skirt steaks

My local butcher is now at 16.50 a pound!
They are good, bit this is insane.
Where do you buy your skirt steaks?
I believe I can tenderize and marinate them myself....any tips?

Don't know where you live, but you might want to give Fresh Farms a try. They sell USDA Choice skirt steaks for around $8 lb. These are OUTER skirt steaks-- No need to tenderize.

Make sure to get the "outer" version ( the narrower ones ) Big difference from the cheaper inner version.

If you're paying $16.50/lb currently, you're probably already buying outer skirt. So I'll echo cito and say the outer skirt at Fresh Farms. Joseph's Finest Meats also sells choice outer skirt for $8-10/lb last I checked.

I have been buying mine at Carnicerias Guanajuato, 1436 N Ashland Ave. They are inside skirt (arachera is the spanish term I believe) at $4.99 per pound. However, they will "open it up" for you and then put through the tenderizing machine, making them great. Just grilled a couple pounds for tacos last night actually.

Open and inner refer to different cuts of skirt steak and not to any process.
There really is no comparison to the tenderized product available from your local Carniceria.-Dick

Honestly, just go to any carniceria on the south side. They all get their aracherra fresh daily from the Back of the Yards and it only runs around $5 or $6 dollars a pound. There's a great corner carniceria at 33rd and Morgan with some of the best skirt steak I've been able to find.

By open it up, I meant that they butterfly the steak what seems like twice, so it is incredibly thin. Then they put it through the tenderizer machine.

budrichard wrote:Open and inner refer to different cuts of skirt steak and not to any process.
There really is no comparison to the tenderized product available from your local Carniceria.-Dick

I believe you mean inner and outer. I used to have mixed results with inner, but every since I started buying outer skirt from Fresh Farms I haven't gone back. Well worth the extra $3/lb.

Note that they now label the ones at Costco, and only seem to have inner skirt.

I still find E & M to have the best skirt steak available (haven't yet tried PQM or Butcher & Larder). Granted, they are much more expensive than Fresh Farms or a corner carneceria, but in this case, you get what you pay for.

E & M
(Elegance in Meats)
3135 Dundee Rd
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 480-6328

$16.50/lb is indeed really expensive. I don't think B&L, PQM, Paulina, or the farmer's market vendors are that much.

How do you guys cook the tenderized aracharra? I've got a nearby Mexican butcher here in Montréal (of all places!), and that sounds like a *great* meat for tacos!

Geo

Geo wrote:How do you guys cook the tenderized aracharra? I've got a nearby Mexican butcher here in Montréal (of all places!), and that sounds like a *great* meat for tacos!

Geo

Grilled hot and fast over lump charcoal.

stevez wrote:

Geo wrote:How do you guys cook the tenderized aracharra? I've got a nearby Mexican butcher here in Montréal (of all places!), and that sounds like a *great* meat for tacos!

Geo

Grilled hot and fast over lump charcoal.

Same here. I usually start with a one-hour flavorful marinade or a spice rub. Then cook it for about 2 min per side over very high heat. Then I let it rest (usually wrapped in foil) for about 5-10 minutes. Slice against the grain.

I've experimented with Alton Brown's method of cooking it directly on coals. I find that it is too much trouble to scrape the ask off the meat. I also don't find flare-ups to be much of a problem (which is his motivation for putting the meat directly on the coals).

Edited to correct a typo.

Darren72 wrote: Slice against the grain.

This needs to be emphasized. Cut the meat into very thin strips (maybe 1 cm wide) against the grain. (After grilling/cooking that is.)

stevez wrote:I still find E & M to have the best skirt steak available (haven't yet tried PQM or Butcher & Larder). Granted, they are much more expensive than Fresh Farms or a corner carneceria, but in this case, you get what you pay for.

E & M
(Excellence in Meats)
3135 Dundee Rd
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 480-6328

In case anyone winds up searching for a dead end, it's actually ELEGANCE in Meats. They have some really beautiful looking steaks in there. Great place, pricey meat, I work very close to there, and get lunch from there often. Website: http://www.chicagolandcatering.com/

I normally get my outer skirt from the Mexi-Markets. I tend to stay away from inner, since outer is so much better. I do my "stock up" for the season right around Cinco De Mayo. Watch the prices. Somone is gonna have a great sale on it right before /around the Cinco.

seebee wrote:
In case anyone winds up searching for a dead end, it's actually ELEGANCE in Meats.

Thanks. Fixed. I make that same mistake every time.

I use inner skirt steaks with chuck roasts in a 1:4 ratio ( skirt to chuck ) to make my own fantastic ground beef for hamburgers.

Thanks for all the feedback!
I never did understand inner/outer.

lou:
What do you use to grind your meats?
I bet my husband would love if I ground fresh hamburger at home before he grills.

I have been spending the extra $$ and buying ground beef at Fresh Market.
Their meat is definitely fresh and among the best I have tasted from any store.

USDA Choice Outer Skirt is. the same whether from Fresh Farms or any place else so why pay the money. Fresh Farms has a discount if you purchase by the 'bag'. So why spend more?
Outer Skirt is so tender it does not require butterflying nor a tenderizor. B T W mant times I have had the skrt at a. Carniceria taste like claening agent and I stopped purchasing anything put through a machine.
If i could find a better skirt than sold by FF, I would buy it.-Dick

Can someone please tell me the difference between inner and outer skirt (in terms of how to visually verify)? I almost never see it labeled as one or the other -- most places I have frequented simply sell a long and narrow cut as "skirt." Just this weekend, someone behind a butcher counter said he was out of "inner" skirt, but had the "outer," but the piece he held up was wider and thinner than what I have purchased in the past. From what I can tell, it seems these terms are used inconsistently.

budrichard wrote:USDA Choice Outer Skirt is. the same whether from Fresh Farms or any place else so why pay the money. Fresh Farms has a discount if you purchase by the 'bag'. So why spend more?

If you think that just because steaks are labeled the same grade that they are the same quality regardless of purveyor, then you don't seem know as much as you claim.

Matt wrote:Can someone please tell me the difference between inner and outer skirt (in terms of how to visually verify)? I almost never see it labeled as one or the other -- most places I have frequented simply sell a long and narrow cut as "skirt." Just this weekend, someone behind a butcher counter said he was out of "inner" skirt, but had the "outer," but the piece he held up was wider and thinner than what I have purchased in the past. From what I can tell, it seems these terms are used inconsistently.

Narrow and thick = outer skirt. Wide and thin = inner skirt. Outer skirt is rarely more than 3" wide. I'm struggling to find a picture of both of them.

Here's a memory tip - outer skirt steak (narrow and thick, as gleam says) is about as wide and thick as your wrist, while inner skirt steak (wide and thin) is about as wide and thick as your hand (thumb included).

Thanks, gleam and Katie. Seems I have always purchased outer skirt. If you Google around a bit (and do Google image searches), it seems these terms are often confused/misapplied.

Ever since I got a card at Restaurant Depot, with access to Angus hanging tenders for four something a pound, I haven't had the need to decide between outer and inner skirt (which RD also has).

A four or five day mini dry age in the fridge and that hanger turns out great for almost any dish from ground beef, to stir fry, to sous vide steaks, to grilled loin. It's like combining a skirt steak with a tenderloin.

Shame on the butchers for hiding it for so long.

What does a "card" cost at RD?
Is that the one near the tollway?

So, are you saying you are cutting your own meats from these hanging tenderloins?

A card doesn't cost anything, you do need to have a copy of a business license and a tax id number. You may be able to get away with no tax id number and just pay tax, but I'm pretty sure they require you to have a business license on file as they hassle me to bring in a new copy whenever the one they have on file for me expires.

stevez wrote:

budrichard wrote:USDA Choice Outer Skirt is. the same whether from Fresh Farms or any place else so why pay the money. Fresh Farms has a discount if you purchase by the 'bag'. So why spend more?

If you think that just because steaks are labeled the same grade that they are the same quality regardless of purveyor, then you don't seem know as much as you claim.

I will pick up a pound of skirt at "ELEGANCE in Meats" if you will purchase a # of Outer Skirt at Fresh Farms then report back on how you perceive the quality difference.
The ONLY difference I could think of is if Skirt was also labeled Prime and I have been told that these cuts are just grouped under Choice with no Prime available.
We have gone to eating The Choice Outer Skirt at Fresh Farms as our principle steak because its just that good. I do purchase a few dry aged Ribs and Strips at Joseph's for BBQing during the summer but they can be counted on the fingers of one of your hands.
Explain to me what is different that the purveyors do?-Dick

budrichard wrote:I will pick up a pound of skirt at "ELEGANCE in Meats" if you will purchase a # of Outer Skirt at Fresh Farms then report back on how you perceive the quality difference.

I've already done it a number of times. Fresh Farms is close to my house, and if I don't have time to run out to E&M, that's where I go. What can I say? The difference should even be apparant to a blind man with no sense of smell.