Rotisserie cooked picanha steak served with spicy herbal chimichurri and fresh crispy baguette.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Brazilian / Portugal
Prep Time 45 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Resting Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour55 minutesminutes
Servings 6
Calories 596kcal
Author Dean "Schuey" Schumann
Ingredients
Picanha
4.5lbsRump capor top sirloin
Course sea salt for seasoning (before cooking)
Salt Flakes for seasoning (after cooking)
Chimichurri
⅓cupolive oilextra virgin
4clovesgarlicchopped
2fresh bay leaveschopped
3green onions chopped
¾cupfresh parsleychopped
2tbspcilantrofinely chopped, use basil if you prefer
1tbspdried oregano
1tsppaprika
1tbspfresh red chilifinely chopped
1tspcoarse sea salt
½tspblack pepperfreshly ground
¼cupred wine vinegar
Baguette
1baguette thinly sliced into ½ inch diagonal pieces
Instructions
For the picanha
Set up you rotisserie and grill for high indirect heat of around 400°F. I’m using a 22” Weber Kettle with a rotisserie attachment. So I’ll start by lighting a chimney full of good quality lump charcoal and once it is fully lit, I’ll distribute that evenly between two charcoal baskets. I’ll then push them to either side of the charcoal grate. Then I’ll add a drip pan for any fat runoff between the two charcoal baskets.
Add a chunk of cherry wood on one of the baskets of lit charcoal. Any good smoke wood will work.
Trim any silver skin off the rump cap, then slicing with the grain, cut the rump cap into 1 ½ to 2 inch thick slices.
Carefully skewer them onto the rotisserie, folding each piece to look like a horse shoe.
Then apply a liberal amount of course sea salt and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
Place picanha into the grill and put the lid on, with all the vents wide open.
Once the internal temperature reaches 125°F, (use an instant read thermometer to check) take the meat off the heat, remove from the skewer and loosely tent under some aluminium foil and allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, the internal temperature should have risen to 130°F to 135°F. Now it’s time to slice across the grain in ¼ to ½ inch thick slices and layout on a serving platter or board.
Making the chimichurri
Place the garlic cloves, olive oil and bay leaves into a food processor and pulse until the garlic has become a finely minced throughout the oil.
Add the onions and pulse, but not to make the mixture a puree, just enough to chop all ingredients. You should still see pieces of onion in there.
Using a spatula, scrape out the mixture into a bowl and add the chopped fresh and dry herbs and spices and stir them to mix all thoroughly.
Now while whisking the mixture, slowly add the red wine vinegar and you’ll be left with a thick herbal vinaigrette that leaves a nice sharp sensory overload in the nostrils.
Put this aside to allow the flavours to fully combine.
To serve
Slice up a large baguette diagonally into ½ slices.
Lay picanha out on a serving plater.
Stir the chimichurri mix up and drizzle over the picanha slices.
Place one or two slices of picanha onto a piece of baguette, drizzle some extra chimichurri over the top and enjoy.