Picanha Steak

If you’ve ever wondered how to re-create a Brazilian-style steakhouse dinner at home, this is the recipe for you. Rodazio restaurants, which are similar to churrascarias, started popping up in the U.S. around the late '90s. Waiters roam the room slicing meat off hot skewers tableside. It’s a style of dining that started in Brazil, and later morphed into a more elegant experience. After trying it out for myself at the popular chain restaurant Fogo de Chao, I was curious to try preparing my own skewered grilled meat. Picanha steak is a classic skewered meat that may be served at one of these establishments. It's sold under names like sirloin cap, has simple seasoning, and is grilled on skewers. I found that all I needed was a hot grill, metal skewers, and kosher salt (or sea salt) to make this Rodazio-style quality steak.

How to Make Picanha Steak

INGREDIENTS

• Sirloin Cap: Picanha steak essentially comes from the rump, labeled as "rump cap" or "sirloin cap." If you're lucky, the picanha steaks will be pre-cut; otherwise, you can ask the butcher to cut the rump cap or take it home and do it yourself. If you prefer the latter, make sure to use a sharp knife and clean cutting board to slice your steaks into about 2" pieces. Always cut the steak against the grain. And do not remove the fat cap! Fat = flavor.
• Kosher Salt: I like leave my meat out at room temperature for upward of 20 to 30 minutes. Salting your steak and letting it rest helps develop flavor, a rule of thumb I adopted from Samin Nostrat.
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper: This isn’t always used, but I included it in case you wanted to add mild heat. I personally love cracked black pepper, especially when it’s coarsely ground.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Make sure your grill is hot and the grates are cleaned and lightly greased. Whether you’re using a grill pan over a gas flame or an outdoor grill, be careful with dripping oil. Curl the steak and push through the skewers. Do this parallel to the cutting board with the skewer point facing away from you.

Grill the steak until your desired doneness is reached. I prefer medium to medium-rare. Try only poking the steak once to read the temperature. If you have an infrared thermometer, that’s fine too.

Don't cut into it right off the grill. You should allow the meat to rest so the juices can re-distribute through the meat after it’s been removed from the grill, which will avoid risk of drying out.

Full list of ingredients and directions can be found in the recipe below.

Variations

• Cajun seasoning: Change up the simple flavors of picanha to something a little more complex. If you love the combination of paprika, dried garlic, and dried oregano, you can season your steak right before grilling.
• Garlic butter: Especially if you’re using a grill pan, allow the butter to melt over the steak off heat.

Recipe Tips

• One of the most important characteristics of the steak is the fat cap. Only trim the cap if sections of the steak have a really thick cap compared to other thinner areas. I purchased a steak from the butcher and only trimmed the part that had a dense layer of fat, not suitable for eating.
• It’s important to pay attention to the hot spots on your grill. Make sure the meat goes down on the hottest grates first. Just as the steak begins to release from the grates or has solid grill marks, turn over and move to a spot that’s a little less hot than the original. Cook your steak between medium-rare (130°) and medium (140°).
• If you really want to get fancy here, you can spit-roast your meat over an open flame
• To carve the steaks, you can do a couple things: Either take them off the skewers and slice them as you typically would with a chef's knife, or shred the meat off the skewer. The latter is usually done in the churascerias.

Storage

I recommend eating the steak right away. If you have leftovers or want to meal prep, make sure the meat has rested to room temperature. You can store in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 days. Slowly reheat the meat wrapped in tin foil at 350°.