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Skirt Steak HELP, Best Marinade, how long

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Must cook inside, so what is the best way to make it taste like I did it on the grill? How long to cook it, it is just over 1 pound. do it need to meat cleaver it, I have never cooked this and how to get it buttery and whow to slice it? Is it true that if you marinade it longer it makes it juicier and buttery?

Tell me your best marinades and how long to marinade? It wasn't cheap, what is the normal cost per lb for good qualiity skirt steak. Thank you very much HOW DO YOU SLICE IT? What do you serve with it?

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  1. I make Carne Asada with skirt steak a couple times a month both for my wife and I and my Personal Chef clients. A classic traditional marinade is about 1/2 cup of lime juice and a good dusting of ground cumin (1 Tbsp for a pound of meat).

    Marinate for 3-4 hours is best. In general marinating things for less than an hour isn't worth the effort. Using your broiler (preheated) on its highest setting, and a rack in the highest usable position, you only need to cook skirt steak 3-4 minutes per side. Unlike other steak, you do want it Medium - no pink. It's actually more tender that way.

    Slice Across The Grain; about 1/2" wide slices! Usually on skirt steak the grain runs across the narrowest part of the cut. So you end up with long, narrow short grained strips. Don't bias cut, that makes longer fibers. Just cut straight down at 90 degrees to the grain.

    After I cut I'll usually toss the meat with the leftover marinade before plating. Serve on warm tortillas with hot-fast-minimium-oil sauteed red/green bell peppers and onion spiced with Chile powder.

    1. I have my butcher run the skirt steak through the needle tenderizer he has. I thne marinate it in lime juice, cumin, minced garlic, minced seeded jalapenos, olive oil, and tequila. Typically about 2-3 hours. I think I pay somewhere between $7 & $9 per pound from my local butcher.

      Over high heat cook 3-4 mins per side, served with corn or flour tortillas with cilantro, and diced onion for some killer tacos.

      4 Replies
      1. re: swsidejim

        Yes - I usually cook it over very high heat in a grill pan or cast iron pan. I never tenderize it, and sometimes marinate it with whatever I have around - some red wine, olive oil, garlic, some fresh herbs. Do make sure you slice it against the grain, or at least on the diagonal in thin slices.

        1. re: MMRuth

          against the grain is how I slice it, and I prefer mine to be medium rare.

          I prefer the grill, but a cast Iron pan is how I do it if I find myself out of lump charcoal, or the weather too far below freezing.

          I got my marinade, and having the butcher run it through the tenderizer from some Mexican cooks I used to work with. You almost do not need a knife as the meat almost just pulls apart.

          1. re: swsidejim

            I generally like my meat medium rare as well, and I think skirt steak, in particular, benefits from not being overcooked. That said, my father grilled some that I brought up to Wisconsin on vacation, and even the well done bits were surprisingly tender. For that one, I didn't do a proper marinade, but used a recipe from Suzanne Goin - tossed with a lot of lemon zest, parsley, thyme, etc. and left over night in the fridge. Which reminds me, I meant to start a thread about basic grilling. I always assume my father knows what he is doing with his fires (the place has a big stone outdoor grill - he uses wood mostly - but sometimes charcoal - and I don't mean this to sound mean!), but the couple of times we grilled, I got the impression that either his fire wasn't hot enough, or that perhaps the grill itself wasn't close enough to the fire.

            1. re: MMRuth

              I agree with MMR that skirt steak is especially good rare. I usually don't like rare meat, but with skirt steak, it's so thin that the contrast between the charred outside and the rare inside is perfect and quite delicious. I like mine best seared in a seasoned cast iron pan on the stove top, but grilled outside on the bbq is also great.

              Btw, has anybody else "discovered" butcher steak? I saw it one day at the wonderful Berkeley Bowl Meat Counter....and particularly noticed that it hadn't gone up 3 dollars a pound as had skirt steak. It was still around $5/lb. It's actually two strippy steaks connected by lots of very tough stuff. It also has the distinction of having 2 different grains, so you need to watch out when cutting it up.

              Otherwise, it's very good, not quite as good as skirt steak, but at least $3 cheaper per lb.

              With meat prices going through the roof I can envision the day when I ask the butcher: "Do you have any gristle and fat today?"