Barbeque nights and those bites into the juiciest and finest cooked meats are pleasures in life that should be done more often. Barbequing is an excellent sport for anyone who likes to devour protein, cooking, and trying out new pieces of meat that can taste great when done on the grill. Such a piece can be the picanha cut that can embellish your next grilling adventure.
How to Perfectly BBQ a Brazilian Picanha Cut
The picanha cuts may not be the most used kind of beef cuts for grilling or another cooking activity in the US; it is known to be a fine piece that melts in your mouth after being perfectly cooked. However, if you’re looking to give this cut a try, make sure to tune it right from all sides and don’t ruin too many pieces with the following tips:
What is a Picanha Cut?
First, let’s get to know the beef cut better to get along with it while grilling. A picanha cut is a part of the upper rear of the cow. This prized piece is a novel with Brazilian restaurants and a popular item on the menus. This is because it is a Brazilian churrasco steak favorite and is a lump of well-known meat in Brazil and nearby nations. However, it may be challenging to find this cut in the US, as a part that is close to the primal cut. The good news is that the Brazilian adorned beef cut is relatively inexpensive to other slices, is tender for not being a muscle, and has a thick layer of fat, and juicy as a result. But be sure to understand grilling a picanha as it can get a little tricky.
Getting the Cut
The picanha is an appreciated Brazilian cut but can be hard to find in other parts of the world. It can go by different names in the US, including top sirloin cap, rump cover, rump cap, or culotte. The butcher may provide this piece as an addition to other cuts with it or reducing the amount, not knowing its actual height and weight to form the slice. The way to buy a picanha is to be wet-aged that is offered in vacuum packs imported from Brazil or other countries specializing in it. Make sure to get the right cut between 1.3 to 1.5kg and is tender throughout except at the wide end.
Score the Fat
Picanha can be a tricky meat to grill due to its fat part. As the fat part of any meat cooks differently and is complicated than the straightforward meat, special care should be taken. Fat shrinks and releases a lot of juice that can either accentuate or kill the barbequing. So ensure to score the fat by making several crisscross patterns with a sharp knife on the fat side of the picanha meat, so it doesn’t shrink too much and deform.
Seasoning the Picanha for BBQ
There is no one right way of seasoning any meat. It all depends on how your taste buds like to have the meat, whether unseasoned or steakhouse style. That said, there are a few traditions that you can follow for grilling your picanha in the most flavorful way. It is by sprinkling rock salt on both sides and directly grilling. This cuts a nice authentic flavor mixed with its own from the fat juices. However, if the original rock salt becomes challenging to find, you can grill it without any seasoning, or feel free to use other kinds of salts and bbq spices and rubs that suit your liking.
Grill Fat Side Up
The right way to grill picanha steaks is first by grilling the fat side up to release the juices on the steak and then lightly on the fat side down. Grill from a few minutes on each side to make it medium rare and finely tender or to your desired end. Skewer cuts can be grilled as it is.
