You may have seen it on the menu of many Latin restaurants. The churrasco steak is a long flat cut of "skirt steak," cut from the "plate" of the cow. In some parts of the country they traditionally call this "butcher steak," because all of it ends up going home with the butcher!
Don't confuse it with the flank steak, a similar cut, but NOT the same! Skirt steak is actually the diaphragm muscle of the cow. It's one of the most flavorful cuts of beef. In most of the country, skirt steak has been a very scarce commodity. While flank steak can be found everywhere, you had to know an old fashioned butcher -- one that still deals with the whole cow and not boxed beef.
Several national and regional grocery chains are now carrying churrasco-cut steak just like you'd find in Miami, pre-packaged and ready to go. At most places, you won't see the word "churrasco" on the label. Technically it's called "Beef Plate Skirt Steak -- Boneless."
One caveat: in Miami, the butchers carefully trim the skirt steaks for churrasco. The ones you get at supermarkets in other parts of the country require a little more work. You'll need a sharp knife to carefully remove excess fat and the white membrane from the back of the meat.
It's easy, make a downward cut into the membrane and then peel back, running the sharp edge of your knife between the membrane and the meat as you peel. The churrasco-cut plate steak is typically marinated to make it tender and full of flavor. The Argentine version uses a mildly flavored marinade or sometimes no marinade at all. The Three Guys from Miami like to "Cubanize" this dish by marinating the meat overnight in our own homemade mojo marinade.
Churrasco is always served with a good chimichurri sauce. We like to use our Cuban version -- it is much more flavorful than the typical Argentine version! For recipes, CLICK HERE.
No, it's nothing as exciting as that. What we're talking about are a few of our favorite little hole-in-the-wall places. These places usually have two things in common: plenty of customers and not enough tables!
We are reluctant to talk about these places because if they get any more popular than they already are, we'll never get a table!
One of these places is a little Argentinean Café called Che Tito's and if you promise to keep it to yourself, we'll give you all the details.
We're not talking about anyplace that would hurt our reputations or get us arrested!We're not sure if Che Tito's serves the best steak in Miami, but this is the place we go when we want a great steak. Many people come here for the pizza, and it looks and smells great.
However, we've never been able to resist the tantalizing slabs of beef prepared just behind the bar on a simple grill. We admit, we have never had the pizza here. Maybe one of these days we'll get one to go. What we do get is the churrasco de entraña -- our favorite cut of beef for steaks. Yes, it's the long, thin cut from the plate of the cow -- also known as skirt steak.
There is nothing fancy about Che Tito's, but the steaks are prepared to your liking and are always so tender and flavorful! Splash on some chimichurri and there just isn't any excuse for side dishes or dessert. You will be in red meat eaters heaven!
If you have someone in your entourage who just won't eat red meat -- and why are you hanging around with people like that anyway -- they will be delighted with the grilled chicken breast here...
THREE GUYS FROM MIAMI IN THE NEWS
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In fact her first cookbook, "The Splendid Table" is considered one of the bibles of Italian cuisine. Her book received the Cookbook of the Year Award from both the Julia Child/IACP and James Beard Awards.
Jorge and Raúl appeared live from the studios in Miami while Glenn braved the cold to appear in person at the American Public Media studios in Minnesota. We all had a great time talking about some of our favorite places in Miami. The only problem? The time just flew by and we were still talking!
We will be featured on The Splendid Table the weekend of March 4-6. Check your local public radio listings for the exact date and time. You can listen to the ENTIRE show by clicking HERE or listen to our segment ONLY by clicking HERE.
For a complete, but by no means comprehensive, list of booksellers: CLICK HERE!
