Grilled Picanha Roast: Sirloin Cap Perfection
There are beef cuts that we don’t work with enough. Butcher cutting charts around the world have a surprising degree of variance, meaning that there are cuts of beef and of pork in, say, France that no one knows about in Finland, and there are Finnish cuts that are unknown to the Portuguese, etc. Because of their relative anonymity in other cultures, they go unseen outside their homelands. Here, in America, picanha roast is one cut that we don’t use enough.
We’ve written about picanha steaks before, but this is the first time we’re considering the whole roast itself. Picanha roast—also called sirloin cap roast, rump cap, or rump cover roast—is a delicious cut that is still relatively affordable, despite higher beef costs. So now is a great time to give it a try. You and your family will be surprised how satisfying this cut can be, if prepared properly.
Here, we’ll take a look at a simple preparation for this tasty roast along with the temperatures to make it turn out perfectly. Grab your Smoke X2™ and your Thermapen® ONE and let’s hit the patio!
Doneness temperatures for picanha roast
Though picanha comes from just above the rump roast, you do not need to cook it hard to be tender. It is a “steaky” cut, so rather than cooking it until it falls apart, à la chuck roast or brisket, we’ll aim for a juicy medium-rare. Medium rare picanha roast is done cooking between 130 and 134°F (54 and 57°C). That low doneness temp means we don’t have to fight a stall or do any collagen/gelatin transformations.
The large dimensions of this roast, however, make it a perfect candidate for a two-stage cook. After cooking our roast to 115°F (46°C) over indirect heat, we fanned the fire in our grill to prepare it for searing. A nice, hard sear brought our temperature to within carryover range of our desired pull temp and made the meat oh, so tasty!
Cooking temps for picanha roast
In order to get that perfect rosy red finish in the roast, we need to cook it gently. Searing it hard the whole time will result in a overcooked roast on the outside by the time it reaches internal perfection. But, we still want the tasty byproducts of a good hard sear (flavor compounds!), so what are we to do?
As we hinted at above, the best answer is to cook the picanha in two stages: a low/slow stage followed by a high heat sear. Now, if you’ve spent much time on this blog, you know there’s nothing new about this method. An ingenious solution for one cut of meat doesn’t mean it can’t also be an ingenious solution for another cut of meat!
We heated our smoker, using Smoke X2 and Billows® BBQ Control Fan, to 275°F (135°C) for the initial cook. When it was time to sear, we removed our damper plate and heated the smoker to grilling temp. If you’re measuring surface temps here, go for at least 425°F (218°C). Sear the roast, flipping it frequently to not overcook it. The results are stellar!
It used to be the case that tri-tip was the fun new cut in the butcher’s case. They could be had for a pittance and if you had a lead on where to get one, you were the only person asking for it. That is no longer the case! However, picanha roast is stepping into that position. It is still relatively unknown (your butcher might not even know it by that name). Take advantage of its relative obscurity and cook yourself some juicy, tender, mega-flavorful picanha roast. It’s easy, it’s delicious, and it won’t set you back a whole paycheck.
Grilled Picanha Roast Recipe
Description
Simple, grilled picanha roast
Ingredients
- 1 whole picanha roast (sirloin cap, rump cap)
- Steak seasoning of your choice (S&P or Montreal, for instance)
Instructions
- Use Smoke X2 and Billows BBQ control fan to heat your smoker to 275°F (135°C). Make sure that the air probe is not positioned over any direct heat that may be coming up around the inside edges of your smoker.
- If the fat cap on your picanha is thicker than you like, trim it. Reducing it to about ¼” is a good plan.
- Season the picanha liberally with salt and pepper, or a good quality steak seasoning. Don’t be stingy!
- Place the picanha on the smoker. Insert Smoke X2’s meat probe and attach it to channel 1. Set the high-temp alarm on channel 1 to 115°F (46°C).
- Cook.
- When the alarm sounds, remove the picanha roast from the grill.
- Prepare your smoker for direct-heat grilling in the appropriate way, or heat a grill.
- Sear the roast, flipping every minute or so, until the internal temperature comes up to about 123–127°F (51–53°C). Check the temperature regularly with your Thermapen ONE.
- Once the roast has reached its pull temp, take it off the grill and let it rest for a couple minutes.
- Slice it up and serve it.
- Enjoy that crisp crust and the edge-to-edge pink tenderness inside!
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It looks and sounds wonderful but we do not have the ability to grill it. how could this be adapted to cooking in a gas oven/range?
Cook it at 275°F in the oven until you get to 115°F. To sear it you can heat a cast-iron skillet and sear it that way, or you can put it under the broiler of your oven, turning it every minute or so. Temp as you would on the grill.
Thanks Martin, I have done many picanhas since the pandemic (whole roast, 103 more exactly). A few ideas on what I do that align a bit with what you have here. Dry brine with salt helps a lot. Place it on indirect heat fat cap down (render the fat and get to very well grilled fat cap). Once gets to 110F (I use the DOT), check for color and if need put on direct to make pretty. At 115F make sure turn around meat side on direct heat let it reach 125F. Depending on size and especially the shape of picanha you want 125 to have all doneness in the cut… Corners will be at least 145F. Lets rest for 5 min at least. And suggest cutting the other way around (in tiras not postas, as they say in Brasil). Get 4 big tiras and then filet them… eat with your hand and lick your fingers.
Does the fat cap melt enough to make a nice beef gravy like it would with a prime rib?
Well presented. In the last three minutes spread garlic powder on surface- avoids burning powder. Another depth of flavor. Tri Tip is reasonably priced. Handle same way. Rest 10 minutes before slicing.
What if you don’t have all the equipment as recommended but have the thermapen and the probe with alarm and only have a med size outdoor grill that uses a propane gas..can you suggest the cooking Temps etc tks
Gillian,
Cooking on propane works fine. Just run the grill at about medium or medium-high on one side of the grill, leaving the other side turned off. Cook the initial cook on that side. Then turn the heat up to high and sear directly over the fire.
It would be very useful to include approximate cooking times. I realize that’s tricky given the inevitable variations of roast sizes, but in your recipes I suggest you state how big your particular roast was for the printed recipe and how long it took to get to your pull temp. We readers can then at least have an idea how long our roasts will take, assuming of course we match cooking temps and adjust cooking times for our size roast. I want to tell my family/guests a reasonable estimate of when dinner will be ready. Will it take me 45 minutes to cook a roast? An hour? Two? Just put me in the ballpark and I’ll take it from there.
Of course! That’s a perfectly reasonalbe thing to ask about. Plan on about 45–60 minutes for this cook.
Here in mid-SC, the picanha is sold as tri-tip. It’s one awesome piece of beef when reverse seared to medium rare. Just grilled a 3-1/2 pounder over the weekend for a family reunion.
Hey, Dan. Not sure if you’re saying stores in SC don’t know better or not… but picanha and tri-tip are two different cuts of meat. They look similar, but come from different parts of the cow.
Tri-tip and Sirloin Cap from two completely different parts that of the cow. Some butchers add to the confusion.
Picanha (sirloin cap) is a cut of beef taken from the rump cap muscle — technically known as the top sirloin subprimal. It is lean except for its fat cap.
Tri-tip steak is cut from the bottom sirloin subprimal muscle and is triangular in shape. It also is more marbled than the picanha.
I like my meat medium-rare to medium. The wife will NOT eat meat with ANY HINT of red or pink in the center and it can’t be very juicy either. Any suggestions as to how I could prepare this roast to get these results??
You could cook yours as you like it, then slice off some thin slices and toss them on the grill for a minute…the thin slices will cook quickly and have no pink. Alternatively, and a little more riskily, you could put one side of the meat down close to the fire for a few mintues when you’re enarly done cooking. that side will overcook and be brown/gray inside and the other side should still be juicy pink.
I was in Brazil and some friends made Picanha roast on the grill. It was amazing!
Their secret was marinating it over night in chipotle peppers in adobo sauce mixed with honey and dark brown sugar. Then pouring a set aside of the same mixture over the top, putting under broiler (fat side up) for a few minutes and viola,
Delicious!