Cooking steak whole or cut up first? For tacos

cook whole

Of course, they’ll stay juicier if you cook then slice. Slicing after cooking also allows for a nicer presentation—you can fan the slices out onto a platter if you’re doing make-your-own tacos.

Cook whole, rest, cut, serve.

Don't do strips or ribeyes for tacos. Get a nice skirt steak or flank steak, season with salt and pepper and grill for a couple minutes on each side to medium rare. Then slice. Save those ribeyes.

This was my question too...I love a good ribeye and strip but when I go tacos, I always go skirt or flank.

A skirt cooked directly on the coals with heavy salt and sliced against the grain can't be beat.

Maybe I have been ruined by eating at Lupe tortilla, but I can never get skirt steak to come out good. I've tried cheap ones from Mexican grocers, expensive from whole foods, Wal Mart, etc. Nothing comes out anywhere near as good as Lupe tortilla. I've tried different marinades, no difference.

I haven't tried straight on the coals like mentioned, maybe I'll try that... But it is depressing.

Ditto on skirt, but you have to slice it across the grain, which runs witdth ways on a skirt, so you have to slice it kind of “counter interuitive” to the way you think you would. Also, if you want it to taste like Lupe Tortilla put a little accent on it along with your seasoning, and grill over mesquite.

My method is cook whole to med rare then slice and season before tossing back into hot cast iron with seared onions and peppers for a min or so.

Gives it a bit more flavor IMHO, no real way to go wrong.

The best skirt steak I have ever made was SV. I was cooking a chuck roast for 36 hours and decided to throw a frozen skirt steak in for dinner tonight. I cooked it for 12 hours at 132 and then heavy salt/pepper and fajita seasoning prior to a cast iron sear. Smeared it with compound butter and cut it against the grain. It was the tenderest skirt I have ever eaten.

Flank or skirt is a good suggestion, but unless you find a Mexican grocery store where it's cheap, it won't be all that much cheaper than a ribeye at most places. I would go ribeye anyways as it's easier to cook in my opinion.