Years ago, I was very privileged to travel to Cancun, Mexico and stay at an all-inclusive resort for four days. (Arguably the best part about this was that it cost me nothing as it was a business trip.)
In the middle of the resort was a taco stand that served what I now know are called "street tacos." They are amazing in their simplicity: corn tortillas, topped with fajita meat, diced onion, cilantro, and that's it. They were absolutely delicious and I ate so much of those over that trip I felt embarrassed.
I've often wanted to try to recreate this at home, but skirt steak flummoxes me. I either overcook or undercook it. Or it's stupidly chewy.
I've decided to revisit this and see how close I can get. Tonight was experiment number one: a piece of inside skirt steak seasoned with just salt. This was to be my baseline. (A great deal of skirt steak recipes are marinated.)
It came out better than I expected. I got my cast iron pan up to 500-525 F and after a dash of avocado oil, placed the steak in the pan.

Ninety seconds later, I flipped. Decent crust, I think, for my first time doing this.

After an additional ninety seconds, I pulled it off to rest for a moment while I heated up the corn tortillas.
I then cut the steak into 1/2" cubes and put them in the tacos, topping with white onion and cilantro.
The steak was a bit rarer than I would have liked, basically on the rare side of medium-rare. I can see why people want to take this cut of meat to medium. When rare, it is chewy, even in 1/2" cubes. (The more well-done pieces were not chewy at all, but they were....well, well-done.)
So the next iteration is to marinate the remaining half of the skirt steak (soy sauce, lime juice, oregano) overnight and cook it slightly longer, perhaps two minutes a side and see how that works out.
Oh, here's the plating of the first iteration. Even with the chewy bits, it was very good.
In the middle of the resort was a taco stand that served what I now know are called "street tacos." They are amazing in their simplicity: corn tortillas, topped with fajita meat, diced onion, cilantro, and that's it. They were absolutely delicious and I ate so much of those over that trip I felt embarrassed.

I've often wanted to try to recreate this at home, but skirt steak flummoxes me. I either overcook or undercook it. Or it's stupidly chewy.
I've decided to revisit this and see how close I can get. Tonight was experiment number one: a piece of inside skirt steak seasoned with just salt. This was to be my baseline. (A great deal of skirt steak recipes are marinated.)
It came out better than I expected. I got my cast iron pan up to 500-525 F and after a dash of avocado oil, placed the steak in the pan.
Ninety seconds later, I flipped. Decent crust, I think, for my first time doing this.
After an additional ninety seconds, I pulled it off to rest for a moment while I heated up the corn tortillas.
I then cut the steak into 1/2" cubes and put them in the tacos, topping with white onion and cilantro.
The steak was a bit rarer than I would have liked, basically on the rare side of medium-rare. I can see why people want to take this cut of meat to medium. When rare, it is chewy, even in 1/2" cubes. (The more well-done pieces were not chewy at all, but they were....well, well-done.)
So the next iteration is to marinate the remaining half of the skirt steak (soy sauce, lime juice, oregano) overnight and cook it slightly longer, perhaps two minutes a side and see how that works out.
Oh, here's the plating of the first iteration. Even with the chewy bits, it was very good.

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