Picanha: The steak your butcher knows but your grill doesn't
A beautifully marbled cut from Brazil is gaining ground in Canada—here's how to order it and cook it right.
The picanha (pee-KAHN-yah) is a cut that sits at the top of a cow's rump, and it's finally getting attention from Edmonton grillmasters willing to step beyond the sirloin.
Also called a culotte steak or top sirloin cap, the picanha is a staple in Brazil and increasingly available through local butchers—though you won't find it in supermarkets. "It's a beautifully marbled, beautifully tender piece of meat," says David Van Leewen, third-generation owner of Ben's Meats, where his grandfather opened the shop in the 1950s. Van Leewen studied meat cutting at NAIT and has been cutting meat for decades.
The key when ordering: ask for it with the fat cap still attached. That layer of fat bastes the meat as it cooks, adding flavor. Request it cut to about an inch and a quarter thick with a half-inch fat cap running along the top of each steak. At $45 a kilo, it's competitive with ribeye and has no gristle.
Cooking it Brazilian-style involves a charcoal grill, room-temperature meat, and folding the steaks into crescents with the fat cap on the outside of the fold, then skewering them crosswise over the grill until they hit medium-rare (130 F to 135 F on a meat thermometer).
But Van Leewen's home method is simpler: fire up the grill hot, sear both sides for about one and a half to two minutes, then move the steak to the top warming rack—like finishing it in the oven. Let it sit there about five minutes a side until medium-rare, then pull it off and rest it a few minutes before serving. "It's my favourite," Van Leewen says.
Serve with chimichurri if you want to keep the South American vibe alive. The steak does the real work.