Bona Fide Fajitas

[Carter]

First Smoke of the season and decided to start with a big piece of Flank Steak.

I got this right out of Smoke & Spice cookbook and also made the Pico de Gallo.  To go with our "Bona Fide Fajitas", instead of a basic refried bean, I made up the "Burstin' with Black-Eyed Peas Salad".  This salad is one of the best bean salads I've ever had.  It's great cold, but I heated it up for the Fajitas.  We also had shredded old Cheddar and Sour Cream.

I finally got a chance to use my Crown Royal Oak bisquettes from last summer for this one during the 1 hour and 20 minute smoke.

When I brought it in, the meat was still a little red for our tastes so we sizzled it up for a few minutes in the frying pan.

It was a great meal and I'd definitely do it again.

Carter

Note:  Where the bean salad calls for 1-2 teaspoos of Wild Willy's Number One-derful Rub, I substituted Iceman's Pig rub.  Where the vinaigrette called for 1 tablespoon of tomato-based bbq sauce, again I used Ice's sauce.  I really can't say enough about how good this salad is.

[La Quinta]

So...can you tell any appreciable difference with the Crown Royal bisquettes? Just curious?

[Habanero Smoker]

I like my flank and skirt steaks a little red in the middle. I had purchased about 10 pounds of skirt steaks, and was unsure whether or not to fully smoked them in the Bradley. So I just cold smoked 3.5 pounds of them for about an hour, using oak, and then grilled them at high temperature for about 4 minutes on each side. They came out great. It was something different for Easter.

Could you taste any difference using the Royal Crown bisquettes.

[Carter]

It was my first time trying Oak, so the whole experience was different.  I really don't think I could taste the Crown, but I'm not sure.  The flavouring from the Oak though was really nice considering I'm used to Hickory.

I just had a leftover beef sandwich and as is so typical, the flavour of the smoke seems to mellow over a couple of days and taste even nicer. 

I'll have to go and pick myself up a box of Oak.

Hey Habs, what's the difference between Flank & Skirt steak.  For some reason I thought they were the same thing.

On another note, the flank steak didn't look too appetizing coming out of the smoker so I like your idea of grilling.  I used the cast iron frying pan to finish it off, but I would lean towards the grill next time.

[Habanero Smoker]

They both come from a cut called the plate. The skirt is thinner and has a richer flavor then the flank. I think the skirt is the diaphragm muscle. It is becoming more popular, so it is getting expensive in my area. It is now close to $6.00/lb.

The reason I ended up with 10 pounds of skirt stake, is that I ordered 10 pounds of plate, and the butcher stated he could get it in 3 days. Well 3 days later he had skirts states (cut from the plate). He generally goes out of his way for me, so I knew I could eventually use all of the skirts, so I took them. I'm still looking for a source that can provide me with beef plate.