How to barbecue picanha at home

The most important part of preparing Picanha is buying the right meat.

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!

Jack's Creek, Australia