Jay Thomas Picanha is slowly becoming one of my favorite steaks to cook Sous Vide, so don’t be too surprised if there’s multiple posts covering the topic!
If you’re not familiar with what Picanha is, you’re not alone. Picanha is a cut of beef that comes from the rump cap muscle. Picanha steaks are really popular in Brazil, where they’re often bent in a horseshoe shape, skewered, and cooked over an open fire at the country’s churrascarias.
Finding them in the states is a bit difficult, but I’ve had success with ordering them through Wild Fork Foods.
I cooked two of them this time and I went with my normal, simple seasonings. I loaded them both up with Himalayan Sea Salt, sealed them up with my trusty vacuum packer and then let them sit in the refrigerator for about 36 hours.
I plucked them in to my 26 quart LIPAVI Sous Vide Container – Model C20 and fired up the Anova Culinary AN500-US00 Sous Vide Precision Cooker, set the temperature to 135 degrees and let them cook for about 5 hours. You’ll notice I increased the temperature this time. Thanks to some awesome feedback from a couple of Sous Vide Facebook Groups, it seems 135-136 degrees is the sweet spot for Picanha.
Once they were ready, I pulled them out, patted them off with a paper towel (it’s important that they are dry for the searing to really work!) and transported them to my torching station outside.
I got my Flame King YSNPQ-5000T Heavy Duty Propane Torch Weed Burner fired up and ready to go!
The Flame King YSNPQ-5000T Heavy Duty Propane Torch Weed Burner is my go to for searing any protein! I don’t have a time table that I use to sear meats, I tend to just keep an eye on them and go by how I think they look. I never go more than 90’ish seconds a side. As you can see, the results are pretty darn good.
You really don’t need to do this next part, but I tend to bring them back in the house and let them sit for a few minutes while I make sure everything else is ready to go for dinner.
The finished product is below and it was AMAZING! The 135 degree cook made such a difference. The fat rendered better and the taste was absolutely incredible. We barely had any leftovers!
