What Happened To My Skirt?

[thirdeye]

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]

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

 

[FishinMusician]

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]

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]

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]

Marinate in pickle juice overnight. :thumb:

 

[Back9Q]

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]

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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What is your water bath temp?

 

[sudsandswine]

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]

I use flank or flat iron. Much more tender.

 

[CptKaos]

Probably just a tough old cow

 

[LYU370]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

These were tougher than Klingon trigonometry.

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

 

[Titch]

We can vouch for the baking soda