Picanha

Cut of beef from the top rump

Picanha is a cut of beef first made popular in Brazil, and later adopted in Portugal. It consists of the final part of the biceps femoris muscle, at the bottom of the animal, and its fat cap. In recent years the cut has become popular in most of Latin America and has become popular for barbecue.

In Brazil, the most prized cut of meat tends to be the picanha. There the traditional preparation is to skewer the meat and cook it over a charcoal grill, with a minimal seasoning consisting of coarse sea salt. The fat is retained until the steak has been cooked.

Although already known in Portugal as a part of alcatra, the cut and its association with barbecue in Portugal was popularized by Brazilian immigrants and Brazilian restaurants starting in the end of the 20th century, taking advantage of the United Kingdom BSE outbreak of the 1990s. Picanha is served in restaurants and is widely available in supermarkets and butchers, both fresh and packaged under vacuum. Most of it is usually produced within the European Union (Republic of Ireland and Poland) and also imported from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in South America.

In the United States, the cut is generally divided into other cuts like the rump, the round, and the loin. Unlike in Brazil, the fat cap is generally trimmed off.

The term picanha is of unknown origin. It could be derived from the word picana, which was a pole used by ranchers in the southern parts of Portugal and Spain, particularly in Alentejo, for herding cattle. In Brazil, the word was imported by the gaúcho cowboys of the South region and incorporated into the day to day of the countryside. It was common to hear them say among colleagues picanha o bicho! ("prick the animal!"). The location where the animals were pricked is the point where the picanha cut is located, so the name stuck.

Picanha can be prepared on the grill, in the oven, on the hob, in a frying pan, or sous vide with a variety of spices and accompaniments.