Fajitas too chewy

cherokeer · December 2012

I made some skirt steak marinated in soy sauce brown sugar and Obie que fajita rub for about 12 hrs. Flavor was great but they were too chewy. I cooked to about 135 on thermapen . Any ideas how to make them not so,chewey?

Village Idiot · December 2012

Skirt steak is not a real tender cut of meat. Slice it thin.

hartofatiger · December 2012

very thin and cut across the grain. that's the best you can do.

mb99zz · December 2012

I had the exact same experience 2 weeks ago. Great flavor and it looked perfect just like a medium rare steak should be. The wife and I were excited but let down by the texture. The first piece I cut was kind if thick and I could hardly chew it. I then made the slices paper thin and got better results. That said, I won't use this type of meat again for fajitas or tacos.

Village Idiot · December 2012

mb99zz said:

That said, I won't use this type of meat again for fajitas or tacos.

I switched to flap steak a long time ago. I still slice it thin.

Another reason for the switch is that skirt steak has gotten expensive with the popularity of fajitas. It used to be a really cheap cut of meat.

SamFerrise · December 2012

Cook it very hot and fast and make it rare to medium rare. Its the best you can do with shoe leather.

Lit · December 2012

I sous vide mine and then sear seems to help alot.

Richard Fl · December 2012

Great meal. Sometimes if there is any citrus in the marinade and it is left much longer than 4-6 hours the citrus will have a tendency to "cook" the meat and thereby rendering it tuff.

ChokeOnSmoke · December 2012

Cut it thin, across the grain and on a 45 degree angle, it'll be great.

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Fajitas too chewy

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