Grilled Skirt Steak

LTH,

Last week at the LTH impromptu Spring World lunch we got to talking about food, can you believe that? Aaron D mentioned Tony's Finer Foods on Elston was a nice general grocery, not of the Fox and Obel type, but a good solid neighborhood grocery.

In need of a few general grocery items, I stopped in the next day and liked the store. Now don't get me wrong, this is not the place to pick up dry aged prime meat or, on the other hand, 19-gallon boxes of laundry soap. Tony's is the type of grocery Jewel should be, albeit with a Hispanic bent.

I bought skirt steak for the grill, which the butcher trimmed then butterflied, lengthwise. I watched the butcher do both mine and another customers, it's always interesting to see a professional at work. Tony's does not Jaccard their skirt steak, as do the majority of Hispanic butchers. I actually prefer this as the meat is not quite as tender and more easily sliced. (against the grain, for best results)

I marinated the skirt steak in Goya brand Mojo Criollo, olive oil and a squeeze of lime juice for a few hours, then grilled hot and fast with lump charcoal on my Weber Smokey Mountain.


Along with a few knob onions.


Made some rice with onion, garlic, jalapeno and a small shake of Goya sazon


Refried pinto beans with onion, garlic and jalapeno.


Sliced thin, against the grain.


And enjoyed.


I also bought a, new to me, brand of crema, La Chona. Slightly thicker than I have been buying with a more pronounced tang. Really very good. Tony's had a few different nationalities of crema (sour cream) including Salvadorean. Not sure what the difference is, but I plan on, eventually, trying them all.

Enjoy,
Gary

Tony's Finer Foods
4137 N Elston
Chicago, Il 60647
773-866-0010

Skirt steak is also very good prepared with lemon and oregano, "Athenian-style," as it's listed on the menus of hundreds of Grecian diners, and also with zip sauce.

My fave for grilled skirt steak is a thai beef salad labeled "Nuea nam tok" in my cookbook. Simply grilled without marinating, sliced thin served over lettuce, cukes and tomatoes with a dressing of fish sauce, lime, hot pepper, tons of cilantro, scallions and sprinkled with ground toasted rice (nicknamed "dried fried clam chowder" in our house after a Dr. Seuss line).

G Wiv wrote:then grilled hot and fast with lump charcoal on my Weber Smokey Mountain.

Hot and fast is right. With all that aeration coming through the sides of the smoke ring (and no kettle to block the air flow), that must have been one hot fire. I would actually have thought you'd prefer a somewhat slower cook with this skirt steak (not slow like "smoker" slow, but definitely slower and not quite "surface of the sun" hot).

Hammond

Gary:

The photo of the assembled plate is working on me as did the bell on Pavlov's pup.

somehow feel guilty about using Sazon but do use it with some regularity and always like the results; the version with achiote is nice too. The Mojo Criollo is still on a list of things to be tried... Goya, oh boya...

Antonius

While I can forgive anyone the use of commercial mojo in a pinch, I would recommend a different brand. Goya is o.k., but La Lechonera is much better. Look for it at La Unica, sometimes in gallon jugs. It tastes and appears to be much closer to home made. Also, the graphics can't be beat (a pig, in a hammock, drunk on mojo, bottle in hoof). Kirby's is very good too, if you can find it. Indeed, Kirby is the go-to brand for Cuban prepared foods, including respectable fabada and caldo gallego (pork and beans don't suffer too much from being canned, and you've got to love a convenience food that includes morcilla and salt pork).

By the way, I also made grilled, mojo-marinated skirt steak this weekend for the troops. (Great minds.) Under two bucks a pound at Westbrook Market, where we got a ton of similarly economical rapini. Also on hand this weekend were birria de borrego (steamed lamb BBQ) and pozole. I picked up some Polish and Danish butter, on the cheap also.

Truth be told, I much prefer cesina to arrachera, but its all good.

JeffB wrote:While I can forgive anyone the use of commercial mojo in a pinch, I would recommend a different brand. Goya is o.k., but La Lechonera is much better. Look for it at La Unica, sometimes in gallon jugs. It tastes and appears to be much closer to home made. Also, the graphics can't be beat (a pig, in a hammock, drunk on mojo, bottle in hoof). Kirby's is very good too, if you can find it.

Jeff,

I have tried La Lechonera Mojo Criollo, in fact I currently have two bottles on hand, I prefer Goya Mojo Criollo.


A year or two ago I picked up 7-8 different types of mojo, both here and in Florida, tried them over a few months and settled on Goya, though I tried Kirby brand I can't find my notes and don't remember my specific impression. I'll be sure to give Kirby another try.

I prefer Goya to La Lechonera for a few reasons, Goya uses both orange and lemon juice concentrate, while the La Lechonera only has vinegar, no citrus juice. The La Lechonera contains msg, where Goya Mojo C does not. The La Lechonera also has, to me, a much bigger hit of salt, and contains oil. Though I will certainly agree La Lechonera has Goya beat hands down in the graphics dept.

I prefer making my own Mojo, and have a few recipes, including one from a past post of yours. To me using Goya Mojo C is a convenience, I glug Mojo C over chicken, skirt steak or even salmon, add olive oil and lemon or lime juice and, Bob's yer Uncle, instant tasty marinade.

Enjoy,
Gary
--

JeffB wrote:
"so I make a mojo. I used a 1:1:1 combo of fresh-squeezed if possible bitter (Seville/Sevilla/naranja argria) orange juice, lime juice, and white vinegar, a little wine, seasoned with anato seeds, S&P (lots and lots of black pepper), oregano, bay leaf, cumin and about a quart of garlic chopped in a food processor. Finish with maybe a cup or two of olive oil. Use enough juice/vinegar to get 2-3 gallons. Make this at least 2 days ahead."

Hi,

I smoked a Salmon on Monday. Original plan was to cook it Sunday, but my family did a food detour on the way home so there was no interest. My Salmon had a 24-hour marinade in the Mojo Criolla with added olive oil before it was cooked. The end product was really quite flavorful with the marinade coming through. Usually 4 pounds of Salmon are eat over several days, this was gone within a day.

I didn't taste the presence of the Mojo Criolla in a chicken but it certainly was present in the fish.

Thanks Gary for repeating Jeff's recipe ... and thanks Jeff for offering it.

Regards,

Gary, you have proved once again that memory lies. The cold, hard, scientific truth comes from side-by-side tasting, a task that you and Cook's Illustrated selflessly take on for the greater good. I will now have to rethink my bottled mojo preference. You made me realize that I might have been a self-victim of reverse snobbery, opting for what seemed to be the more naive, non-commercial, small-player product based on packaging.

I think I might have fallen victim to the same phenomenon in the arena of Tequilas and Mezcales, where I tend to prefer what a good (Mexican-American) friend calls the "ghetto" brands such as Cazadores and Gusano Rojo, based on label art.

This might also explain my growing love of burgers at Pepper's Sandwiches and Dinner Grill, both of which I have been visiting lately with alarming frequency. I know folks have given Pepper's mixed reviews, but they have been "on" lately. The Korean husband and wife team has cranked up the flame on the broiler to about 8 inches above the grate, and have been using better burger patties, it seems. Lots of pickles, onions, and sport peppers on a thin burger that's black on the outside, barely medium on the inside. Decent fries come with for around three bucks. What's not to like?

JeffB wrote:I think I might have fallen victim to the same phenomenon in the arena of Tequilas and Mezcales, where I tend to prefer what a good (Mexican-American) friend calls the "ghetto" brands such as Cazadores and Gusano Rojo, based on label art.

Jeff,

We might not be on the same page Mojo C wise, but we certainly agree on tequilas. My current 'drinking' tequila is Cazadores reposado.

Still haven't been to Pepper's, but from your description of the burgers it sounds like I missing out. Maybe I can make it a two-fer, Harry's Hot Dogs for grits and Pepper's grill for burgers.

Enjoy,
Gary

Peppers Sandwich Shop
211 W Van Buren St
Chicago, IL 60607-3907
312-922-5383

Harry's Hot Dogs
Corner of Randolph and Franklin in Chicago

I'm doing this tonight. I am following the recipe at
http://icuban.com/food/churrasco_cubano2.html
using 2 oranges, 2 lemons and 1 lime for the juice

I'll do grilled sweet potatoes and something with plantanos as our starches...

leek wrote:I'm doing this tonight. I am following the recipe at
http://icuban.com/food/churrasco_cubano2.html
using 2 oranges, 2 lemons and 1 lime for the juice

Lee,

How did your skirt steak turn out? Pretty darn good I'd imagine.

I'm a fan of chimichuri, in fact I recently made a batch to go with a tri-tip. I tend to make my chimichuri hotter, in addition to the often used red pepper flakes, I typically add a serrano or jalapeno. If there's another chile-head eating with us I might even make a separate batch with habanero.

I really like the Three Guys from Miami site you referenced, interesting reading.

Enjoy,
Gary

Speaking of skirt steak....

I, as does David Hammond, have a habit of talking to my fellow patrons in grocery stores and I've gotten some great tips over the years. One of the best, and one I would never (ever) thought of myself came from a very nice Japanese woman in the long since defunct Clark Market (Japanese grocery) on Clark Street.

Seems she was know far and wide for her American style fried chicken and her secret, that she only intended to pass to her daughters moments before her death, was mash a few cubes of fermented tofu in the milk/egg wash she used prior to dredging the chicken in flour.

Over the years I used her tip any number of times, though I don't often fry chicken at home, and she was absolutely correct fermented tofu adds considerable depth of flavor, a certain something no one can ever put their finger on, but absolutely love. Actually, this seems similar to the Southern practice of soaking chicken overnight in buttermilk, both add a slight 'tang' that enhances flavor.

Oh, right, skirt steak. So I was in Tony's on Elston the other day buying skirt steak, starting chatting with a Hispanic woman at the meat counter, said I usually marinate in mojo criollo, olive oil and citrus juice. She suggested Goya Adobo con Pimienta (with pepper) beer and lemon juice for a few hours, then grill.

Great suggestion, damn tasty, not quite up there with adding fermented tofu to egg wash for fried chicken, but it's surprising the good tips you can pick up by conversing with strangers.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

Thanks for the tip on the Goya Mojo Criolla. I used it over the weekend for the first time and the pork was a big hit. I added olive oil and fresh garlic (from the garlic tasting guy at the Madison farmers market).

Best,
Al

G Wiv wrote:She suggested Goya Adobo con Pimienta (with pepper) beer and lemon juice

I agree that beer is essential for marinating skirt steak. But that Goya adobo, I have nightmares about it. In Florida, that stuff is a crutch, much like Lawry's seasoned salt for BBQ. It's a shortcut for everything, and it's chock full of MSG. A bad Cuban restaurant will have 100 dishes that all taste identical, because they all taste like Goya adobo.

That said, I certainly use it, sparingly, especially to add some depth to mojo. One of the benefits is that the cumin is ground incredibly finely, allowing it to meld a bit better with other flavors.

That I Cuban website, which I've linked to before, is a great resource. Between Icuban and boricua.com, one has a good jump on things Cuban and Puerto Rican. The city restaurant reviews, with photos, are fairly accurate on Icuban as well. A little dated, though.

Note their complaints about the bread and the processed cheese here in Chicago, if the Chicago reviews are still there.

The Clark Market on Clark Street moved to the 4800 block of Kedzie, which explains the name. I believe but am not positive that ownership had changed from Japanese to Korean before the move. They still have a fair Japanese business in part because the senior citizens residence roughly across Kedzie was sponsored by a Japanese group.

Ill piggyback on this grilled skirt steak thread instead of starting new one.

Did up a batch of arrachera today, dodged a few raindrops, but otherwise to nice of a day to not fire up the grill & the WSM which is going right now. I do my arrachera with skirt steak vs flank steak as I prefer skirt steak. I always have the butcher run the skirt steak through the needle tenderizer they have. My marinade is fresh squeezed lemon juice, salt, balck pepper, olive oil, and jalapenos and garlic run through the food processor. For todays batch i lime, 2 jalapenos, and about 1/2 a head of garlic. Marinated 1.5 hours, and the meat was already starting to "cook" in the citrus juice. I also did up some whole jalapenos in olive oil, and sprinkled with kosher salt.

Used the 22.5" weber kettle and lump, it was flaming hot as it should be, fire, beef, perfection... Arrachera was probably on the Weber only 5 minutes,

skirt steak:



in the marinade:



jalapenos:



on the fire:



done:



sliced then chopped:



my lunch: tacos were basic: arrachera, cilantro, raw onion, avocado slices, queso fresco.



Probably the best arrachera, carne asada tacos I have ever had, anywhere.


thanks for looking

LTH,

Grilled skirt for tacos marinated in DYI mojo criollo, hot and fast with lump charcoal and a little hickory. Flavor was great, but the meat a little tough even though I took it to med-rare to med, just where I wanted to be. Yes, I sliced it against the grain. Happens sometimes, may have been an old cranky cow.

Skirt Steak





Lime, black bean salsa, pico de gallo, queso fresco, crema



Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv - That's outter Skirt, right?

"but the meat a little tough even though I took it to med-rare to med, just where I wanted to be. Yes, I sliced it against the grain. Happens sometimes, may have been an old cranky cow."

Where did you purchase your skirt steak? If at a Supermercado or most other groceries unless clearly labeled USDA Choice, you are getting USDA Select at best.
You really have only one other choice for tender skirt steak over the grill. Purchase Choice or better still if you can obtain Prime.-Dick

gocubs88 wrote:G Wiv - That's outter Skirt, right?

Good call. I had a bit of brain fade and used inside skirt, which is a tasty but tough cut. Inside can be tender if one butterflies and runs it through a jaccard, but as-is turns out chewy. Tasty, but chewy.

G Wiv wrote:

gocubs88 wrote:G Wiv - That's outter Skirt, right?

Good call. I had a bit of brain fade and used inside skirt, which is a tasty but tough cut. Inside can be tender if one butterflies and runs it through a jaccard, but as-is turns out chewy. Tasty, but chewy.

picked up some at Sams the other day..choice..and it was a bit chewy as well..I had a feeling it would be since it wasnt run through the machine. If get it at the hispanic store they always tenderize it

Head's Red BBQ wrote:I picked up some at Sams the other day..choice..and it was a bit chewy as well..I had a feeling it would be since it wasnt run through the machine. If get it at the hispanic store they always tenderize it

I've got one of these for just such emergencies.

Steve - I have one of those too..hav to admit I was feeling lazy the day i grilled up the skirt steak

G Wiv wrote:

gocubs88 wrote:Good call. I had a bit of brain fade and used inside skirt, which is a tasty but tough cut.

Not one to make the same mistake more than three or four times, used outside skirt for tacos tonight. Light marinade, grill hot and fast, 5-minute rest, was terrific with a capital T.

I have discovered my new favorite skirt steak marinade:

3 'San Marcos' brand chipotle chilis in adobo, scraped of seeds and membranes
4 TBSP adobo sauce from can same can
8 medium garlic cloves, baked at 350 for 20 minutes with skins on, skins removed when cool
4 TBSP olive oil
3 TBSP fresh squeezed lime juice
1 TBSP salt
plenty of fresh ground pepper

Create a paste in a small food processor or blender. Slather onto skirt steaks and marinade for 2-4 hours. Grill or cook in fry pan with oil on high heat.

Planning to do this for Monday dinner. The Costco skirts I got were labeled "inside", so I'll be prepared for it to be tough (before they didn't label inside or outside). Grilling some onions and peppers too, as accompaniments along with the chimichurri.

What's up. I'm doing a party for about 20 people tomorrow night. Decided skirt steaks grilled over lump charcoal with a Mexican flare would be what we served. I read the thread (was thinking Tony's) and am curious where I should go shopping today for some outer cut skirt steak? Thanks.

Da Beef wrote:What's up. I'm doing a party for about 20 people tomorrow night. Decided skirt steaks grilled over lump charcoal with a Mexican flare would be what we served. I read the thread (was thinking Tony's) and am curious where I should go shopping today for some outer cut skirt steak? Thanks.

I get my outer skirt steak from Fresh Farms in Niles. Usually fairly expensive compared to inner skirt (around $7.99), but so delicious. Only available at the counter.

Da Beef wrote:What's up. I'm doing a party for about 20 people tomorrow night. Decided skirt steaks grilled over lump charcoal with a Mexican flare would be what we served. I read the thread (was thinking Tony's) and am curious where I should go shopping today for some outer cut skirt steak? Thanks.

Beef,

The highest qulity (and priciest) skirt steaks that I have found are at E&M in Northbrook. If you're looking for the best quality that money can buy, make the trip. Every time I buy skirts someplace else or look for a lower cost alternative, I'm dissappointed.

Elegance in Meats (E&M)
3135 Dundee Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 480-6328