Skirt steak is the American term for a long, flat cut of beef taken from the diaphragm muscle of a steer.

Streaked with fat, the skirt steak can be a delicious and meltingly tender piece of meat when cooked with proper attention. Otherwise, it can taste like shoe leather.

Skirt steak can be briefly grilled, seared or broiled to at most medium-rare. It's also commonly stuffed, rolled and slowly braised.

Traditionally considered a second-rate cut, skirt steak's popularity rose in conjunction with the fajitas craze of the 1980s. Skirt steak is still the default cut for both fajitas and carne asada. It's also a good cut to use when making a sliced beef salad.

Notice that skirt steak's grains run crosswise and not lengthwise, like flank steak. Though it's generally always a good idea to slice skirt and flank steak against the grain and on the bias for a more tender bite, we like (rare) skirt steak cut with the grain, too. The tender sections seem to naturally split apart to create pillowy soft pieces of meat.