What Happened To My Skirt?

[scp]

I always heard how good skirt steak was. I tried several...with about every method possible...always tough. Then read...inside skirt is tougher than outside. Searched and found some outside. Bingo problem solved. Biggest problem..most retail stores only carry inside.

 

[darita]

Just did a test with inside skirt cuz I love carne asada. Best result was either a short marinate with citrus, 1/2 hour or no marinating at all, followed by SV @ 125*-130* for 3 hours, then a really fast sear. It's essential to remove all the silver skin prior, but keep the fat for flavor. Also, you can SV longer for more tenderness, but you tend to lose moisture.
I'd love to try some outside skirt, but I haven't been able to find any around me. Get the best quality inside skirt that you can find.

 

[elcapitan]

Thats why I recommended to marinate in pickle juice overnight. Breaks it down a bit and relaxes it.

Some popular Mexican resturaunts here in Texas and Mexico do this as well.

Also imo, its not a cut that does well rare or even medium rare. I cook it done to well done. With a nice buttery char.

 

[Dr. Trout Bum]

This may not be an option for you, but I sous vide skirt steak before I grill it. It’s worth it to me because I find skirt steak to be very flavorful. 4 or 5 hours of Sous vide at about 130f, ice bath, then on to the grill for a sear.

 

[thirdeye]

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.

I've had better skirt steaks in the past, (or what I recalled as skirt) but there was a distraction in that in early 2000 I made a Creekstone Farms order as beef was is horrible supply locally with the pandemic hoarding. I loaded up on their Prime flank steaks, then ordered more earlier this year. So for 20 months we've been enjoying Prime flank every couple of months.

The solution was two-fold.... (1st) With the remainder of the tough skirt meat, I unknowingly did almost exactly what you suggested, but the end result was small cubes not slices or narrow strips. Some went into a batch of red chili, and the remainder was mixed with chorizo for breakfast burritos for the freezer. The tenderness was now passible and added a little texture to the chew on both products. And (2nd) several folks suggested that I probably bought sirloin flap instead of inside skirt. I tried a pack of that and it was much better all the way around. So now, I'm sticking with sirloin flap for the value, and high end flank as a treat.

 

[jimstocks53]

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.

Skirt steak is an excellent use of sous vide and the longer you can 'cook' the meat the more tender results will be. I have gone 30 hours followed by searing for color and smoke flavor with great success.

 

[darita]

Skirt steak is an excellent use of sous vide and the longer you can 'cook' the meat the more tender results will be. I have gone 30 hours followed by searing for color and smoke flavor with great success.

Seems the longer I SV, the more juiciness I lose. Do you ever experience that?

 

[jimstocks53]

Seems the longer I SV, the more juiciness I lose. Do you ever experience that?

While there is lots of juice in the bag, I haven't found the meat to be dry. But after searing I usually place the meat in the bag with the juice to 'rest'.

 

[darita]

While there is lots of juice in the bag, I haven't found the meat to be dry. But after searing I usually place the meat in the bag with the juice to 'rest'.

The meat still seems to be plenty moist, however it's not flowing juice, like if it's straight grilled. That said, I can't hardly chew it straight grilled, so maybe I shouldn't complain.

 

[BuffaloDave]

I honestly think for inside skirt you have to spend the money and get a better grade. I get from a local butcher and I've never experienced a tough one. They're more expensive but more laced with fat, only overcooking would dry them out.

short marinade time- I like Keji lopez alt's serious eats recipe

Super high heat. I like to continually flip over my hibachi with burned down oak coals.


I don't get all the sous vide love for thin cuts like this.

 

[darita]

I honestly think for inside skirt you have to spend the money and get a better grade. I get from a local butcher and I've never experienced a tough one. They're more expensive but more laced with fat, only overcooking would dry them out.

short marinade time- I like Keji lopez alt's serious eats recipe

Super high heat. I like to continually flip over my hibachi with burned down oak coals.


I don't get all the sous vide love for thin cuts like this.

I didn't either...till I tried it. Some SV for perfect doneness. I SV for tenderness of tough cuts.