Why You Should Be Grilling Skirt Steak If you’re not grilling skirt steak, you should be: It’s a great cut for marinating, it cooks in minutes, and it’s especially beefy, tender, and juicy—as long as you buy the right kind. j BY LAN LAM k
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evenly over half the grill) the steaks cooked to medium (130 degrees) in 6 to 8 minutes. Although we bring most steaks to medium-rare (125 degrees), we have found that the tougher muscle fibers of skirt steak need to hit 130 degrees before they shrink and loosen enough to turn perfectly tender. I gathered my colleagues grillside to have a taste, and the feedback rolled in: The mojo flavor was coming through beautifully, but the steaks could taste even beefier. Also, the browning was good but not great.
ack when I was a line cook at Craigie Street Bistrot in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we had a nightly routine involving skirt steak. The end pieces were never plated because they were too small to show off the beautifully cooked beef, so the chef habitually tossed them into a “meat bucket.” At the end of the night, the tidbits were heated up under the broiler for a postshift snack. Trust me when I tell you (after many, many bites) that this fatty cut is intensely beefy, tender, and juicy—a true cook’s treat.
Taking It Outside
I had ideas about how to address both problems, so I reached for the two skirt steaks that had arrived in that morning’s Skirt steak is long, narrow, and only ½ to delivery. I was surprised to see that one was 1 inch thick. Because it’s so thin, you need almost twice as wide as the other. But they to cook it over high heat to ensure that the looked similar otherwise, so I carried on. outside is well browned by the time the This time I added a little soy sauce to the interior is tender and juicy. That makes a mojo marinade (to compensate, I halved grill, which is easy to get blisteringly hot, the the amount of salt). Soy sauce can be a best tool for the job. As a bonus, a large grill secret weapon in marinades: Its salt seasons, grate can accommodate all the ribbon-like and its glutamates enhance savory flavor. steaks at the same time instead of in batches. Once the steaks were out of the mariSkirt steak is also a great candidate for a nade and patted dry, I incorporated an marinade. In the test kitchen, we often shy Skirt steak’s long, narrow shape makes it unwieldy on the plate, so it is ingredient for better browning: baking away from marinating meat because the typically sliced before serving. soda. Added to the oil I had been rubbing flavorings don’t penetrate much beyond the surface of a thick, smooth cut. But because skirt steak Then came the marinade: I stirred together onto the steaks, baking soda would help create more is so thin, with loose, open fibers and lots of nooks ½ cup of orange juice and 2 tablespoons of lime juice substantial browning by raising the meat’s pH. The and crannies, a marinade can have a big effect (see “A (my substitute for the difficult-to-find sour orange higher its pH, the better meat is able to hold on to Steak Tailor-Made for Marinating”). juice traditionally used in mojo) and added the usual water, so it browns instead of releasing the moisture I knew exactly what I wanted to bathe my steaks in: seasonings: ground cumin, dried oregano, plenty of onto the grill grates and creating steam. A higher a garlicky, citrusy, Cuban-style mojo that would really minced garlic, and a few red pepper flakes. I also made pH also speeds up the Maillard reaction, making the stand up to the rich, buttery beef. Once I’d perfected sure to add a good amount of salt—1½ teaspoons treated meat brown even better and more quickly. I was pleased to see the steaks rapidly develop a the marinade and the steak cookery, I planned on for the 2 pounds of meat. The salt would not only whipping up a complementary sauce to drizzle onto season the meat—it would also dissolve some proteins deep sear on the grill. This was a signal that they the meat. and loosen the bundles of muscle fibers, making the were likely done cooking, so I slid them to the steak more tender, and hold in water to keep the cooler side of the grill to take their temperature (their thinness made temping them on the hotter meat moist. Raising the Steaks I pulled out a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, which side risky because they could easily overcook). Sure Skirt steaks are often rolled up for packaging because when they are unrolled, they can be nearly would be a good vessel for soaking the steaks with enough, they registered 130 degrees, so I gave them 2 feet long. I divided 2 pounds of steak (enough to minimal overlapping. I refrigerated the steaks for an a 10-minute rest to allow the juices to redistribute serve four to six people) into 6- to 8-inch lengths. hour, flipping them at the 30-minute mark to make throughout the meat. As I sampled a few slices, I was happy to find that the meat was not just deeply sure both sides got coated with marinade. When I removed the steaks from the marinade, I seasoned but also had an even beefier flavor than Look: Lan Finds Her Mojo thoroughly patted them dry with paper towels since before, thanks to the umami-rich soy sauce. A step-by-step video is available However, the steaks’ texture was a different story: any excess moisture would inhibit browning; I then at CooksIllustrated.com/jun18 rubbed them with a light coating of oil. Over a hot Even though I’d soaked both the narrow and the fire (created by distributing 6 quarts of lit coals wide steaks in the same marinade and cooked them COOK’S
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PHOTOGRAPHY: CARL TREMBLAY
Finding My Mojo
