Whiskey smoked Picanha from the Big Green Egg
Bereidingswijze
Another great recipe from our friend @Blackgoldsmokehouse, who really works magic with our products. This time he prepared a USA Black Angus Picanha on his Big Green Egg. Picanha has become increasingly populair over here in the Netherlands and I can see why. A cut of meat that is very populair in hot and sunny Brazil is also trendy in our little country now too and I can recommend anyone that hasn't tried this bad boy yet: DO IT!
Picanha fat trimmings
There is a massive fat cap on top, now don’t get me wrong, I love fat but I want it to render down a bit. Using a sharp knife I score the fat in a diamond pattern.
Picanha seasoning
For seasoning I like to keep it simple. Salt & pepper. It’s how they do it in Brazil, so who am I to argue? Be generous with your seasoning as it’s a big piece of meat.
BBQ time!
While you let the meat come to room temperature, heat your BBQ to 150C and make sure you add a deflector plate so your meat isn’t directly above the coals.
I love soaking whiskey wood chips in water for about 20 mins. I use the wood chips from Big green Egg. But there are many different flavors and brands out there. By soaking the chips in water you ensure that the wood doesn’t burn up instantly, this means you get more smoke for a longer period of time.
Add the whiskey chips in a foil boat and place them on the coals. Then put your heat deflector and grill grate in place, ready for your stunning piece of Picanha.
Reverse seared picanha
What were going to do, is a “reverse sear”. Firstly were going to slowly cook the meat until about 50C internal temp. This will give the fat a chance to slowly render down and by cooking slowly we give the Picanha the chance to absorb more of that smokey whiskey flavor. And that’s precisely what we want!
The Picanha will need about an hour to achieve reach the 50C degrees internally, depending on the size of the meat of course. I use a probe thermometer with an app on my phone. So I can sit on my ass, watch my football team lose like usual and keep an eye on my meat at the same time.
Once the 50C is reached. Remove the Picanha and the heat deflector from your BBQ and get those flames nice and hot! Because the next step is to properly caramelize the outside of your stunning piece of Brazilian beef.
Color is flavor, doing this properly will turn your steak from a 7/10 to a 10/10 instantly. Let the flames lick the meat until the Picanha has reached an internal temperature of about 54C for a perfect medium rare.
Cover it gently in some foil, and let the meat rest. If you slice of open now, all the juice will run out and it will all have been for nothing. Be patient and you shall be rewarded.
With a great piece of meat like this, you don’t want or need to add to many other flavors. I personally love making a chimichurri sauce and a nice full bodied red wine.
ENJOY!
