Decent Skirt Steak on Gas Grill?

[Count Porcula]

Two years ago, I splurged on a Napoleon Prestige 500 propane grill with a rotisserie and a side infrared grill. I thought I would be able to do burgers on it, and similar things. Hot dogs, sausages, and so on. I also thought it would be good for vegetables.

After two years, the results are in.

1. Vegetables. Great.
2. Rotisserie. Great.
3. Burgers. Can be done, but really needs more heat.
4. Steaks. Not ever going to work.

I didn't expect much in the steak area, and that was okay, because I love steaks fried in butter. The best grill on Earth would not make steaks that suited me. I mean fat expensive steaks, like rib eyes.

Tonight I decided to fix some skirt steaks. Yes, I said I like fried steaks, but I have had a lot of grilled skirt steak at Argentinian joints, and I'm okay with it. Fried skirt steaks come out perfect, of course, but I thought it would be nice to have the convenience of grilling, even if I sacrificed a little flavor.

When I tried fixing one, I learned something disappointing. The Napoleon just can't do it. By the time the outside was done, the inside was brown. I used the infrared searing thing instead of the main grids, and I turned the gas up all the way and let the grill get hot, so this is all the heat I can get.

Has anyone here managed to get decent skirt or flank steaks from a gas grill? Argentinian joints use grills, and they do fine, but I had no luck. I'm sure they're not burning wood.

I am thinking of adding a Napoleon stainless griddle insert. They are available now that all the covid insanity is behind us. I am not happy that these have holes that let the grease out, but I can weld stainless plate over them to keep it in. I don't understand the thinking behind a griddle that cooks dry.

 

[schlotz]

Hmm... a 48,000 BTU propane unit without enough heat to properly sear a steak? Seems a bit odd. Was this grill converted to natural gas by chance? In regard to skirt steak, was the meat blotted dry before putting it on the grill? This can help.

 

[Count Porcula]

I beat the steak, salted it, and soaked it in soy sauce. Then I threw it on the burner. Then I gave it a few seconds in a pan of hot butter, because I had used it to cook a second steak that didn't fit on the burner. I don't know what I could have done wrong. The burner sure seemed hot. It was orange. I guess I can check out the regulator.

This is a really thin steak, so maybe you need super-duper heat to get a medium steak that's cooked well outside.

I ordered a griddle insert.

I believe a griddle will transfer heat better than a grill, based on stuff I've cooked in the past. We shall see.

 

[normanaj]

The best grill on Earth would not make steaks that suited me. I mean fat expensive steaks, like rib eyes.

Then you need to come over my house.I'll cook you a damn fine ribeye on the gasser,the WSM or my firepit.

Has anyone here managed to get decent skirt or flank steaks from a gas grill?

Absolutely.Done it more times than I can count.

When I tried fixing one, I learned something disappointing. The Napoleon just can't do it. By the time the outside was done, the inside was brown. I used the infrared searing thing instead of the main grids, and I turned the gas up all the way and let the grill get hot, so this is all the heat I can get.

That paragraph pretty much sums it up.All the stainless steel and gadgetry and $$$ doesn't necessarily make for a good grill.

 

[Count Porcula]

Then you need to come over my house.I'll cook you a damn fine ribeye on the gasser,the WSM or my firepit.

Be careful what you wish for.

That paragraph pretty much sums it up.All the stainless steel and gadgetry and $$$ doesn't necessarily make for a good grill.

My best steaks come from a turkey fryer base and a griddle or pan, so I can't argue.

 

[forktender]

I at times will place a C.I. pan or griddle on one side of my weber gas grill right when I light it. That gives it time to get blazing hot, then I grill the meat on the grill then sear them off in the C.I. pan or griddle with a little avocado oil, and butter.
(I use avocado oil because it boasts the highest smoke point out of all cooking oils, 520 degs I've tried using beef tallow but the lower smoke point 400 degs gives the meat a funky taste too, me).

You don't need 700 plus degrees to make a perfect steak, sure hotter would be nice at times, but it's not needed, per se.

Give this method a shot, I think you'll enjoy it.

Good luck.
Dan.

 

[Count Porcula]

Keep in mind, I'm talking about skirt steak, which is very thin. I have no problem with real steaks.

 

[schlotz]

BTW: you might consider getting a set of GrillGrates. These things definitely increase the amount of heat transfer to any protein.

 

[fxsales1959]

Two years ago, I splurged on a Napoleon Prestige 500 propane grill with a rotisserie and a side infrared grill. I thought I would be able to do burgers on it, and similar things. Hot dogs, sausages, and so on. I also thought it would be good for vegetables.

After two years, the results are in.

1. Vegetables. Great.
2. Rotisserie. Great.
3. Burgers. Can be done, but really needs more heat.
4. Steaks. Not ever going to work.

I didn't expect much in the steak area, and that was okay, because I love steaks fried in butter. The best grill on Earth would not make steaks that suited me. I mean fat expensive steaks, like rib eyes.

Tonight I decided to fix some skirt steaks. Yes, I said I like fried steaks, but I have had a lot of grilled skirt steak at Argentinian joints, and I'm okay with it. Fried skirt steaks come out perfect, of course, but I thought it would be nice to have the convenience of grilling, even if I sacrificed a little flavor.

When I tried fixing one, I learned something disappointing. The Napoleon just can't do it. By the time the outside was done, the inside was brown. I used the infrared searing thing instead of the main grids, and I turned the gas up all the way and let the grill get hot, so this is all the heat I can get.

Has anyone here managed to get decent skirt or flank steaks from a gas grill? Argentinian joints use grills, and they do fine, but I had no luck. I'm sure they're not burning wood.

I am thinking of adding a Napoleon stainless griddle insert. They are available now that all the covid insanity is behind us. I am not happy that these have holes that let the grease out, but I can weld stainless plate over them to keep it in. I don't understand the thinking behind a griddle that cooks dry.

I have a legacy LEX(Ithink) Napoleon from before I was indoctrinated into the smoking world. While I love the rear burner for rotisserie, I don't think the actual grill puts out near what was claimed when bought. my burners ae clean and have replacd the heat distribution "plates".
Besides the annual pinning of the Christmas prime rib, mine sits sadly covered most of the year..
My Blackstone is the tool of choice for skirts and flap meat et. but for a 10 YO grill it still does ok, just no intense heat ones. before my blackstone I bought flat griddle to use on the side burner since i don't use cast iron on my glass kitchen stove..
I works fine, but the uncovering hassle is not as easy as cranking up the B/S.
J

just my $.02
John

 

[zwiller]

Skirt is more expensive than rib eyes here so not running any BUT if I did one I'd SV low for a long time to break it down a bit say 8hrs. Crash cool a bit cool and then sear.

 

[mike243]

Get a Weber cast iron griddle plate, throw it on there and let it heat up, best of both worlds imo, burgers are better also

 

[bmudd14474]

Sounds like an issue with your burners. Even cheap gassers get to 600ish degrees. I'd inspect your burners. See what the color of your flame is and does it get bigger and smaller with the controls. Could be a regulator issue.

I like a hot bed of coals in the Weber for high heat stuff

 

[normanaj]

BTW: you might consider getting a set of GrillGrates. These things definitely increase the amount of heat transfer to any protein.

Yup.

Best investment I've made for both my gassers when they had the 35% black Friday sale last year.Expensive yes but worth it,especially when on sale.

 

[Count Porcula]

I don't think those are for me. I like meat browned all over, not just in grill marks.

 

[Count Porcula]

The griddle arrived today, and it's a success.

I decided to try skirt steak without pounding it. I am used to pounding it to take the chew out of it, but it makes the steak so thin it's hard to cook, and it's also less juicy. I checked the web, and I read that Argentinians don't pound their entrana, so I figured non-pounded skirt steak was legit.

I didn't do anything fancy. Salted the steak and then soaked it in soy sauce for a very short time.

I seasoned the griddle with lard, and I put the steak on it when it was really hot. I tried to melt some butter on the griddle first, but it was so hot, the butter zipped around as if it was in pain, smoking all the way.

The metal was way too hot for cooking steaks, but that was okay, because it doesn't have a high heat capacity. It cools down to a more suitable temperature when the meat hits it, and as it's cooling down, it browns and chars, which is good.

I managed to get some butter into the process when the griddle had cooled a little. I had been afraid any type of fat would run right off so meat wouldn't fry well, but the griddle is very level, and it will hold a little fat. Not as much as I would like, but I can find a way to fix that when frying other steaks that need deeper fat.

The vacant areas of the griddle were useful because they stayed hot, so I was able to slide the steak around on them and increase the browning. I should have done more of this, but I was getting some charring, and I was afraid I would overdo it and get a bitter steak. As it turned out, this steak likes a little charring, so next time I will not go so easy on it. Sadly, this will not work if I'm cooking several steaks at once.

Without pounding, the steak was chewy. Personally, I did not care. I cut my bites across the grain and dealt with it. My wife, however, was not thrilled. It seems like women judge steak purely by how tender it is, which is why they order filets instead of delicious rib eyes.

Now I'll get flamed as a big sexist, but I'm cool with that, because I'm right.

It is frustrating, cooking for the wife and myself, because she likes inferior cuts. She is really hooked on those tender filets. I find it difficult to make a filet and a rib eye come out cooked correctly at the same time. I like filets okay, and sometimes I actually want one, but rib eyes are better.

Another issue: I'm having train her to eat meat that isn't burned. Women and their well-done steaks. What can you do? My dad had this same disorder. It was embarrassing.

I'll bet someone can tell me how to tenderize these things without pounding them or ruining the flavor.

I also made fries in the Bayou Classic deep fryer. I had great luck with some Walmart frozen crinkle cuts the other day, and I decided to try some Ore-Idas to see if there was a difference. I fried the Ore-Idas more, so they would resemble the over-fried barroom crinkle cuts I used to love. They were better than the Walmart fries, but I think that was entirely due to the additional fry time. I don't see any reason to spend the extra two dollars when making frozen fries.

I believe I can do this steak a little better next time, but I have no complaints. The flavor was certainly better than entrana from a real churrascaria. I am no skirt steak artist at this point. This was a very good meal considering the tiny amount of effort I put into it.

I put Worcestershire on it after I cooked it, and while it was good, it was a mistake. It was fine with salt and the touch of soy sauce flavor left over from soaking it.

The meat was more done than it looks in the final picture.

 

[Redicans]

Has anyone here managed to get decent skirt or flank steaks from a gas grill? Argentinian joints use grills, and they do fine, but I had no luck. I'm sure they're not burning wood.

Yeah my 20 year old Weber Summit is a grilling machine! I cook flank and skirts all the time and they come out Awesome. I can get that thing up to 700 degrees if needed but I usually grill between 450 and 500 and they come out great.

I like the griddle insert and have been thinking of getting one. Looks like you nailed that cook on the griddle! Looks like a good meal to me!

 

[Count Porcula]

I was pretty happy with it. I was too lazy to make chimichurri, though.