Skirt Steak

Before the fajita craze of the late 1980s, skirt steak was the cut nobody wanted. Texas vaqueros (cowboys) had been cooking it for generations — marinated, grilled over open fire, sliced thin and folded into a tortilla — because it was cheap, abundant, and frankly better than anything the ranchers were keeping for themselves. Then the rest of America discovered fajitas, and almost overnight skirt steak went from the cheapest cut at the butcher to the second most expensive in the country, right behind filet mignon. Demand outpaced supply so fast that restaurants started substituting cheaper cuts and hoping nobody noticed.

That history is worth knowing because it tells you something important: this cut earned its reputation the hard way, on a campfire, long before any restaurant put it on a menu.

There are four skirt steaks on a cow — two inside and two outside. We carry both and sell them interchangeably by weight. The outside is thicker, heavier, more marbled, and more tender. The inside is leaner, smaller, bolder, and benefits from a marinade. Either way, the method is the same: high heat, fast cook, generous rest, slice thin against the grain. Carne asada, fajitas, tacos, steak salad — this is the cut those dishes were built around.

Sold individually and priced by weight.

If you keep skirt in your rotation, our hanger, flank, bavette, flat iron, and sierra steaks are cut from the same spirit. Keep a few in your freezer and you will never be without something you're excited to cook.