OT: tough skirt

njl · February 21

We don't do this in the egg...so I figure its kind of OT.

One of our regular dishes is a beef and vegetable stir fry done using skirt steak sliced up and marinated in Iron Chef sesame & garlic sauce and glaze. The other day, I was in the grocery, and there was no pre-packaged skirt, so I asked at the meat counter and they cut and packaged some for me. It was neat watching him cut open the cryopak, portioning and trimming it...and it was a huge piece to start with. What I got looked really nice...but we cooked it the usual way, and it's the toughest skirt we've ever had. It's not that its actually hard...but I imagine it's kind chewing a sponge. Soft, but doesn't want to come apart at all. What could have gone wrong?

Chubbs · February 21

Did you slice with grain or across grain?

Ragtop99 · February 22

I was expecting something along the lines of:

Eggcelsior · February 22

Tender steak doesn't fall from heaven - they have to be earned on the egg.

Edit: As quoted by Eggaret Thatcher.

Skiddymarker · February 22

Hit it with a Jaccard, as much as you can. You will be surprised. I use round steak for stir fry all the time, I "knife' the heck out of it with the 45 knife Jaccard before slicing for stir fry. Always tender.

njl · February 22

Always against the grain.

Chubbs · February 22

njl said:
Always against the grain.

Not sure then. Could have just been a tough piece of meat.

njl · February 22

Skiddymarker said:

Hit it with a Jaccard, as much as you can. You will be surprised. I use round steak for stir fry all the time, I "knife' the heck out of it with the 45 knife Jaccard before slicing for stir fry. Always tender.

We stab it all over with a fork before marinating...but that Jaccard thing looks like it would practically pre-chew it for you.

hapster · February 22

Went out with a girl like that back in the day... Called it quits after 3 dates.

Fred19Flintstone · February 22

Ragtop99 said:

I was expecting something along the lines of:

I thought this might be about Roller Derby!

pgprescott · February 22

I prefer flat iron steak. Throw it in the freezer for a while to make it easier to slice thin across the grain as mentioned above. Eggceptional every time. I would expect the skirt to be slightly tougher, but thin slices across the meat fibers is an absolute must no matter what the cut.

Skiddymarker · February 22

njl said:

Skiddymarker said:

Hit it with a Jaccard, as much as you can. You will be surprised. I use round steak for stir fry all the time, I "knife' the heck out of it with the 45 knife Jaccard before slicing for stir fry. Always tender.

We stab it all over with a fork before marinating...but that Jaccard thing looks like it would practically pre-chew it for you.

@njl The Jaccard is rather remarkable. Stabbing with a fork has been compared to pushing a knitting needle through a large piece of rope, the fork spreads the meat fibres, it does not cut them. the meat texture is really unchanged. The Jaccard actually cuts the meat fibres and the texture of the meat is vastly improved. SWMBO swears chicken breast is juicier when I use the Jaccard, I don't notice much difference in the moisture, but the texture is different.

(Noticed that Modernist Cuisine at Home noted the effectiveness of Jaccard as a meat tenderizer. I am slowly working my through the book)

nolaegghead · February 22

It could be an from an older, inferior cow, or it could be really fresh - meat naturally has enzymes in it that make the meat more tender as it ages. Typically meat is wet-aged in the cryopak before used, they could have opened up a freshly packed pack of skirt.

As Skiddy said, the Jaccard can make a huge difference. You can also tenderize by macerating it with a meat tenderizing hammer. Another technique is to salt it and let it sit for 24 hours. Salt tenderizes as well as helps the meat hold more moisture after cooking.

Chubbs · February 22

nolaegghead said:

It could be an from an older, inferior cow, or it could be really fresh - meat naturally has enzymes in it that make the meat more tender as it ages. Typically meat is wet-aged in the cryopak before used, they could have opened up a freshly packed pack of skirt.

As Skiddy said, the Jaccard can make a huge difference. You can also tenderize by macerating it with a meat tenderizing hammer. Another technique is to salt it and let it sit for 24 hours. Salt tenderizes as well as helps the meat hold more moisture after cooking.

Man I missed you.

nolaegghead · February 22

awww shucks, thanks Chubbs!

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OT: tough skirt

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