Red's South Texas Fajitas

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Title: Red's South Texas Fajitas
Categories: Main dish
Yield: 6 Servings

4 Jalapeno peppers --
Pierced
3 tb Chili powder
1 ts Cayenne pepper
1 8 oz bottle herb and garlic
-oil-based salad dressing
1 cn Beer -- preferably Lone
Star
1 1/2 ts Garlic powder
4 sm Mexican limes -- juiced
2 ts Cumin powder
1 lg Onion -- minced
2 tb Cilantro -- minced
1 tb Worcestershire sauce
1 Bay leaf
3 lb Skirt steak

About twelve to fifteen years ago, fajitas were
"discovered." since then, an awful lot of good meat
has been wrecked, and skirt steak--once a "grinder"
item--has risen sharply in price. Because skirt
doesn't come from a "tender quadrant" of the carcass,
some care is needed to turn it into good food. First,
it needs to be marinated to tenderize and flavor it.

Mix all the ingredients together, except the meat, to
make a marinade. Pour over the skirt steak, in a
non-reactive container (not metal), cover, and stir
occasiionally for six to eight hours.

Fajitas can be cooked in several ways. If you have the
space, smoke the fajitas for 30 minutes with pure
mesquite smoke, and then cook for 4-7 minutes per side
over direct heat--mesquite coals being the heat of
choice. Baste with the marinade throughout the cooking
process. If you need to cook completely over direct
heat, then use a fairly slow fire, about like you
should use when grilling chicken, and cook, covered if
possible, for about 10 - 15 minutes per side, basting
with the marinade.

Figure about a half pound of meat and 3 to 4 tortillas
per person. When slicing fajitas, you'll notice that
the grain of the skirt steak all runs the same way. If
you'll slice the skirt at a forty-five degree angle to
the grain, and hold your knife on a forty-five degree
angle as well, you'll find that the fajitas are much
more tender! Serve the fajitas with flour tortillas,
pico de gallo salsa, guacamole, and cold beer. You'll
notice that I didn't say anything about chicken
fajitas--that's a contradiction in terms.

Recipe By : Chile Pepper Magazine - Sep/Oct 1990

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