Or…you could go to urbandictionary.com and look up their definition of skirt steak…
:eek: shudder
Hell, ever since I moved out here to the middle of nowhere, I do a little dance on the rare occasion that I can find flank steak.
I’d be thrilled to find a store that cuts its own meat, as none of the three grocery stores in town does so. I’m told there is a little country store about 30 minutes from here that will still cut a steak more than 1/2" thick if you want it, and I have to seek it out.
Skirt steak sounds lewd. Is there also trouser steak?
“trouser steak” aka “tube steak”
Oh! Skirt steak! I read it as steak skirt.
Skirt steak is also the cut that most grocery stores use to make “steak tips.” Though, of course, they charge $6.49/lb for it.
We’ve had great luck buying it at BJ’s club for about $2.49/lb. Of course, you have to buy about 8 lbs of it at a time, and it comes in a cryovac meat package, and butcher it yourself.
I find it makes better roulards than flank steak, and certainly makes mighty tastey tips.
As for not being able to find it, most of the time, it requires finding a butcher that will special order, or a wholesale club that stocks it. Most of your supermarket butchers aren’t very good (exceptions exist), and may not be aware that the piece of meat they are cutting against the grain into tips is in fact what you’re looking for.
Dirk- I’ve seen, with my own eyes, skirt steak at Price Chopper and HyVee in Independence. I don’t know where in town you are, but may I direct you to the BEST butcher shop in the KC metro area?
Bichelmeyer Meats
706 Cheyenne Ave
Kansas City, KS
Phone: (913) 342-5945
(courtesy of Switchboard)
Bichelmeyer’s has every damned part of beef, pork, lamb, chicken & turkey you’d ever want… And a few parts you’d never want. Check them out.
Sorry, I forgot to add that their prices are very reasonable too. And their meat counter is as long as my house.
I’ve noticed beef is much more expensive here in Saint Louis than it was back in Texas, also. But lamb is cheaper and more widely available, so there’s that.
I’m pretty sure that Texas is the only place that would be legal.
I dunno, a bunch of Texas cattlemen tried to sue Oprah just for insulting some beef. Knowing it carnally is probably a horse whippin’ o-ffense.
Here, skirt steak is called “teriyaki” style beef.
Thanks, KW -
I’m up in Gladstone, and we’ve checked the Hy-Vee, two different Price Choppers, a Wal-Mart and a Sam’s - none have skirt steak. Of course, it defeats the purpose if the skirt steak is $6.00/lb, too. It’s supposed to be a nasty, tough, CHEAAAAAAP cut of meat - thus the reason for fajitas to exist. I’ll have to look into Bichelmeyer’s, though. Thanks again!
Hmm…maybe I should start looking into Q’ing some lamb…
Just you try finding lamb in Iowa, though. There in hog & cow country it’s practically a controlled substance.
My first thought was “that’s a reasonable law…”
No problemo, Dirk. I tried to call them today for a price on their skirt steak, but they’re closed on Sunday & Monday. You should give them a shout later in the week or something.
Oh, and yeah… skirt steak is supposed to be a nasty, cheap cut. Thank the Food Network chefs for letting the cat out of the bag. If it weren’t for Michael Chiarello and Emeril making such a big to do about skirt steak, it wouldn’t be en vogue and expensive. Bastards. The upside is that eventually, all the good steaks and roasts will become cheap because everyone will be scrambling to get their fill of tripe, brains, hearts and sweetbreads. But I’m not holding my breath…
Seriously, I’m sorry you’re having a hard time adjusting to the climes of KC. Please tell me you’ve at least found a good BBQ joint.
[Airplane!]
I always thought the proper name was New York strip steak.
[/Airplane!]
A lot of cheap food regularly eaten by the poor folk are now expensive. Shrimp, lobster, chicken wings, skirt steak, ribs, etc. were once pretty cheap until people figured out how good some of that stuff is.
Marc
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). 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. 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.
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. 