carne asada spices, with salt and pepper before grilling.

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Interesting test. What grade meat were you using?
 
All I remember is, common supermarket Angus beef. I'll take look in the morning when I go shopping again.
 
I do skirt all the time for tacos. Season with salt and pepper then SV at 110-120 for 3-4 hours. Then seared on komodo at 700F+ until 120-130 IT temp. I prefer rare. Family med rare. Rest for a few then thinner slices for tacos.


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I recently posted about an impulse buy of inside skirt steak I cooked that I was very dissatisfied with. However.... several people asked if I got it mixed up with sirloin flap meat (which has several other names), including a guy at the market. When he said "we sell much more flap than skirt I knew I made an error. I bought a pack that day and although it looks similar to skirt the difference in texture and tenderness is like night and day and exactly what I recalled.

iIFawL9.jpg


I've done two SV cooks with the flap, one with a beefy onion, Montreal flavor in the bag. And the other with my Carne Asada Beer Marinade (12 hours). Both were in the SV for 3 hours at 131.5°, than flash chilled and a cold hold for 5 hours. I warmed it in the SV bath and grill seared. I now have 3 new packages I will vacuum seal tomorrow.
 
I buy flank from Sam's. Think it's Angus, definitely choice. I just season with a brisket rub and cook med-rare on Pit Barrel Cooker. It takes 45min. Juicy and tender every time. I slice kinda thin on a bias. As tender as a good ribeye.
 
How thick is that flap meat and how does it compare with skirt...tenderness, juiciness?
Do you notice SV meat being less moist than straight grilled?
 
darita said:
How thick is that flap meat and how does it compare with skirt...tenderness, juiciness?
Do you notice SV meat being less moist than straight grilled?
Click to expand...

This package is in the 3/8 to 7/16 range. Like I said, it's much more tender and not as grainy as the inside skirt I bought. When I SV'd mine it was as moist as straight grilled, but it had a softer texture and bite.

One note though, when you SV something this thin, the sear time is quick on the grill, really quick. I considered a cast iron griddle and might try that next time. An alternate is to slice it after the SV and cook it fajita style, again very quickly.
 
There is a HUGE difference between inside skirt and outside skirt steak. Inside skirt is tough, chewy, and I can never get it tender. Outside skirt is tender, almost to the point of being fork-tender, every time I cook it. I always ask the butcher if what they have is inside or outside skirt...if they say it's inside, or if they don't know, I go somewhere else.
 
I bought some wagyu inside skirt from HEB and it turned out to be nothing special. Outside skirt if you can get it is far superior. I've gotten that from my butcher and it was a whole different experience.
 
Unfortunately, I don't have a good butcher near me. The one in my area buys a lot of his stuff from Costco, so...
 
I bought some inside skirt after reading thirdeye's skirt thread. I brined it in Oakridge game change and juice of a whole lime....I'll buy it again as it's cheap.

-D
 
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