# No fucking skirt steak in Kansas City
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 5, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117 "2006-02-05T18:03:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/41 "2006-02-07T13:25:51Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#):
>
> I considered that quite a compliment, considering I cooked it in the “traditional” Texas style - and they weren’t using sauce to flavor the meat when they were eating it. 😃
Do you use a dry rub of any sort?
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### Author:  [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/42 "2006-02-07T15:09:33Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#):
>
> KW - I’m from Texas and thus, _there is no good BBQ in Kansas City._😉
Heh. I’ll let that one slide. 😉
> [@](#):
>
> Actually, I’ve noticed a significant difference in KC BBQ and Texas BBQ. The way BBQ is made up here, it’s basically roasted (you know, as in pot roast), with sauce slathered all over it.
If what you’ve been eating tastes like pot roast, you need to get out of the Northland. Real BBQ is smoked in a big black pit. And if you can’t see the pit from where you order, you’re in a BBQ _restaurant_, not a BBQ _joint_. Head south to 12th & Brooklyn to Arthur Bryants, or even further south to LC’s.
> [@](#):
>
> Seems like it’s the sauce that makes the BBQ up here for the most part (at least in the restaurants).
VERY true. But the meat has to pass my standards as well. I can’t stand Gates, one of the famous KC joints, because not only does their sauce suck, but their brisket is like shoe leather. Remember- you can always order your 'que with no sauce.
> [@](#):
>
> Back home, the flavor comes from the woods that are selected to slow-smoke the meat, mostly mesquite, but also quite often oak and other hardwoods. It’s the mesquite smoking that gives Texas BBQ brisket its very unique flavor.
I may be wrong, but I believe hickory is more popular up here. I like both, myself.
> [@](#):
>
> The brisket is cooked with the fat on (hard to find untrimmed cryo-pak brisket up here sometimes, too), and that makes it tender and juicy enough that you can just slice and eat the brisket without sauce, and it is quite enjoyable that way.
I’m with you, brother. Fat isn’t evil! Fat = flavor & juiciness.
> [@](#):
>
> Case in point, I have not-so-next-door neighbors in my cul-de-sac up here that came over for a big neighborhood block party we had back at the end of July. I was responsible for cooking the brisket for the shin-dig (our immediate neighbors who knew about my brisket insisted I handle the meat-makings). Turns out these not-so-next-door neighbors are competitive BBQ’ers in the area, and later in the evening, I caught the husband semi-casually grilling my wife about what I’d done to get my brisket like that, because he’d like to try it sometime. I considered that quite a compliment, considering I cooked it in the “traditional” Texas style - and they weren’t using sauce to flavor the meat when they were eating it. 😃
Well there ya go. Don’t give the guy any of your secrets! Give 'em to me instead. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/43 "2006-02-07T15:19:42Z")
Dang it, I forgot something.
I meant to say that it’s hard for you to find untrimmed (uncut, heh) brisket most of the time because regular grocery shoppers actually want the trimmed stuff. There are a heckuva lot of people out there who wince at the whole brisket, not only due to the high fat content but the sheer size of the thing. Whole briskets are mostly seen in the summertime, I’ve found.
But! Bichelmeyer’s will hook you up with whatever you need. Sometimes you have to see a specialist for your particular tastes.
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/44 "2006-02-07T15:50:25Z")
Another KC native chiming in that if you’re tasting roasted meat, you’re not eating KC barbecue… ahh, you’re in Gladstone. That’s why.
Stay far far far away from the sauce at Arthur Bryant’s. Blech. Gates as well. Nasty stuff.
There’s a place way south of Independence (get on 40, go south till you find it) that makes some delicious barbecue. I, of course, can’t remember the name, but it’s good stuff.
I’m a big fan of Jack’s Stack (formerly Smokestack in Martin City, not the Jack’s Stack in Overland Park) and a place in Lawrence called Biggs. Worth the drive.
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### Author:  [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/45 "2006-02-07T15:57:15Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#):
>
> Stay far far far away from the sauce at Arthur Bryant’s. Blech. Gates as well. Nasty stuff.
See, this is why BBQ is like politics & religion here in KC. You may get into a heated debate if you talk about it. 😉
> [@](#):
>
> There’s a place way south of Independence (get on 40, go south till you find it) that makes some delicious barbecue. I, of course, can’t remember the name, but it’s good stuff.
??? 40 runs east/west way past Odessa. I’m confused.
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### Author:  [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/46 "2006-02-07T17:43:06Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#):
>
> I’m a big fan of Jack’s Stack (formerly Smokestack in Martin City, not the Jack’s Stack in Overland Park)
I love the OP restaurant. Their lamb ribs are outstanding.
And another thing about KC: although we’ll all agree that Texas doesn’t have BBQ (not sure what it really is 😃 ), it’s a rare moment when even two KCers agree about which hometown BBQ is the best. (I’ll third, though, that Gate’s isn’t that good. It may have been at one time, but its tough meat and bland sauce has betrayed that standing.)
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/47 "2006-02-07T18:12:28Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#):
>
> Yes, this is lame, but dammit - I’m from Texas, and was forcibly relocated to Kansas City by my company a little over a year ago. In that time, I have been unable to locate skirt steak for sale in Kansas City.
People go to Kansas City just to find good steak. And you bitch about no skirt steak.
You remind me of my Iowa farmer uncle to went to _Tour d’Argent_ in Paris and bitched because they didn’t have round steak with mashed potatos and gravy. 😉
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### Author:  [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/48 "2006-02-07T19:06:10Z")
Hey **FilmGeek** - are you thinking of Zarda BBQ? That’s really close to 40 & 7 highway in Blue Springs. Their meat is pretty good, but I’m not fond of their sauce. Got good beans, tho.
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### Author:  [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/49 "2006-02-07T20:23:51Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#):
>
> Not to mention - store-brand H.E.B. bread “back home” was $0.69/loaf. Here? You have to buy it from a bread outlet store if you want it for under a buck.
>
> Buying food in KC sucks.
Well, there’s your problem. You’re used to shopping at the best grocery store in the world although I understand Trader Joe’s is good, and now you have to pay real prices for food.
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### Author:  [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/50 "2006-02-07T23:57:20Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#):
>
> Do you use a dry rub of any sort?
Yes, I use a dry rub, the ingredients of which shall remain a secret. There are things that help, though, such as letting the brisket cook in its own fat, and spraying the meat every hour with a fruit juice which shall remain nameless…
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### Author:  [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/51 "2006-02-08T04:09:05Z")
> [@aktep](#):
>
> Well, there’s your problem. You’re used to shopping at the best grocery store in the world although I understand Trader Joe’s is good, and now you have to pay real prices for food.
Indeed! Among the (dozens of) reasons I have for not moving out of Austin is good ol’ H.E.B. I can feed myself very nicely at their prices. That, and good Mexican food and real iced tea and good barbecue and beautiful scenery and marvelous people and…
Ahem. 😃
It’s a marvelous place, H.E.B. I can’t imagine shopping without it. I’ve actually bought the Extra Thin sliced white bread because it would give me more sandwiches than the merely Thin sliced. _And_ they have Central Market, which must be a gift given to us by Og for having been so good. Maybe someday they will spread outside Texas, and you poor benighted non-Texan souls will understand what a fine grocery store is like. 😃
As for price, there’s usually cheap skirt steak here for something around $1.99/lb. Sometimes less if it’s on sale. The only thing that makes me sad is that now I don’t live on the coast and shrimp is expensive to buy. I remember going over to Rosa’s and getting two pounds of fresh-caught-just-today shrimp for a song. I remember Shrimporee, too. ☹
Never thought I’d miss a blessed thing about that town… 😃
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/52 "2006-02-08T16:56:30Z")
Do y’all realize you’re arguing about BBQ in the BBQ Pit??? Hahahaha!
(I live in Houston, where skirt steak is el cheapo. I feel your pain.)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/53 "2006-02-09T03:54:47Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#):
>
> Yes, I use a dry rub, the ingredients of which shall remain a secret. There are things that help, though, such as letting the brisket cook in its own fat, and spraying the meat every hour with a fruit juice which shall remain nameless…
I’m guessing CRANBERRY!
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-fucking-skirt-steak-in-kansas-city/343117/54 "2006-02-09T04:04:41Z")
> [@DirkGntly](#):
>
> KW - I’m from Texas and thus, _there is no good BBQ in Kansas City._😉
> Actually, I’ve noticed a significant difference in KC BBQ and Texas BBQ. The way BBQ is made up here, it’s basically roasted (you know, as in pot roast), with sauce slathered all over it. Seems like it’s the sauce that makes the BBQ up here for the most part (at least in the restaurants).
I’ve never been to KC, so I don’t know what the BBQ scene like is over there, but I wouldn’t necessarily judge KC barbecue by what’s served in restaurants. Chicago has very much the same problem. It is, in general, a city with bad barbecue, especially if you go to a restaurant. There’s a few very good places (Honey 1, Barbara Ann’s, and Lem’s, to start for those who care) but at most restaurants here, BBQ means barbecue sauce. Anybody who knows their cooking knows barbecue is based on the cooking method: slow smoked over hardwoods (oak, hickory, mesquite, applewood, and cherrywood are the most common. Mesquite is generally reserved for beef, while hickory goes better with pork. Oak is often used as the lump charcoal base for both.)
However, the difference with Kansas City (as opposed to Chicago) is that it has a pretty decent reputation for real smoked barbecue, so I’m not sure your experience is representative of real KC 'cue.
And I do respect a man who can smoke a brisket well. I’ve never found a single place in the Chicago area that can do this right. It’s a very unforgiving cut of meat, and the only good barbecue brisket I’ve ever had was in Texas. The real test for barbecue is eating the meat with the sauce on the side. It should be able to stand on its own.
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