For The Most Flavorful Beef At Brazilian Steakhouses, Always Order This Cut

As an American dining at a Brazilian steakhouse, you are going to see a lot of beef cuts you've never heard of before. It isn't just that the same steaks you know have different names in Brazil; the distinctive churrasco style of cooking also carves up the cow into unique cuts of beef that may be entirely different from the ones you're familiar with. Some options you shouldn't pass up include the fraldinha, a cut similar to (but not the same as) flank or hanger steak, and the alcatra, a large chunk of fat-capped beef from the top sirloin. But while both of those cuts will be tasty, the undisputed champion of Brazilian steakhouses is the picanha.

Picanha doesn't really have an easy beef analog in the realm of American steaks. The most common version of the cut that you might run into outside of a South American context is the coulotte steak in France. Picanha is a large hunk of beef which comes from an area above the cow's rump, straddling both the sirloin and round primal cuts. Outside of Brazil it's also known as the rump cap or sirloin cap, but it isn't common to find in grocery stores because butchers normally break the large roast down into more familiar sirloin steaks and round cuts. But on almost any Brazilian steakhouse menu picanha will be listed as a signature steak, and it is often called Brazil's favorite cut of beef.

What makes picanha special? The number one thing is its large cap of fat, which is often removed in other countries. Left on in Brazil, the fat renders and bastes the beef below it as it cooks over the fire, adding an incredibly rich flavor. Picanha also comes from an area of the cow above the most worked muscles, which means it is quite tender, too. Finally, unlike other sirloin and round cuts that are often lean, picanha also has decent fat marbling throughout the meat, helping to flavor it even more and keep it juicy. Essentially it has everything people love about tender sirloin steaks, but with even more flavor thanks to a better distribution of fat.

Picanha is also cooked in a unique way that maximizes its inherent advantages. The beef is skewered into a horseshoe shape, with the fat cap forming a "U" over the top of the beef, maximizing the coverage of that melting fat. Like other Brazilian churrasco cuts, it's also carved at the table for you instead of being served as one big hunk. The already-tender picanha is then shaved thin against the grain, giving it even more of a melt-in-your-mouth texture when you eat it. And like other famously flavorful cuts like ribeye, it is prepared only with coarse salt, because the delicious cut doesn't need anything else. You'll certainly be overwhelmed with many great choices worth trying at a Brazilian steakhouse, but picanha is a classic for a reason.