Adventures in BBQ

Picanha (Sirloin cap)

Today we are going to be trying a somewhat different cut of meat than what is normally done smoked on a bbq. This is going to be picanha, or sirloin cap, which you normally find served in Brazilian grills and steakhouses. There it is usually pushed onto a large metal skewer in a “C”-shape and roasted directly over a fire. This lets the thick fat cap render and keep the meat lubricated. This will not work over the lower temperatures used in low and slow bbq cooking. Read on to find out what we did differently to make this cut of beef turn out great.

Picanha (sirloin cap) on the cooker

I should state first up that this idea came from Jess Pryles, the Australian-born but Austin-based pitmaster and so I can claim little credit. Check out the original recipe here.

• Setup: Weber Kettle with Smokenator and setup for indirect 2-zone cooking. Large water pan on the indirect side to add moisture and keep temperatures even. Added a small water pan on cold water over the coals later to bring temps down.
• Meat: USDA Choice Sirloin Cap from Vons.
  

  Packaged sirloin cap

  I had to get this cut to order as I don’t think many people ask for the whole piece. This only took about 10 minutes while we did some other bits of shopping. This one weighed about 3.5 lb before trimming and there was about 14.5 ounces of trimmed off fat once I was done.

• Fuel: Regular Kinsgford briquettes with a large red oak and hickory chunk (one of each).
• Cooking temperature: Two zone cooking with 250F in the indirect part away form the coals.

Preparation:

1. There was a small patch of silverskin (shown above) on the underside which was easily removed.
2. On the top side, you can see the large fat cap. This is quite hard fat and won’t render at the low temperatures. It also sits above a tough silverskin which will also toughen up during the cooking. So all of this needs to come off.
   

   Sirloin cap topside after trimming off fat cap and silverskin

   

   Trimmings

3. After trimming, I put the sirloin cap into a Weber foil pan and sprinkled all over with kosher salt. It then went into the fridge (uncovered) for a few hours to allow the salt to penetrate.
4.  While the briquettes were getting going in the chimney, I made up a batch of Meathead’s Big Bad Beef rub. Note to self: this takes longer than you think when having to hunt down escaped spice jars; remember to check on your coals and transfer them to the Smokenator.
   

   Ingredients for the Big Bad Beef rub (although this had Sriacha substituted for cayenne as I couldn’t find it at the time…)

   

   Completed rub

5. Shortly before going on the cooker, I wetted the beef with water and sprinkled the rub all over.

Cooking Diary

• 11:15am: Trimmed and prepped meat. Brined and left in the refrigerator.
• 1:40pm: Light bbq using 12 briquettes in a Weber chimney and two lighter cubes.
• 2:10pm: Made up rub. Transferred lit coals into Smokenator.
• 2:15pm: Applied rub.
• 2:35pm: Filled large water pan with hot water from kettle.
• 2:45pm: Put meat on
• 3:05pm: Spritzed meat (Time #1)
• 3:25pm: Spritzed meat (Time #2)
• 3:45pm: Spritzed meat (Time #3)
• 4:00pm: Spritzed meat (Time #4)
• 4:40pm: Removed meat, wrapped and placed in cooler.
• 5:40pm : Removed from cooler and sliced

Completed and sliced smoked picanha

Results for the Picanha

I had a lot of trouble with temps on this cook. It took a long time to get up to temperature, partly because it was using some amount of pre-burnt fuel but also because the lighter cubes had gone out before transferring the coals into the Smokenator. This was because the rub took a little longer to put together than normal as I was having to play hide and seek for the ingredients.  I added some more fresh briquettes and then had a problem with it running too hot, which I couldn’t bring down easily. In the end pouring a bit of water over the coals at one end and adding a small loaf pan of cold water over the coals helped regulate things.

The other issue was that this got done way quicker than I was expecting, leading to an earlier than expected dinner… It was supposed to take 2 to 3 hours to get done and reach 130F internal temperature, but maybe they cut their sirloin caps differently in Australia or Texas as mine reached that after about 1 hour. I left it on for about another hour until it reached about 150F and to give the bark a bit of a chance to firm up.

Verdict on the Picanha (Sirloin Cap): C

I’m glad I did give it the extra time as after the 45 minutes resting, it was still quite a medium pink inside. If I had pulled it off at 130F instead, I think it would have been very rare and possibly quite chewy. I sliced from the point of the triangle towards the wide part as this appeared to be cutting across the not easy to see grain.

The meat was good and juicy although the rub was a little too peppery for my taste. I am not sure whether this was because the Big Bad Beef Rub is too big and bad for short cooks where the rub doesn’t have time to fully render to the black meteorite-like look that you would get on a long brisket or beef rub cook. I may need to retry with the original suggested commercial rub, although I think this cheats slightly by using edible charcoal to increase the black look.