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Entraña · Skirt steak · Hot and fast · Across the grain
How to Grill Skirt Steak (Entraña): Hot Fire, Short Time
Skirt steak is entraña in Spain. Grill it over a hot fire: coarse salt as it goes on, 4–5 minutes on the membrane side, 3–4 minutes on the other, off at 52 °C (126 °F) and five minutes’ rest. Serve it rare or medium-rare and slice it across the grain in strips two fingers wide. Cooked past that, it turns leathery and nothing brings it back.
- Skirt (US: outside skirt) is entraña at a Spanish counter
- Hot fire, under ten minutes in all, off at 52 °C (126 °F)
- Slice across the grain or it eats like shoe leather
The cut that teaches you to grill
In Argentina, entraña is what goes on the grill when you want to impress without spending a fortune. It is thin, it cooks in minutes and it punishes inattention, which is why it teaches more about fire than any thick steak does.
What it is
Skirt is the diaphragm muscle. It works all day, so it has a pronounced grain and a far deeper flavour than anything from the loin. For flavour per euro, few cuts come near it. British butchers call it skirt, Americans outside skirt, and in Spain you ask for entraña. It is not the same as onglet (US: hanger steak), and it is not vacío, which is flank or bavette; all three are listed in our guide to beef cuts in Spanish.
The piece has two faces. One is clean meat. The other is covered by a thin, silvery membrane, and what to do about it is the first decision.
Membrane on or membrane off
There are two schools and both are right.
| Membrane on (the criollo way) | Membrane off | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Shields the meat from direct heat and turns crisp | Nothing between the meat and the fire |
| First side down | Membrane side, 4–5 minutes | Either side, 3–4 minutes |
| Second side | 3–4 minutes | 2–3 minutes |
| Result | Juicier, but you have to know how to eat it | Easier to eat, and easier to dry out |
| Choose it if | You have grilled skirt before | This is your first one |
To take the membrane off, work a finger under it at one corner and pull. It comes away almost in one piece.
The fire: hot and short
Skirt is thin, 2 to 3 cm. It wants a hot fire, the kind where you can hold your hand a span above the bars for two seconds and no more, and very little time. The coals must be coated in white ash with no flame. If you need the basics, they are in how to light a charcoal barbecue.
- Salt with coarse salt, sal gruesa, just before the steak goes on. It is a thin cut; there is no inside to season.
- Membrane side down for 4–5 minutes. Do not move it.
- Turn it once. Give the other side 3–4 minutes.
- Take it off at 52 °C (126 °F) at the core and rest it for five minutes.
If you removed the membrane, take a minute off each side. This is not a cut for wandering away to fetch a beer. Lose concentration and it is overdone.
Doneness: there is no middle ground
Skirt is eaten rare or medium-rare, poco hecha or al punto in Spanish. Past that it turns leathery and cannot be rescued, because the fibre that gives the cut its flavour is the same fibre that toughens once the juice has gone. The numbers behind the words are in our doneness guide.
If somebody at the table wants it well done, give them something else. We mean it.
Slicing is half the secret
The grain of a skirt steak is very marked: the fibres are thick, parallel and easy to see. Look at the meat before you cut, find the direction the lines run, and put the knife at right angles to them. With a long piece it helps to divide it into manageable sections first and then turn each one so that every slice crosses the fibres. Cut strips two fingers wide. Sliced along the grain, the same steak chews like the sole of a shoe; sliced across it, the knife has already done the work your teeth would have to do.
What to serve with it
Chimichurri and nothing else. The cut has enough character not to need an elaborate sauce. At most, add a tomato and onion salad. Make the sauce the day before; the method is in our chimichurri recipe. It goes on the table, not on the grill.
Skirt and its neighbours on the grill
Our skirt is retinto yearling, sold as a 1.5 kg vacuum-packed piece: grill what you need and freeze the rest on arrival. Flank and asado short ribs are the natural companions, and the gourmet barbecue box includes retinto skirt among its cuts.
Skirt steak (entraña), retinto yearling beef, 1.5 kg
Entraña Añojo Retinto 1,5 KG29,90€ VAT incl.Add to basketGourmet BBQ box: the grill master’s selection (approx. 5.5 kg)
Kit Barbacoa Gourmet · Selección del Maestro Parrillero149,00€ VAT incl.Contains processed meat: ask us for the allergen listView product
Skirt steak questions
What is skirt steak called in Spain?
Entraña. It is the diaphragm muscle, the cut a British butcher calls skirt and an American one outside skirt. Vacío is a different cut: flank.
Should I remove the membrane?
For your first skirt, yes: it is easier to eat. Left on, in the criollo way, it protects the meat and crisps up, and the steak comes out juicier. Put the membrane side to the fire first and for longer.
How long does skirt steak take on the barbecue?
Over a hot fire, 4–5 minutes on the membrane side and 3–4 on the other, then five minutes’ rest. Without the membrane, a minute less per side. Take it off at 52 °C (126 °F).
Why is my skirt steak tough?
One of two reasons. It was cooked past medium-rare, or it was sliced along the grain. Slice across the fibres, in strips two fingers wide.
The piece is 1.5 kg. Can I freeze part of it?
Yes. It arrives chilled and vacuum-packed. It keeps in the fridge until the use-by date on the label, or you can portion it and freeze what you will not grill this week.