Dry-Brined Reverse-Seared Picanha with Bacon Butter Farofa
Steakhouse-style picanha: dry-brined, slow-cooked over a two-zone fire, then seared until the fat crackles, with garlic butter and crisp bacon farofa.
Method
Pat the picanha dry and score the fat in a 1 cm crosshatch, cutting only halfway through the fat so you do not reach the meat. Keep it in one piece. Rub the coarse salt evenly over the fat and the meat, then set it uncovered on a rack or plate in the cooler (or fridge) for at least , ideally overnight. The salt works its way inside and the surface dries, so it later crisps like crackling.
Add in this stepPicanha in one piece, with about 1 cm of fat cap 500 gCoarse sea salt (about 1% of the meat weight) 5 g
Light 2 kg of charcoal and wait ; when the coals are ashed over, push them all to one side of the grill so you have a hot zone and a zone with no coals. The hot zone is your charcoal (medium heat). If your grill has a lid, set the vents half open.
charcoal (medium heat)Put the picanha fat side up on the side with no coals, close the lid (or tent it with foil if you have no lid) and cook gently for , until a probe thermometer in the thickest part reads 45 °C. This way the centre turns evenly pink without the outside burning.
While the meat cooks, set a 24 cm cast-iron pan over charcoal (medium heat) on the hot side, melt some of the butter and fry the bacon until crisp. Add the onion and half the garlic, finely chopped, and cook until translucent, then add the cassava flour and keep stirring. After in total, when the flour is pale sand-coloured and smells toasty, take it off the heat and stir in the parsley. The flour can scorch in seconds, so never stop stirring.
Add in this stepButter 24 gBacon, cut into 1 cm strips 50 gOnion, finely chopped ½Garlic cloves 1½Cassava flour (farinha de mandioca) 80 gFlat-leaf parsley, chopped 2 tbsp
charcoal (medium heat)Put the rest of the butter and the remaining garlic, finely chopped, in a small metal cup at the edge of the grill to melt into garlic butter. Pull it away before the garlic turns brown.
Add in this stepButter 16 gGarlic cloves 1½
Once the picanha reaches 45 °C, move it to the hot side fat side down and cook over charcoal (medium heat) for . If melting fat makes the flames jump, slide it briefly to the cool side and back. When the fat is golden and crisp, turn the meat sides to the coals in turn for another to build a dark crust, brushing with garlic butter in the last minute. Take it off at 52 °C in the centre; it will rise to 54 °C (medium-rare) as it rests.
charcoal (medium heat)Let it rest on a board for , then grind over the black pepper. Slice it against the grain 0.5 cm thick so every slice keeps a strip of crisp fat. Serve with the bacon butter farofa.
Add in this stepCoarsely ground black pepper ½ tsp
Cook's tip
The grain shifts direction near the narrow end of a picanha, so check it before slicing and turn your knife as needed. The thermometer is the most important tool here: for medium, aim for 50 °C in the indirect stage and 58 °C after resting. Farofa stays crisp for a day or two in a sealed jar.
Cooking it at camp
Any camp grill works as long as you can build a two-zone fire. Dry-brine overnight in the cooler on a rack set over a sealed box so meltwater never touches the meat. You can also make the farofa at home. Without charcoal, cut thick steaks, cook them covered in a cast-iron pan over low heat to 45 °C, then sear over high heat for the same effect.