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California Reserve Skirt Steak

California Reserve Skirt Steak

A flavorful and tender cut of beef taken from the diaphragm muscle of the cow, Skirt Steak is known for its long, flat shape and prominent marbling. These are the true Outside Skirt steaks – not to be confused with Inside Skirt steak. Versatile and quick to cook, the skirt can be prepared simply with some salt and pepper on the grill, or used to elevate your fajita game to Olympic levels.

Size PriceQuantity
16oz $58.00

USDA PRIME

These Inside Skirt steaks are graded USDA Prime, the top tier of quality in the U.S. On average, about 9% of graded cattle will achieve Prime status, but taking things a step further, we inspect each primal that moves through our facility to guarantee quality. If we don’t think a piece deserves the Prime grade, we won’t ship it.

HOLSTEIN CATTLE

This cut is sourced from Holstein cattle, raised in California predominantly in the Southeast corner of the state.

SHIP FROZEN

Flash frozen after being processed, these Skirt Steaks will be safe for an additional 6-7months in your freezer, or 4-5 days in your refrigerator once thawed.

UN-AGED

The muscle that these skirt steaks are cut from has very little protective covering, and is a very thin/flat cut, which makes it not suitable for the dry aging process.

The skirt steak is a “kissin’ cousin” of the hanger steak; it actually comes from right next to the hanger and thus will have that same distinctive color that the hanger has. While not as tender as its neighbor, it compensates for this by being a much thinner cut. Historically, this was an inexpensive cut relative to other steaks, with a texture similar to the flank steak in the sense of very predominant grain (which when slicing you always want to cut perpendicular to the grain whether it be skirt steak, flank steak or even tri-tip steak). But like everything else nowadays, economics has caught up with the skirt steak as well. People have fallen in love with this cut, and demand even caused a rise in price. Even with this demand, the skirt steak is a value, and the Prime grade ones that we carry are a dangerous combination of value and flavor.

The skirt has an unusual shape; it’s a long thin strip, almost belt-like. It is usually about 3 to 4 inches wide and up to 18 inches in length, while being about a half inch in thickness throughout most of its length.  We have purposely removed the thinner end of the steak, so the remaining 16 ounces will be far more uniform in thickness.

Something else to note; due to rising popularity, the meat industry has done a bit of a ‘switcheroo’ on consumers, and a cut that looks similar to the skirt steak began to be marketed as Inside Skirt Steak, whereas the TRUE skirt steak is the Outside Skirt Steak. Despite similar names, they are entirely different muscles, and have different characteristics. The Inside Skirt Steak was referred to as “Flap Meat”, so on one hand, we understand trying to find a more marketable name, ha…. but if you are purchasing skirt steak, try to avoid the Inside Skirt / Flap Meat. It has a similar flavor, but will present with a much heavier chew than the Inside Skirt.