So if you’ve been with me thus far, you know I hit a local Spanish market, Las Brisas, to pick up some fresh-cut skirt steak from the butcher, and immediately began marinating it in preparation for grilling its ass on my Fyrkat. How’d it all come out?
Well, I left the steaks in the ziplock bag with the salsa fresca, (I’ve posted the recipe for that salsa fresca here – even if it’s more of a guide than a recipe) for 24 hours (it only seemed like a week), stopping by the fridge every couple of hours to massage and smish the beef around in the juice and veggies.
After torching a pile of Kingsford charcoal (which is the only stuff I’ll use now, as those of you that read my charcoal shootout already know) and letting it ash up properly, on went the skirts, each with a little added salt for seasoning.
I chose to cook with the top off this time; due to the thinness of the steaks I wanted as much sear as possible without drying them out, so I thought concentrating all the heat on the cooked surfaces and avoiding the additional heat caused by keeping the top on was the way to go.
And as far as I could tell, I was right. I think I’d have liked the coal to generate even more heat than I was getting, but it worked out really nicely all the same.
One thing I may not have mentioned in my Frykat review, but something hibachi owners are probably already aware of, is that the proximity to the coals on a small grill gives the meats even more smokey taste than in a larger kettle, and that’s what went down with these skirts. The marinade came through beautifully, but so did a full, rich smoke flavor.
We opted to chop these fellows up and mix them with jasmine rice and fresh chopped cilantro. Yes, we did: we injected a little Thai flavor profile into what had thus far been a very Latin-style dish.
It turned out great. The jasmine flavor complimented the smoke and marinade flavors perfectly and, combined with the cilantro, made a fantastic combination. My daughter’s comment said it all: after one bite she turned to me and said “I love you – will you make this more often?”
I don’t think I could have hoped for a better response, and the fact that the entire delicious meat-based dinner for four came in at somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 bucks made it that much better.
Plus, next time I hit Las Brisas (and I will, believe me) I’ll be the Foursquare mayor. So I’ve got that going for me.
