Why Picanha Is a Beef Cut You Must Try
This week’s guest article is written by Melissa Reome, who is affectionately known in the BBQ and grilling world as Grill Momma. When Melissa first started her Instagram account years ago, she never imagined that it would become anything more than just personal documentation of her cooks at the grill. With not a lot of women in the grilling scene, her account grew faster than she could ever imagine. Having a full-time job as a pharmacist and being a mother, she definitely has a lot on her plate. Five years later, she runs the Grill Momma website and accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest under the Grill Momma name. If you would like to write a guest article for The Smoke Sheet, please get in touch.
Picanha. I have been trying to get my hands on this fabulous cut of beef locally for ages. I have only had it previously in Brazilian churrasco restaurants where waiters parade around with about 10 different cuts of meat on spit rods and slice it for you right in front of your eyes. When cooked rare or medium-rare, this prized Brazilian cut has a smooth mouthfeel and a beefy, robust taste. The extra flavor the fat cap provides is heavenly. It was love at first bite.
I have to admit, I’ve been jealous of my friends who have been able to easily locally source it in other states. One day I called my local butcher who said yes, indeed they had it. You can imagine my dismay when he sold me tri-tip instead. Now, I love tri-tip, but picanha and tri-tip are not the same things. Allow me to explain.
Picanha is a lesser-known cut in the United States but is very popular in South American countries such as Argentina and Brazil. (Photo by Melissa Reome)
What Exactly Is Picanha?
Picanha comes from the rump cap muscle. It is a triangular cut located from the top of the rump region of the cow. Picanha is also known as culotte/coulotte, rump cap, top sirloin cap, rump cover, top butt cap, and of course the proper name of the M. biceps femoris muscle. Butchers in the United States often process it into other cuts such as the round, the rump or loin, and also remove the fat cap when doing so. If you have a good whole animal butcher in your area, they are your best bet for finding some locally.
How Do You Cook Picanha?
There are a few methods on how you can cook your picanha.
Cut it into individual steaks, season with kosher salt and grill over direct heat.
Cut it into steaks, season, then put them in a “C” or horseshoe shape on a rotisserie over charcoal or gas, set to high heat.
Cook the picanha whole (by reverse sear method) after seasoning then sear on a grill or skillet to finish and slice to serve. I prefer to cook at 250-275F until 115F internal temperature, then sear for approximately 90 seconds per side to achieve a nice medium-rare at the end.
Cook the picanha fat side down on a grill to sear the fat first after seasoning, cut it into individual steaks, then put the steaks back on the grill to finish up. This method allows you to get a better rendering of the fat as opposed to method number 1.
If you don’t have a grill, season and place picanha in a 250F-275F preheated oven on an elevated rack on a baking sheet and cook until the internal temperature registers 115F. Remove from the oven. Heat up a cast iron or stainless skillet until nice and hot then carefully sear both sides of the picanha until internal temperature reaches 130F or your desired temperature.
Picanha may be cut into individual steaks and grilled or cooked whole. (Photo by Melissa Reome)
Prepping Picanha
Keeping it more traditional and with my personal preference, I decided to just use kosher salt on my picanha. I had some time on my hands so I wanted to do an experiment. I decided to dry-brine the picanha in the refrigerator for about 24 hours prior to cooking it. Is this a necessary step? Absolutely not. Does it give you extra flavorful meat? Yes. If leaving the picanha whole to cook it, dry-brining even overnight would yield great results.
Dry brining ahead of time adds flavor, helps retain moisture, and allows the meat to brown more easily. (Photo by Melissa Reome)
Dry Brining Picanha
When we salt the meat ahead of time, you will at first notice liquid being pulled out of the meat and the surface will be wet. Over time, that solution will be reabsorbed back into the meat taking salt with it. That’s the beauty of diffusion right there! That salt will work on the muscle fibers of the meat and the interior will be seasoned along with an increase in moisture as well.
In addition to the boost in flavor, this process also allows for accelerated browning of the meat (called the Maillard reaction) when grilling because the surface of the meat is dryer after dry-brining. This is the same reason I will pat a steak dry prior to grilling it if it is still wet from the packaging. A drier surface equals better browning.
If you are pressed for time, there is no need to spend a day waiting for your meat to dry-brine. Some kosher salt is all you need to cook this delicious cut. However, if you do dry-brine the picanha, place the meat on a rack elevated over a rimmed baking sheet. Salt the meat as if you are going to cook it with that amount of salt on it. The biggest problem with dry-brining is that people excessively salt the meat then wonder why the final product is also excessively salty. You should be more liberal with the salt on the fat cap and far less generous with the salt on the exposed meat side. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator uncovered overnight or for up to 24 hours.
Cutting the picanha into wide pieces will help keep the inside from cooking too quickly and will give the fat more time to render. (Photo by Melissa Reome)
Let’s Get Grilling!
When slicing the picanha for the rotisserie, cut the pieces into wider slices so that the inside won’t cook as fast and it will give the fat more time to render. You may also consider cooking on the rotisserie with the grill lid up until you get the color you desire on the fat, closing the lid if need be until your meat comes up to temperature. My preference is to pull the meat at about 125F since I prefer my meat in the rare/medium-rare range. There will be some carryover in temperature after cooking directly so I would rather pull it sooner as opposed to letting it cook too much and risk being tough.
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Picanha is an easy-to-cook cut of meat that is loved by many and if you’ve never had it, you have to give it a try. I personally love eating some of the fat cap with the meat, but if you don’t, that’s perfectly fine. It’s your meat and you eat it the way you like. However, if you are someone who likes their steak more well done, you might want to skip this cut as it will be tough and you’ll lose all those qualities I love about picanha.
My favorite way to serve picanha is with some chimichurri on the side with some sweet plantains. Try this chimichurri on other cuts of beef such as flank and skirt steak. It is also great on poultry. Enjoy everyone!
Melissa Reome
Grill Momma
Thank you to this week's sponsor B&B Charcoal. Click here to learn more!
—The American Royal World Series of Barbecue in Kansas City is the largest competition barbecue event each year, but the 2020 edition has been canceled due to COVID-19.—
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ADDITIONAL READS
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—Many of the largest barbecue events of 2020 have been canceled or postponed.—
In light of the constantly changing coronavirus crisis, we are leaving our events section blank for some time. Many events in 2020 have been canceled or postponed thus far. We’ll be updating our events section on our website with the most up-to-date information as we have it.
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