Fajitas

The skirt grilled whole and sliced across the grain afterwards, which is the only way skirt is not stringy.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, lard.

Ingredients

the beef

• 800 g skirt steak, in whole pieces
• juice of 3 limes
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• black pepper

the vegetables

• 2 green peppers, in thick strips
• 1 red pepper, in thick strips
• 2 onions, in thick strips
• 1 tablespoon oil

to serve

• flour tortillas, as on their own page
• guacamole, as on its own page
• pico de gallo, as on its own page
• soured cream
• lime wedges

Method

1. THE SKIRT IS GRILLED WHOLE AND SLICED ACROSS THE GRAIN AFTERWARDS, which is the only way skirt is not stringy. Skirt has very long, very coarse muscle fibres running the length of the piece -- you can see them -- and that is both why it tastes so strongly of beef and why it is unforgiving. Cut into strips before cooking, as it often is, the strips are cut ALONG those fibres and every piece is a bundle of long tough threads that no amount of marinating fixes. Grilled in one piece, rested, and then sliced hard ACROSS the grain at an angle, each slice is made of fibres a few millimetres long and is tender. Same meat, same marinade, entirely different dish.
2. WHICH WAY THE GRAIN RUNS IS CHECKED ON THE BOARD BEFORE THE KNIFE GOES IN. It is visible as fine parallel lines. The knife goes across them at roughly forty-five degrees, which also widens each slice. Getting this backwards is the single mistake that ruins the dish.
3. IT IS A SHORT MARINADE AND NOT AN OVERNIGHT ONE. Thirty to sixty minutes. The marinade is mostly lime juice, and acid on beef for eight hours breaks down the surface into something mushy and grey that then will not brown. An hour seasons it and no more is wanted.
4. IT IS COOKED HOT AND FAST AND LEFT PINK IN THE MIDDLE. Three or four minutes a side on a very hot grill or griddle for a piece two centimetres thick. Skirt taken past medium goes tough and dry -- it has almost no fat inside it to keep it forgiving -- and unlike a braise it does not come back.
5. THE PEPPERS AND ONIONS ARE COOKED SEPARATELY AND KEPT IN STRIPS. In a second pan, hard, until blistered at the edges and still firm. Thrown in with the beef they release water and the meat stops browning; cooked soft, they turn into a sweet mush that dominates the tortilla.
6. The beef mixed with the lime juice, garlic, cumin, oregano, oil, salt and pepper and left 30 to 60 MINUTES. No longer.
7. The pepper and onion strips cooked in a hot pan with the tablespoon of oil, 6 to 8 MINUTES, until blistered at the edges and still FIRM. Kept warm.
8. The beef lifted out and PATTED DRY.
9. A griddle or grill heated until smoking hot.
10. The pieces laid on WHOLE and cooked 3 to 4 MINUTES without moving.
11. TURNED ONCE and given 3 to 4 MINUTES more, to medium-rare.
12. Lifted onto a board and RESTED 5 MINUTES.
13. THE DIRECTION OF THE GRAIN CHECKED -- the fine parallel lines in the meat.
14. SLICED ACROSS those lines, at about 45 degrees, into thin slices. Never along them.
15. The flour tortillas warmed. The beef and the pepper strips piled on a warm platter with any board juices poured over.
16. Served with guacamole, pico de gallo, soured cream and lime, built at the table.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes