OK, you would think this is a no brainer, especially for someone who has read and reread and re-re-read AR.com articles along with spending countless hours watching YouTube videos and reading articles on grilling! However, I think I am a product of TMI (too much information for those who do not have teenagers or are simply acronym adverse).
I have made picanha in the past and it was almost a religious experience- the taste, texture, juiciness, presentation, etc. were fantastic. I don't cook it often (trying to make the family think it's really special), but I decided it was time again.
So, I went to the butcher store and he cut me a 4.3 lb picanha with a thick fat cap. Previously, the picanha's I got were from Whole Foods and <3 lbs. I salted it for ~5 hours (not my typical overnight salt job, but 5 hours should have been enough), cooked it up like I usually do- at 250° until ~115°, took it off to rest a bit (rest it? blasphemy), cut it into ~1.5" steaks, peppered them, and seared on ~750° grill grates on my gasser. Here it is before I sliced into steaks and seared...
Color looked great, they were very juicy, but... they were much tougher than normal.
<insert picture here that i forgot to take after they were seared!)
Because (I thought, at least) I did the exact same thing I have done before, I declared that the toughness must have been due to the difference in the starting meat (a grillers safe fall back for anytime the cook does not turn out right!). However, deep down, I couldn't accept that it was all due to the meat. Yes, I had previously bought grass fed picanha ('cause that's how we roll here in Boulder County, Colorado) and this time I went the "My Butcher, Frank" (it's actually "Your Butcher, Frank" but who's keeping track?), but could the meat have been that much different?
After re-reading (for the nth time) my previous picanha cook logs, I noticed I had written down that I cut the steaks along the grain the previous times and across the grain this time (wow, making detailed notes has actually paid off!). Being the studious griller, I went to the expert, the web, and re-read articles and watched videos on how to cut steaks from picanha. I discovered that people swear you cut along the grain, while others are positive you cut against the grain. How could something this simple be this contentious. It's not like- resting your meat vs no resting, reverse sear vs up front sear, wrap vs no wrap, etc, etc. etc.; where you can typically do either and still have a great final product.
After reading and watching multiple videos, here's my hypothesis on whether to cut along or across the grain when cutting your steaks- it depends. I know, very insightful.
Let me explain. It all depends on how your final steak is going to be cut into smaller pieces for eating. You alwasy want this final cut to be across the grain.
For example, if I was going to "gaucho" serve my picanha on a skewer and cut off thin slices down the skewer...
You would want to cut the steaks across the grain so when you slice them off the skewer, you would again be slicing across the grain to serve onto the plate to ensure every piece has part of that delicious fat cap.
However, if you serve them as steaks and be able to taste the fat cap in every bite, you would cut the steaks along the grain and then serve.
Does this make any sense, or is it 5 o'clock somewhere so I can start my weekend a bit early!
Sincerely,
"Head spinning" picanha neophyte
I have made picanha in the past and it was almost a religious experience- the taste, texture, juiciness, presentation, etc. were fantastic. I don't cook it often (trying to make the family think it's really special), but I decided it was time again.
So, I went to the butcher store and he cut me a 4.3 lb picanha with a thick fat cap. Previously, the picanha's I got were from Whole Foods and <3 lbs. I salted it for ~5 hours (not my typical overnight salt job, but 5 hours should have been enough), cooked it up like I usually do- at 250° until ~115°, took it off to rest a bit (rest it? blasphemy), cut it into ~1.5" steaks, peppered them, and seared on ~750° grill grates on my gasser. Here it is before I sliced into steaks and seared...
Color looked great, they were very juicy, but... they were much tougher than normal.
<insert picture here that i forgot to take after they were seared!)
Because (I thought, at least) I did the exact same thing I have done before, I declared that the toughness must have been due to the difference in the starting meat (a grillers safe fall back for anytime the cook does not turn out right!). However, deep down, I couldn't accept that it was all due to the meat. Yes, I had previously bought grass fed picanha ('cause that's how we roll here in Boulder County, Colorado) and this time I went the "My Butcher, Frank" (it's actually "Your Butcher, Frank" but who's keeping track?), but could the meat have been that much different?
After re-reading (for the nth time) my previous picanha cook logs, I noticed I had written down that I cut the steaks along the grain the previous times and across the grain this time (wow, making detailed notes has actually paid off!). Being the studious griller, I went to the expert, the web, and re-read articles and watched videos on how to cut steaks from picanha. I discovered that people swear you cut along the grain, while others are positive you cut against the grain. How could something this simple be this contentious. It's not like- resting your meat vs no resting, reverse sear vs up front sear, wrap vs no wrap, etc, etc. etc.; where you can typically do either and still have a great final product.
After reading and watching multiple videos, here's my hypothesis on whether to cut along or across the grain when cutting your steaks- it depends. I know, very insightful.
Let me explain. It all depends on how your final steak is going to be cut into smaller pieces for eating. You alwasy want this final cut to be across the grain.
For example, if I was going to "gaucho" serve my picanha on a skewer and cut off thin slices down the skewer...
You would want to cut the steaks across the grain so when you slice them off the skewer, you would again be slicing across the grain to serve onto the plate to ensure every piece has part of that delicious fat cap.
However, if you serve them as steaks and be able to taste the fat cap in every bite, you would cut the steaks along the grain and then serve.
Does this make any sense, or is it 5 o'clock somewhere so I can start my weekend a bit early!
Sincerely,
"Head spinning" picanha neophyte
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