What Happened To My Skirt?

thirdeye · Sep 16, 2021

What started off as some skirt tacos for dinner is going to wind up as chopped meat in some breakfast burritos for the freezer. These were tougher than Klingon trigonometry.

I used a 1 hour light coating of Head Country Marinade and some Minor's AuJus Prep, along with some Oakridge Smokey Chile Lime Rub (so nothing new there), followed by a hot-n-fast cook, rested 10 minutes and sliced pretty thin. This was inside skirt from Sam's Club. Any idears??

JAKs Q & brew · Sep 16, 2021

Inside skirt tends to end up pretty tough in limited experience. Looks tasty, but from the pictures it looks like a jaw workout.

FishinMusician · Sep 16, 2021

Never had too much luck with inside skirt doing only hot and fast and trying to eat it mediumish. I go hot and fast and wrap and let it cook it foil for awhile. Usually just for tacos.

Marinating the absolute hell out of it does help, though.

keeperofsecrets · Sep 16, 2021

FishinMusician said:
Marinating the absolute hell out of it does help, though.

I generally marinate at least overnight but preferably 24 hours in lime juice or other citrus (lime plus sour naranja) plus your other spices. Still not really tender, but much easier on the jaw muscles.

robertm · Sep 16, 2021

I've started cutting the pieces down to bit size. That way when you take a bite in a taco you don't need to pull it apart and have that chewy sensation. Only solution I've come up with..

elcapitan · Sep 16, 2021

Marinate in pickle juice overnight. :thumb:

Back9Q · Sep 16, 2021

I run them in sous vide for 6 hours then sear at 800F+ on Komodo. This is new method after numerous issues with what you are working with.

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thirdeye · Sep 16, 2021

Back9Q said:
I run them in sous vide for 6 hours then sear at 800F+ on Komodo. This is new method after numerous issues with what you are working with.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is your water bath temp?

sudsandswine · Sep 16, 2021

I would occasionally get some from Sam's that was inexplicably tough. I stopped buying them at Sam's and now buy skirt steak from Aldi's. Not only are they cheaper, but they seem to be better texture and flavor wise. The inside skirt at the Sam's I shop at is usually select grade, although I'm not sure how much that matters on something like skirt steak compared to choice grade.

Mikhail · Sep 16, 2021

I use flank or flat iron. Much more tender.

CptKaos · Sep 16, 2021

Probably just a tough old cow

LYU370 · Sep 16, 2021

If it's inside skirt, I break out the Jaccard and go to town. Butchers at the Mexi-Mart always ask if I want it tenderized.

Bill-Chicago · Sep 16, 2021

Although this won't help you, I've always wanted to try velveting some rougher cuts to see if I can get that super tender American Chinese food beef texture

https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/

SmittyJonz · Sep 16, 2021

Marinade Allday 8 hours Or OverNite...........

https://www.mccormick.com/stubbs/pr...stubbs-soy--garlic---red-pepper-beef-marinade

https://www.mccormick.com/lawrys/flavors/marinades/steak--chop

Back9Q · Sep 16, 2021

thirdeye said:
What is your water bath temp?

I am a bleu type person so I will run 105 for me and let rest a while until grill comes up to temp. If doing skirt steak tacos with everyone else ill run bath around 120 then sear till 130

I have also seared prior to sous vide and that worked well. I am thinking of doing a sear-bath-sear approach next time

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LYU370 · Sep 16, 2021

Bill-Chicago said:
Although this won't help you, I've always wanted to try velveting some rougher cuts to see if I can get that super tender American Chinese food beef texture

https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/

Korean friend of mine told me to use a kiwi, but don't let it go for too long or it'll turn to mush. She was right, lost track of time once and it started to disintegrate as it hit the grill.

thirdeye · Sep 16, 2021

Holy.... I got more advice than Carter has pills! Way to go Brethren!!! Let's see how this shook out.

* Wrap
* Marinate X 3 or 4
* Slicing and dicing
* Sous Vide X 2
* Nix and buy flank or Flat Iron
* Jaccard
* Velveting
* Kiwi

All good options to consider. I am going to salvage the remainder by slicing and dicing and making a hash reduction with some butter, aujus, taters and onions. This will be combined with a couple dozen scrambled eggs with peppers, cheese etc., and made into breakfast burritos for the freezer.

I have a pack of Sirloin flap meat that looks similar, but eats a lot better.

kcmike · Sep 28, 2021

The last inside skirt I got from Sam's (just a few weeks ago) was also on the tough side. Looking at the meat grain in the picture, it looks to be rather coarse and "loose" with little intramuscular fat. Anytime I've ever had skirts like that, they always end up on the tougher side.

Also, I find if you cut them on a bias (like you did) but on an angle across the grain like the red line in the pic below, it can dramatically help the perceived tenderness. Instead of coming across perfectly perpendicular to the grain, crank the angle even more and come across way below 90º.

Curt.P · Sep 29, 2021

thirdeye said:
These were tougher than Klingon trigonometry.

Wait until you hit Andorian statistics. I hope you don't get professor Ch'qyhliss.

Titch · Sep 29, 2021

We can vouch for the baking soda

What Happened To My Skirt?

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