Picanha Steak

30m

Serves 4

4.9 (256 reviews)

About this Recipe

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.

Ingredients

(1) Sirloin Cap
(30g) Kosher Salt
(3) Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Instructions

Grill

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.

Process

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.

Finally

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.

Perfect Wine Pairings

Château Margaux 2015

A masterpiece from one of Bordeaux's most prestigious estates, the 2015 Château Margaux showcases exceptional depth and complexity. This vintage of...

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Chef's 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.