Recipe: Skirt Steak (Super Simple)

Skirt steak is amazing.  An often overlooked and underutilized piece of meat it can be found fairly cheap especially when on sale.  What is great about the meat is all of the marbling fat that runs through it.  Also, being a thin piece of meat it cooks in no time and takes on marinades and flavors especially well.  It would be a great candidate for the Miracle Marinade even if you only let it sit for an hour (or less) when you got home from work you would find the end result to be full of flavor.  For this recipe though I kept it simple, a little salt, some pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.  Thats all, nothing fancy. The end result? A beautifully juicy, tender, flavor packed piece of meat.

You will need:

1 skirt steak (lightly trimmed of excess fat if needed)
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic Powder

To cook:
If you are cooking the skirt steak on the grill you can most likely leave it whole, if you are cooking it inside on a skillet you may need to cut it in half and cook in two batches.  Either way begin with salt, with a heavy pinch on each side of the meat.  Follow with the pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.  The measurements here are vague and for that I apologize but it truly is a light dusting of each that is then rubbed with the fingers into the meat.  (You may also wish to trim off any extremely thin parts at the tail of the meat.  This small bite can be cooked first for about 30 seconds to a minute on each side as a small snack for the chef).  Allow the rest of the meat to sit for a few minutes as you heat a large skillet or the grill over high heat.  Add the skirt steak and cook for no more than 3-4 minutes per side.  Remove from heat and wrap in aluminum foil for ~10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute themselves into the steak so they don't all spill out on the plate when you cut the meat.  To serve cut the skirt steak into thin slices with a sharp knife.

1 skirt steak should serve 3-4 people.

Here are two pictures.  The first is the skirt steak raw in the pan, the second is what you should look for to know that a side is done (aka nicely seared).