Picanha is acut ofbeef first made popular inBrazil, and later adopted inPortugal. It consists of the final part of thebiceps femoris muscle, at the bottom of the animal, and its fat cap.[1] In recent years the cut has become popular in most of theAmericas and has gained a reputation as a tasty meat in thebarbecue culture.[2]
The cut was created inBixiga neighborhood,São Paulo, in the 1950s, but not for barbecue. The first restaurant to roast picanha in a barbecue was the restaurant Dinho's in 1973. In Brazil, the most prized cut of meat tends to be thepicanha. There the traditional preparation is to skewer the meat and cook it over a charcoal grill, with a minimal seasoning consisting of coarsesea salt.[3] The fat is retained until the steak has been cooked.
Although already known in Portugal as a part ofalcatra,[4][5] the cut and its association with barbecue in Portugal was popularized byBrazilian immigrants and Brazilian restaurants starting in the end of the 20th century, taking advantage of theUnited Kingdom BSE outbreak of the 1990s.[6][7] Picanha is served in restaurants[8] and is widely available in supermarkets and butchers, both fresh and packaged undervacuum.[9] Most of it is usually produced within the European Union (Republic of Ireland andPoland)[10] and also imported fromArgentina,Brazil,Paraguay andUruguay in South America.[11][12][13]
In the United States until recently the cut was little known and often namedtop sirloin cap,rump cover,rump cap, orculotte (French). American butchers generally divide this cut into other cuts like therump, theround, and theloin.[14] Unlike in Brazil, the traditionally-retained fat tends to be removed before preparation, unless requested otherwise by the customer.[15]
The termpicanha is of unknown origin. It could be derived from the wordpicana, which was a pole used by ranchers in the southern parts of Portugal and Spain, particularly inAlentejo, for herding cattle.[16]
^Porto Editora – alcatra no Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa [em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora. [consult. 2024-01-01 21:42:14]. Disponível em[1]
^"Cortes".Bife Lovers - Animais, raças, cortes, bifes, Carne britânica de qualidade (in European Portuguese).Archived from the original on 2024-01-01. Retrieved2024-01-01.
^Winstanley, Chris (15 August 2013)."Picanha The taste of Brazil".Portugal Resident.Archived from the original on 1 January 2024. Retrieved1 January 2024.
