Fajita fail, again...

[Chasdev]

I've been running into some pretty pretty chewy skirt steaks lately which would not be too big of a deal but they charge prime grade filet prices for meat that's tougher than my shoe leather!
My normal routine is to marinate with lime/oil/soy/garlic and other odd spices letting the meat soak from over night to up weeks in the freezer but the results have been dismal.
Should I go for a "beat my meat" hammer and/or add a tenderizer product?

[woodenvisions]

I have a suggestion for ya.
Skip the skirt steaks and grab urself a CAB Chuck Roast with some good marbling.
Slice them real thin, under 1/8" thick and try this marinade packet pictured below.
Its not needed, but you could beat the meat if you wanted to as it would only help a bit more for tenderness.
Let them sit covered 48 hrs and cook them up for ur fajitas.

I believe that you will be pleasantly surprised at not only the tenderness, but the flavor as well.

[CaptJack]

I'd use a Tri-tip sirloin roast
my left over Tri-tips end up as either soft tacos or sandwiches

what they look like before cooking
the lines are to show where to slice across the grain


these two were cooked indirect to 110° then reverse seared to 135°







this one was cooked the original SantaMaria method - direct over the coals, 8" like a thick steak, to 135°





i pay $5.77# at my local grocery store

[Boots]

Tri tips are actually a fantastic cut and the Cap'n scored big time as usual.

Chas, on your skirt steak one recommendation; don't ever freeze it! Freezing and thawing breaks down the cell structure and releases a lot of the internal moisture and juices. Marinate overnight like you're doing, and then when you cook it cook it like a steak. Flash sear it over high heat for two, maybe three minutes per side, and then back the heat way down and move it over to the cool side of your cooker. Cook to medium to medium rare, if you have a thermometer, pull it off at an internal temperature of 130, no more than 135. Should be warm and pink in the center. Let it rest on the counter for about 10 minutes to reabsorb it's juices. Then cut it across the grain in slices about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. If it don't come out good, then post a big dumper of a review on me and I will just take it like a man. Odds are, I won't have to.

[Gator]

Have your butcher run the skits thru a tenderizer once...that'll fix it.

[Txdragon]

Are you cooking them to death? I.E. any doneness level over medium? Also, are you slicing them too thick? If your fajeeta slices are thicker (wider) than 1/4", you're asking for trouble as it is. If you're cooking them to death and slicing too thick, you're adding gas to the fire!

[OldUsedParts]

having your butcher tenderize them seems to be the better choice BUT I SURE WOULDN'T have any problem physically abusing the strips with my trusty pseudo marinating MALLET

[Gator]

Make sure to cut across the grain:

[OldUsedParts]

welp that pic takes care of where and what I want to eat today - -

[Chasdev]

Are you cooking them to death? I.E. any doneness level over medium? Also, are you slicing them too thick? If your fajeeta slices are thicker (wider) than 1/4", you're asking for trouble as it is. If you're cooking them to death and slicing too thick, you're adding gas to the fire!

I've tried slow cooking and fast sear, marinated from a few hours to overnight (and one for a week in the freezer just for grins), always cut across the grain with thin slices but can't get away from tough meat.
Funny, seems like 30 years ago when we cooked them almost every summer weekend the meat was much more tender, along with being way way cheaper..

[OldUsedParts]

Are you using Skirt Steak every time and have you had your butcher run them thru the tenderizer

[Chasdev]

Skirt always and straight off the shelf packaged meat from HEB.
Time to warm up the ole tenderizer hammer..

[OldUsedParts]

More than likely it is an "inside" skirt because the restaurants usually buy up the "outside" skirts but just for fun, next time ask your butcher (or HEBs butcher) if they have an "outside skirt" they would sell you. Of course, if you managed to get one, I'd still tenderize it also.

[CaptJack]

I agree with using a tenderizer hammer on skirt steak
but i have a Jaccard tenderizer that really works well too
and the papain based tenderizers are the best,
but you only put them on the meat about 30'mins before you're going to cook it
any longer, or it will make the meat mushy
I use the Jaccard on my Tri-tips

[Chasdev]

Wow, great info thanks!
Time to roll out the big guns...