Godzilla vs. Megalon - Picanha vs. Tri-tip

[Ahumadora]

It's write up like this that make the membership fee insigificant. Find the best under rated cuts, saving you $ Thanks Troutman.

[Spinaker]

True Dat!

[Troutman]

No thanks to the South American cooks for introducing picanha to the States.

[klflowers]

Another winner. When I move to Texas I am buying next door to you.

[Troutman]

Come on, lots of houses in this area !!!

[Larry Grover]

You called it right. Always long lines at the Brazilian grill at the LA Farmers Market - the specialty being Picanha on a big stick.

Last time I was there my buddy knew the owner who sat down and ate lunch with us. I told him the meat was incredible, and asked what do you use to season it? He said "Salt, nothing else". Says he tells people that all the time but nobody believes him.

[Potkettleblack]

It's high quality beef, nice salt, and good wood. That's what makes it perfect.

[Troutman]

Being a Texan I added black pepper and garlic powder right before the sear, but yea traditional Brazilian style is rock salt only.

[Bkhuna]

Picanha is the single best reason to have a charcoal rotisserie.

[Potkettleblack]

Sure, among sirloin cuts.

King Ghidora lives at the other end of the cow... Flat Irons, Denvers, teres majors... The Chuck is truly the king of the butcher cut steaks.

Destoroyah lives on the bottom of the cow... skirts, hangers and flanks.

Having now perfected the SV Skirt (the carving was my issue), it's now maybe my favorite, when I can get the inside skirts.

Oh wait... I don't want the price of these to go to where the sirloin roasts have gone...

Yes... the sirloin cuts are the best... all hail Go-jira...

[Potkettleblack]

Joe: don’t I know it. Short ribs used to be cheap before you could buy a Sous Vide stick at Target. Flanks were cheap until fajitas became a thing. I’m done telling folks about weird tasty bits. Every time I find a thing, it gets pricier.

[Bkhuna]

My grocery store can't give flap meat away. My hispanic carenceria can't keep them in stock.

[rodkeary]

Any chance of getting some insight on your perfected SV skirt? I'm usually all good with doing my own experiments but skirt is almost impossible to find in my neck of the woods. This is one time I can't afford to "learn from experience". Thanks,

[JoeSousa]

That is a battle I would love to witness every day on my grill and on my plate. Those look awesome Troutman . I think I have one of each in my freezer and might need to do a test to verify your results. In the name of science of course.

[fzxdoc]

As soon as I saw you started this topic, Troutman , I knew it would be a good one. Great writeup with lots of solid info that allows us to eat your dust, er, follow in your footsteps.

Thanks so much. I'd love to eat that exact same meal one of these days.

Kathryn

[marvinpotter]

Thanks for the write up! I'll have to try it now. I've seen it around but never researched it. I love a great tri tip so I'm interested to give it a shot!

[Bkhuna]

According to Texas Monthly Magazine, the IMPS number for picanha is 184D.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/churrasco-grilling-the-brazilian-way/

See also page 16 of the Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications, Fresh Beef Series 100

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/IMPS_100_Fresh_Beef%5B1%5D.pdf

[CaptainMike]

I like the "Tri tip is the picanha's poor cousin" quote.

[wrgilb]

@Troutman Great write up and pictures. It wasn't that long ago that Costco used to sell whole prime top sirloins. They were under $7/lb., I'd get them and separate the cap and cook it like TT. Now Costco separates the cap and sells it as steaks with no fat cover. Bought some the other night and cubed it up for strogie, it was very tender and flavorful. It was $9.99/lb.

Although more expensive, I like the prime ribeye cap also, Costco sells them as pinwheels, but I unrolled them and cook hot and fast with a cocoa/coffee rub. Another good cut are hanger steaks or hanging tender as they are called at some places. They aren't as easy to find and take a little more prep work to get rid of the bad stuff, but will melt in your mouth.

[Troutman]

Hangers are often called the "butcher's cull" because the butcher used to carve that out for himself. They are very hard to come by. And like you and Potkettleblack point out, as cheaper cuts get more popular, the price goes up and the supply tightens. Laws of supply and demand take hold.

[Potkettleblack]

Yeah, I'm waiting for strip loin to go completely out of fashion. ;-)

[Murdy]

Great Post!

If you bought a top butt, I'm guessing you could cut your own Picanha out of that?

[sos2979]

Well I take this as a sign. Never tried the Picanha so I looked it up at Raider Red Meats on campus here and they have it on sale for $3.99/lb. I think I need to make a stop on my way home.

[JakeT]

Troutman, nice write up. Motivated me to find somewhere local that has Picanha and lone behold I found some USDA Prime Picanha! Going to give it a reverse sear on the KBQ this weekend. It'll be a great return from hibernation!

[synodog]

First picanha I ever had was in Brazil in ‘93. Still haven’t tried to grill one yet, but after this write up I’ve got to do this soon...

[JCBBQ]

Great write up! I'm a big fan of Picanha too. I "discovered" it from posts here on the Pit too.

[ClayJones]

Thanks Troutman! I've actually been researching Tri-tip for a few days now trying to figure out where to start. I'm going to take this as a sign And those picanha (peek-ah-nah?) slices look phenomenal!

Question though, for any of y'all... Can anyone recommend a good write-up on santa maria style cooks, the process and how it works, etc? I'm a VA man and have zero clue, but 40 million Californians can't be wrong...

I was hoping there'd be one on this site that dives deep and maybe dips into the science a little like they do in the write-up for smoking. I saw a fixed raised grate attachment for Webber Kettles the other day that claimed to allow for santa maria style cooking and I was not convinced, so that's what piqued my interest.

[Bkhuna]

well, 39 million are wrong, but the rest are pretty decent folks.