How to make the perfect picanha... that's Brazilian for rump steak

Carnivores, rejoice. Meat festival Meatopia is hitting the capital this weekend, but if you can't make it - here's how to get your cook your meat at home, Brazilian-style
Kate Lough18 September 2015

For those that don't know, the meat feast to end all meat feasts is coming to London this weekend (Sept 19-20). The brainchild of meat maestro Richard Turner - of butcher Turner & George and Hawksmoor, Meatopia involves scoffing lots of carnivorous dishes from the likes of Duck & Waffle and Kurobuta chefs, alongside dishes from contenders such as Patty & Bun and the Lockhart. All soundtracked by DJs and the sound of craft beer glasses clinking.

If you're interested in getting all meaty at home, here's a lesson in how to barbecue rump steak from the 'Pitmaster of Brazil', Andre De Luca, who will be jetting over from Sao Paulo for the event. Picanha (pronounced pee-con-ya) is considered the best cut of beef available in many South American countries and just needs a pinch of salt to coax out its flavour.

How to barbecue picanha at home

The most important part of preparing Picanha is buying the right meat: ask your butcher for the top sirloin cap. Top sirloin steaks differ from sirloin steaks as the bone and tenderloin have been removed.

What to do

1. Cover the meat and rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. If you’d like to serve it on a big skewer like they do in churrascaria restaurants, cut the picanha into three pieces against the grain. Picanha is a big piece of meat and should be cut again at home before grilling. If you don’t have the large skewer you can still grill picanha in thick steaks.

2. Season the meat with thick, coarse salt. Traditionally, Brazilian cuisine celebrates the flavours of the meat so not much seasoning is needed. However, if you fancy spicing it up a little bit, try the below steps to create Chilli & Lime Picanha skewers.

• Chop 5 jalapeno peppers, 1 onion and blend in a food processor along with 1 tsp. salt and 2 cloves of garlic. Blend together until a paste is formed and then place the mixture in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. This will be your serving sauce.

• Mix together 1 chopped onion and 4 cloves of garlic and whisk together with 2 tbsp of oregano, 120ml lime-juice, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbsp of salt and a little black pepper. This will be the marinade for the meat.

• Place your cuts of meat into a large dish and pour the marinade over ensuring all of the meat is coated. Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

3. Now you’re ready to Churrasco! (That’s South American for grilling). Remove the jalapeño concoction from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature in preparation for serving. Remove the meat chunks from the marinade and discard any excess before sliding onto skewers. Place the steak skewers onto the grill and cook for around 2-3 minutes on each side. Do not turn the meat over until the first side is nearly burnt, but the meat is still about 20-30 degrees from being 'done'.

4. Place the piping hot skewers onto a serving platter along with the spicy jalapeño sauce from earlier. Don’t worry about serving the picanha all at once, in traditional churrascaria restaurants, the meats are served a little at a time, as soon as they come off the grill, so serve and enjoy… ¡Salud!

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT