Sunday Fajitas and the Skirt Steak Mystery

[Gigemlaw]

Let’s start with the positives:

-Onions and peppers were amazing. A half stick of butter and a half cup of 1836 rub did the trick (I’m still finding new uses for the stuff).

-Chicken was on point.

Beef fajita mystery: Skirt was bought last weekend at Costco. The meat had a lot of fat and membrane on it and I was pressed for time. I trimmed what I could in 15 minutes but figured it would cook off. Marinated in pineapple juice and soy sauce for 4 hours then on the pellet grill till internal temp of 145.

The flavor was good but there was some chalky substance coating the beef. You can see it on the cutting board. I’m not sure what caused this but it ruined the dish.

I have to try again soon with a well trimmed skirt to confirm it was a fat/membrane issue. I’ve never used pineapple juice as a marinade for beef before so I guess it could be that too. Any advice is appreciated!

Oh well, my dog thinks it’s Christmas. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when I put a skirt steak in her bowl!

The chicken fajitas rocked! Now I’m on a mission to up my beef fajita game....

[woodenvisions]

That looks really good tho !

As far as that substance goes, I've only seen that 2 times before.
Once when Corn Starch was used in my Fajitas and the other was when I made a beef stew and made the mistake of using flour on the cubed beef and searing and then introducing any bit of moisture to it.
It was absolutely horrible and frustrating so I understand your disappointment.

Did u by chance use Corn Starch or Flour anywhere in this cook ?

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[Gigemlaw]

No flour or starch anywhere. After the pineapple/soy marinade I sprinkled some SPG on it as it hit the Pitt. Nothing else touched it.

That looks really good tho !

As far as that substance goes, I've only seen that 2 times before.
Once when Corn Starch was used in my Fajitas and the other was when I made a beef stew and made the mistake of using flour on the cubed beef and searing and then introducing any bit of moisture to it.
It was absolutely horrible and frustrating so I understand your disappointment.

Did u by chance use Corn Starch or Flour anywhere in this cook ?

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[bsooner75]

First things first - pics look great.

As far as your conundrum … this is just a wild guess as I have not seen it first hand. Did you rinse the marinade off before cooking? Just wondering if the pineapple juice frothed up or something.


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[woodenvisions]

First things first - pics look great.

As far as your conundrum … this is just a wild guess as I have not seen it first hand. Did you rinse the marinade off before cooking? Just wondering if the pineapple juice frothed up or something.


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I'd bet $ that bsooner is right.
Something definitely didn't mix well at all.
If you say no flour or corn starch was used, this can be the only explanation imho.

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[Gigemlaw]

I didn’t wash it off. I appreciate the feedback guys! I wasn’t that impressed with the pineapple so I’ll try a different marinade next time.

Definitely could be the pineapple...

[woodenvisions]

I was never a fan of Pineapple Juice either for marinating. Same with OJ.
You will know for sure if you duplicate everything minus the PAJ.

Good luck

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[OldUsedParts]

[Smoking Piney]

Too bad about the skirt steak..........but it all looks outstanding to me.

I'm not a fan of pineapple or OJ marinades, either.

[TwoGuysBBQ]

I'm going to step in here and say the citrus was the issue. From time to time I have purchased meat from local "Mexican" meat markets that use orange and pineapple on their chicken and beef fajitas. The same "Frothing" has happened, but I didn't think anything about it. I also haven't had any complaints about or illness on the finished product.
I've never even thought of it being out of the ordinary. Down here in San Antonio there are a lot of restaurants that serve tacos "El Pastor" which are usually grilled off a rotisserie or on a griddle like I do at home on a Blackstone. That pork meat is marinated in pineapple juice. When prepared correctly, it is out of this world.

[TwoGuysBBQ]

Question:you stated that there was a chalky substance. But How did it taste? you say it ruined your dish, what was the flavor profile?

[Dodis]

---delurking---

From my experience, I am sure it was because of the pineapple juice. The acids in pineapple juice are a powerful tenderizer. Wife prepared a marinade with some PAJ once, and marinated some well-trimmed fajitas overnight. LOTS of the weird stuff you saw, it is the meat itself falling apart from being over-tenderized. If you want the pineapple flavor profile, try some pineapple soda...

And we have found the same with our local Hispanic markets. When the marinated fajita container in the meat case is full, it is usually freshly marinated. If it is running low, it has been sitting too long and will do the same, plus the spice profile will be very strong covering the meat flavor.

As for the tacos al pastor, I understand that to be a spice marinade only, then a half pineapple is placed on top of the vertical spit rod so the PAJ runs down as it's cooking, more for flavor. Not much marinade time there. Plenty of trips to Mexico to visit the in-laws and picking up that experience!

Mike "Dodis"

[JReich]

---delurking---

From my experience, I am sure it was because of the pineapple juice. The acids in pineapple juice are a powerful tenderizer. Wife prepared a marinade with some PAJ once, and marinated some well-trimmed fajitas overnight. LOTS of the weird stuff you saw, it is the meat itself falling apart from being over-tenderized. If you want the pineapple flavor profile, try some pineapple soda...

And we have found the same with our local Hispanic markets. When the marinated fajita container in the meat case is full, it is usually freshly marinated. If it is running low, it has been sitting too long and will do the same, plus the spice profile will be very strong covering the meat flavor.

As for the tacos al pastor, I understand that to be a spice marinade only, then a half pineapple is placed on top of the vertical spit rod so the PAJ runs down as it's cooking, more for flavor. Not much marinade time there. Plenty of trips to Mexico to visit the in-laws and picking up that experience!

Mike "Dodis"

I came here to say this^^^

I’ve heard pineapple juice, left on too long turns meat mushy and nasty. Now, if you didn’t marinate it very long, I have no clue. Odd.


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[spacetrucker]

basically what the previous have said about the acidity of pineapple juice...

on the positive side, the pictures look extremely good to me I like what I see and we all know we eat first with our eyes....

[Gigemlaw]

REDEMPTION! Yup, I’m gonna difintivey chalk up the problem to pineapple. Kept the marinade super simple this time with a SPG rub and it was bite through and delicious.

Gonna leave pineapple & fajita steak exploits to better men. A strict no pineapple/steak rule is in effect at the Gigemlaw kitchen.

Thanks for all the feedback y’all.

Best Regards,
Gigemlaw