Silverskin is a nasty topic they never really address on cooking shows or even in most cookbooks. Home cooks follow recipes in their favorite cookbook or try to recreate dishes they see celebrity chefs make on tv and wonder why the hell their meat came out tough, chewy, and mangled.
This type of cooking mistake isn’t the home cooks’ fault; it’s the food industry in general. Yes, I have a strong theory about famous chefs’ cookbooks and how their recipes are entirely different from what you eat in their restaurants. I’ve spoken with chefs, and they agree 100%.
The quick lowdown is the amount of fat, sugar, and salt used in restaurant food. One quick example out of many is Gordon Ramsey himself said on the tv show Master Chef that his mashed potato recipe is 60% potato and 40% butter with a tremendous amount of salt. No more wondering why his potatoes are so delicious, right? He isn’t making healthy food in his restaurants; he’s making delicious food you can’t replicate at home.
Ok, back to silver skin; what is it, and how do you get rid of it? Silverskin is the connective tissue found in certain cuts of beef, lamb, and pork, most noticeably on ribs.
Silverskin is a silver, translucent membrane found on ribs, pork tenderloin, skirt, flank, other cuts of steak, and rack of lamb. Silverskin isn’t found on poultry. I am not sure about wild game meats since I don’t cook or eat them—sorry, hunters.
Silverskin is different from fat on meats. The fat renders down on a grill or melts away when braising meats. Silverskin doesn’t render or melt away; that nasty shit is there to stay, making the meat chewy and tough. Another thing about silver skin, when it’s not removed, it blocks seasoning and rubs from penetrating the meat. Silverskin mangles the meat when grilled or baked.
When I was learning to cook, I assumed that the supermarket butcher “cleaned” the meat I was buying. What do they say about the word assume? Oh yeah, it makes an ass-out of-u-and me. Butchers will clean and trim fat and silverskin if you ask them to, or you can do it yourself. People who enjoy cooking may get the same satisfaction that I get after cleaning and trimming meat. It’s weird, I know.
The good news is silver skin is easy to remove with a bit of practice. You will need a sharp knife with a thin blade like a paring or boning knife, a cutting board, and some paper towels.
Whenever I make a pot of stew I buy chuck roast instead of stew meat. Stew meat is often filled with grizzled and fat in pieces smaller than I would like. Chuck steak is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef, although these days, nothing is inexpensive. Chuck steak is a tough piece of meat that needs to be braised. Dishes such a pot roast, sauerbraten, stew, or Mexican shredded beef used in tacos.
Trimming a chuck roast is pretty straightforward. You remove the fat with the knife or your fingers, then check for silverskin. Next, carefully slide the blade of your knife under the silverskin. If the meat is slippery, you can hold the meat with a paper towel for a better grip.
Remember these words…let the knife do the work. Carefully slide the knife under the skin and begin to pull up using your hand. The silverskin will lift off the meat; it’s pretty gratifying for me when I can get a big piece. Go to the next area and repeat, trying not to cut into the meat.
It sounds simple, but it does take some practice. You don’t want to trim meat your first time while rushing to get a weeknight dinner on the table. Practice your meat trimming skills when you have some time. I usually trim meat earlier in the day or the day before, then either marinate, dry rub, or wrap tightly for later use.
Silverskin on ribs is easy to remove and is only on the exposed bone side. Just lift one side with a paring knife, and the whole thing peels right off. Everyone in the bbq world removes the silverskin, so the ribs pull apart easily with that rubbery thing. 🤮
When cleaning a pork tenderloin, the silverskin is only on one side and starts at the end of one side of the tenderloin. The silverskin removal is a little tricky because it’s easy to take some of the meat with it. Getting the knife under the meat is harder than other meats. Slow and steady, then it comes right off with the help of a paper towel if necessary.
Some of our favorite cuts of meat are ones that people don’t know what to do with, let alone how to clean them; these cuts are flank steak, skirt steak, hanger steak, brisket, tres major, and flat iron.
Skirt and flank steaks have a lot of fat, which is easy to remove by pulling it off with your fingers. The silverskin is also easy to remove. You don’t want to remove all the fat since fat = flavor, and it is a fatty cut of meat; however, the fat melts away when grilled, resulting in a very tasty, tender piece of steak.
I have been wanting to write about trimming meat for months. If this is something that you have no interest in doing or are afraid to try doing, ask your butcher to trim the meat of the fat and silverskin for you. You can even ask the butcher department of a supermarket to do this for you as well. If they refuse, then find yourself a new supermarket. You don’t have to tell them to go to hell like I would. LOL!
Hopefully, I could explain meat trimming clearly and understandably. It takes practice like other kitchen skills; you can watch how-to videos on Youtube. Chefs and cooks weren’t born doing any kitchen task perfectly the first or second time they tried doing it. The biggest and most important thing with all knife work is using a sharp knife; if you don’t have one, make the investment and buy a new knife.
To sharpen your knife or new knife that will need sharpening, ask a kitchen store for advice for a good knife sharpener, or take your knives to a professional knife sharpener. Smith’s brand is my favorite kind of knife sharpener, which you can buy in a hardware store for about $17 bucks. Just watch a YouTube video on how to use it, and it will be your favorite too!
I rarely preach something but, you should be sharpening your knives regularly. I sharpen mine every time I use them. They don’t need much, just a new, fresh edge. I know people who have never sharpened their knives or only do it once a year then complain how much they hate cutting things. When people use dull knives, they are pressing down on the knife to cut, not let the knife glide through whatever you are cutting; back to “let the knife do the work.”
Well, I never imagined I would go on and on about silverskin and meat trimming. I hope this information has been helpful if it’s something you aren’t familiar with doing. I guess if you don’t eat meat or cook, this post definitely wasn’t for you.
It’s a snowy night here in Vermont, nothing real but snow showers. I stayed home from belly dance class. I haven’t regained my energy or strength yet from my booster; I need to save the little bit I have for spätzle production tomorrow and Friday. Have a great night!
*** If you enjoy my recipes, please consider making a mall donation to my blog in the “support my blog” section. No matter how small, all donations are welcome and make me feel like my time and effort is appreciated. Thank you so much for your support! 🤗
There are many Smith brand knife sharpeners. Besides the price, which one do you recommend?
The only reason I know about silverskin (never called it that though) is through my rancher father in law and my hunter husband. They really know how to butcher meat and I think they just call it skin and talk about peeling it off. Our venison tenderloin look every bit as pristine as your pork! It surely is satisfying to know how to cut and prepare your own food – down to cooking beets and then slipping the skin off. My first time cooking them as an 18 year old bride consisted of peeling them first with a dull paring knife! Wow – the things I didn’t know until meeting someone who’s family raised their own food in the mountains on a cattle ranch. That’s the good life!
Thank you for the tip.I didn’t know about this.