#GrillMaster Series: How To Grill Picanha To Perfection (With Video) (2024)

FAQs

How to grill the perfect picanha? ›

For the perfect medium-rare Picanha, grill for 9–12 minutes for a 1-inch steak and 12–14 minutes for a 1½ inch steak, turning about 1 minute before the halfway point. A meat thermometer should read 130°F.

Whole roast oven method

First, preheat the oven to 180°C / 355°F and put a cast iron pan on high heat. Score the fat cap slightly and rub it in with coarse salt. Sear the picanha, fat side down, without any added oil. As it cooks, beef fat will continue to be released into the pan.

Use some Cowboy Hardwood Lump Charcoal to light the fire in your charcoal grill and let it burn for 10-15 minutes. Once charcoal is white hot, push into one flat pile for direct grilling. Next, place the picanha flesh side down for 2 minutes, flip & sear the fat side for 2 minutes. Now, pull it off the grill.

Step 2: Roasting Picanha

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Add a ½ inch of water to the bottom of a roasting pan. Transfer the steak to the pan and then place the pan in the oven on the middle rack. Cook for 60-70 minutes for medium-rare until your thermometer reads 120-125℉.

This ideally starts the night before by dry brining them with kosher salt. To do this, apply your kosher salt to the outside of the steak - if you have never done this before, the rule of thumb is to use 1/2tsp of kosher salt per pound, then adjust up or down depending on your preferred taste.

The traditional method of cooking Picanha involves the use of a long metal skewer. Once the meat has been divided up into steaks of equal thickness, they are impaled through the fat cap on the skewer. They are then seasoned lightly with oil and sea salt.

Picanha steaks are insanely tender due to the outer fat cap. That said, when cooked correctly, they come out juicy and lean. The fat cap also creates a unique, butter-like mouthfeel. Ribeyes are very tender too, though much much marblier than Picanha.

Before cooking picanha on the grill, it's best to slice it into steaks to help picanha cook faster and more evenly. Do this by cutting the roast along the grain and with the fat cap facing up. Once cut into steaks, each piece of picanha should have a portion of the fat cap on it.

Do You Eat the Fat on Picanha? The fat cap on picanha adds tons of delicious flavor as the beef cooks. Enjoy it along with your steak for even more flavor. If you don't like too much fat, you're welcome to remove it before eating.

If you've had a bad experience with Picanha it's likely because the piece you had was not actually Picanha. The long side of picanha (when slicing with the grain) often includes a chewy cut called “coxão duro”. This is not actually picanha.

How to grill picanha on a grill? ›

Preheat your grill with charcoal or wood until it reaches medium-high heat. Place the picanha skewers on the grill, fat side down, and grill for about 10-15 minutes on each side, or until it reaches your desired level of doneness. Let the meat rest for a few minutes before slicing it thinly against the grain.

Picanha is best cooked over charcoal, so whatever kind of grill or smoker you have, start there. The cuts of meat are quite thick—2–3 inches each—and therefore can't be cooked over blazing heat, lest the outside overcook before the inside is done.

Remove top grate from grill, place chimney inside, and light the newspaper. But how long should you let the coals burn? Let the charcoal or briquettes burn until they're covered with white-gray ash (it takes about 5 to 10 minutes for the coals to get to high heat and 25 to 30 minutes to get to medium heat).

You can oven roast or grill a picanha, but by smoking, you accomplish two things: You keep the meat juicy and flavorful by using a low and slow cooking method.

We like to dry brine our picanha steaks by placing the seasoned meat on a drying rack in the refrigerator for 6-24 hours. This process removes moisture from the meat, resulting in juicier and more tender bites. It also helps achieve the perfect crust on the surface.