Spicy Citrus Skirt Steak Recipe (2024)

I do quite a bit of Chinese cooking, emphasis on Sichuan and Hunan. I usually save the peels from clementine/mandarins, scraping off the white pith with a spoon before drying in the sun. They get better with age. My oldest current stock is 5 years old. And a 'special reserve' of mandarin peels I brought back from my last trip to China 3 years back. Reconstituted, they are really useful in so many ways like tangerine beef and vaguely teriyaki pork spareribs. The lesson is not to waste resources.

The sauce is a marvel. But there's no reason why some of it couldn't serve to marinate the steak while the grill's heating up: it's not like most cooks have a plane to catch ;-)If you must skip pre-marinating, dry-brining ("tips") is essential, not optional. However, "locking in the juices" (a hypothesis by 19th century chemist Justus Von Liebig) is a myth. Why don't more recipe writers read Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" (which Jacques Pepin & David Chang swear by)?

Tangerines are not in season during summer grilling season - although you can buy fruit fro the Southern Hemisphere in the local Safeway. Why not use Valencia juice oranges instead. They are in season now and would a fine substitute.

Good luck getting a cup of juice out of six tangerines! But it doesn't matter because the quantities for the sauce are double what is necessary. I suggest that rather than grilling four unsqueezed tangerine halves, the squeezed halves should be flattened, allowed to soak briefly in the sauce, then patted dry on the outside, brushed with oil, and grilled on a perforated sheet about four minutes per side. Indeed, you will find that the grilled tangerine rinds are the best part of this dish.

This recipe is good but way too complicated. Juice your citrus fruit, add other ingredients. Use as both a marinade and a sauce (keeping any marinade separate).

Maybe I’m missing something, but the directions call for a two-zone grill — then never tell you what to do with the indirect heat. We’re also never told to put the tangerine halves on the grill — only to remove them when finished. Are they supposed to be the part over the indirect heat?

Try a cast iron skillet next time. We do our steaks that way all the time. Get it nice & hot. Then sear as recipe directs.

This sounds amazing! Could you make it without a grill?

I boiled down the leftover marinade to make a glaze which really helped add a lot of flavour. I would use less sriarcha next time or use full amount sambal oelek. Son ate it in tortillas!

I have a question regarding the meat residing in the lovely citrus sauce. It’s my experience that skirt steak, hanger steak too, bleeds lots of juices as it sits. Not sure how this will go with the citrus sauce- anyone have opinions/experience?

There is no other name for skirt steak that I'm aware of, but stores don't always have it in stock. Ask the store's butcher. You could sub in flank steak.

Zest the tangerines with a microplane and freeze the zest in a small jar. (Don’t pack it down into the jar). Whenever you need citrus zest it is ready and fresh tasting right from the freezer.

Agree with using as marinade and forgetting the other steps. Added 1 Tb veg oil to the marinade to prevent sticking and flaring on the grill and grilled whole. Might be nice with brown sugar added to marinade.

In response to prior comment - it is not the heat searing that "locks in the juices" but rather the dry brining - the chemistry of salt interactions with muscle proteins leads to increased water-retaining capacity (see Harold McGee's explanation of brining). Dry brining combines the protein-altering chemistry with surface evaporation of water to lead to a better sear and "juice retention" (see Kenji Lopez-Alt's explanation of impact of dry brining salmon, referencing Harold McGee).

Hanger steak most likely, for an inexpensive cut. Might be good with most any cut that can be grilled.

This recipe is legit with bold flavors of heat and sweet. Absolutely recommend reversing the flow to use this as a marinade rather than a finishing sauce, with some minor edits to boost flavor. Mix the tangerine juice, zest of 3 tangerines, 2 (large) garlic cloves, ginger, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, 1 tbl grape seed oil, 1.5 tbl sriracha, 3 teaspoons sambal, and S&P. set aside 1/3 cup to use as a finishing sauce, marinate the steak in the remaining for about a Half hour or longer. So good!

Confused. No where does it say to remove the muddled tangerine peels but muddling doesn't reduce them to palatably small pieces and anyway eating uncooked tangerine peel is icky. I ended up using a potato masher to muddle the pieces smaller, but in end, I strained the sauce to remove the rinds. What did everyone else do?

Oh, and also the meat was so tough! If I make this again, I'll be sure to pound the meat and/or use the little pokey tool I bought for pork belly.

As other reviewers noted, the directions here are needlessly complicated. Make the marinade, plop in your skirt/hangar/flank steak for a few hours, then slap it on the grill. I found that 6 mandarin oranges=1C juice. Could probably get by with less as it made a very liquid marinade. Tasty!

We've cooked a lot of NYT recipes, but this one is a big NOPE for us. I admit I only skimmed it at first, but overall this was poorly written and organized (no need for this to be 2 pages). My husband was super annoyed to find the sauce he juiced / muddled/ etc was not for marinating, but only for a quick toss at the end. My bad, as we know better. Skirt steak really needs to be marinated or else you'll get that lovely connective tissue that turns it into gum. Will be un-saving this one.

In response to prior comment - it is not the heat searing that "locks in the juices" but rather the dry brining - the chemistry of salt interactions with muscle proteins leads to increased water-retaining capacity (see Harold McGee's explanation of brining). Dry brining combines the protein-altering chemistry with surface evaporation of water to lead to a better sear and "juice retention" (see Kenji Lopez-Alt's explanation of impact of dry brining salmon, referencing Harold McGee).

Excellent recipe! The only thing I did differently is to grill extra tangerine halves to serve with the meat. They my were beautiful and yummy. And I used a bavette instead of skirt. Took a little longer to cook but tasted great.

Loved the sauce but I think some could be used for a marinade. Flavors are vibrant and the sambal olek gives it a nice kick. Will definitely make again.

flank steak needs tenderizing or different cut. Keep meat warm before serving. Delicious

This was delicious! I didn’t even bother with the whole squeezing-of-the-rinds thing and it was still awesome.

I don’t have a grill so threw it all in a cast iron pan and kind of boiled the beef in the marinade until it cooked off. Was delish!

My family loved this grilled recipe. I happed to have Halos to use for the citrus and it took quite a few to get the amount of juice needed. And I left steak in the marinade for a full 30 minutes before thinly slicing. Next time I will also thicken the sauce slightly (before putting on the table) by heating and adding a cornstarch slurry.

Zest the tangerines with a microplane and freeze the zest in a small jar. (Don’t pack it down into the jar). Whenever you need citrus zest it is ready and fresh tasting right from the freezer.

Fantastic sauce. Made it exactly initially then gave it a tweak: Increased sambal oelek to 2 T, 2 large cloves of garlic finely diced & 2 T grated fresh ginger. Marinated steak (flank steak also works well) in 1/3 cup of sauce for 1 hour. Gently warmed the rest of the sauce in the microwave and poured over cooked and sliced meat (and rice!) on the plate. Exceptional!

Meh! Directions are overcomplicated and unnecessary. Liked the sound of tangerine marinade but didn't feel like was a good compliment to Asian grilled steak - many better options.