Brisket Style Picanha

Name: Brisket Style Picanha
Yield: 6
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 each Picanha roast; Bear &amp; Burton’s The W Sauce; Cattleman’s Grill Road House Steak &amp; Beef Rub; 1/2 cup beef stock; 1 tsp Bear &amp; Burton’s The W Sauce; 1 tsp Cattleman’s Grill Road House Steak &amp; Beef Rub; Kansas City Canning Dill Pickles; Meat Mitch White Whomp Sauce; Kansas Flavor Bread &amp; Butter Jalapeños; Firebug Mild Grillin’ Sauce

Jul 18, 2023 • Tom Jackson

Brisket Style Picanha is as good as it sounds! Chef Tom takes a flavorful South American cut of meat, seasons it up and smokes it like a brisket. He then adds slices back into juice and puts it together with sauce and a piece of bread. It's a fun technique for cooking Picanha you'll want to try!

WHAT YOU'LL LOVE

Brisket technique on a smaller, faster cut. All the bark-building, wrapping, and probe-tender doneness cues of a full brisket cook, but finished in about 6 hours instead of 12+.
Crosshatched fat cap for real seasoning penetration. Scoring through the fat before saucing and rubbing lets flavor reach the meat underneath, not just sit on the surface.
Wrapped in its own jus, not plain water. The foil wrap uses beef stock mixed with more sauce and rub, basting the meat in flavor as it braises to finish.
Sliced and served like a sandwich board. With pickles, bread-and-butter jalapeños, and two different sauces on the side, this is built for building your own sandwich at the table.

Brisket Style Picanha

Tom Jackson

Rated 3.9 stars by 60 users

Cuisine

American

Servings

6

Calories

436

Have you ever tried Brisket Style Picanha? If not, you're in for a treat! Chef Tom, a renowned expert in the culinary world, has perfected a technique that takes this delicious South American cut of meat to a whole new level. In this blog post, we will explore the mouthwatering flavors of Brisket Style Picanha and learn how to recreate this culinary masterpiece in your own kitchen.

Print Recipe

Directions

Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS480s Pellet Grill to 250ºF, set up for smoking.
Score the fat cap of the Picanha roast in a crosshatch pattern. Slather the Picanha with a thin layer of Bear & Burton’s The W Sauce. Season with Cattleman’s Grill Road House Steak & Beef Rub.
Smoke the Picanha on the second shelf of the grill until a solid bark is formed and the surface of meat is a dark mahogany color. The internal temperature will be around 165ºF-170ºF at this point, about 4 hours into the cook.
Remove the Picanha from the grill and place on top of two sheets of heavy duty foil. Mix the beef stock and a teaspoon each of Bear & Burton’s The W Sauce and Cattleman’s Grill Road House Steak & Beef Rub. Mix well. Turn up the edges of the foil and pour the liquid over the picanha. Wrap tight in the foil. Return the roast to the grill.
Continue cooking until an instant read thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the Picanha roast offers little resistance (probe tender) and the internal temperature is around 205ºF, about 2 hours more (total cook time around 6 hours).
Remove the Picanha from the grill. Re-wrap the roast and let rest for 30-60 minutes before slicing to serve.
When slicing, make sure to slice across the grain of the meat. Serve with your favorite bbq sauces, pickles and bread.

Recipe Note

Recipe FAQ

Why treat picanha like a brisket instead of grilling it as a steak?
Smoking it low and slow to a probe-tender 205ºF breaks down the connective tissue the same way a full brisket cook does, turning a naturally fibrous cut into something that slices cleanly and eats tender.

Why score the fat cap before seasoning?
Cutting a crosshatch pattern through the fat lets the sauce and rub reach the meat underneath instead of just coating the fat's surface.

What's the wrap liquid for?
Mixing beef stock with more Worcestershire sauce and rub gives the foil-wrapped roast something to braise in, basting it in flavor through the final hours of the cook.

How do I know when it's actually done?
Look for "probe tender" — an instant-read thermometer should slide into the thickest part with almost no resistance, typically around 205ºF internal.

Why slice across the grain?
Picanha has long muscle fibers running in one direction — slicing across them shortens those fibers so each bite is tender instead of chewy.

How indoor-friendly is this recipe?
2 out of 5 — best done outdoors. The low-and-slow smoke that builds the bark over the first several hours is central to this recipe and can't be replicated in a standard oven.

Recipe Highlights

Bark built before any wrapping: Direction Step 3 smokes the picanha unwrapped for about 4 hours until it forms a dark mahogany bark — that stretch happens entirely before the foil comes into play.
Wrapped in a stock-based jus: Step 4 pours a mix of beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, and rub over the roast before sealing it in foil, basting the meat as it finishes cooking.
Pulled at brisket-style doneness: Step 5 targets a probe-tender 205ºF internal rather than a typical steak temperature — that's the same doneness marker used for whole smoked briskets.
Rested again before slicing: Step 6 re-wraps the roast for a 30-60 minute rest, letting the juices redistribute before Step 7's cross-grain slicing.