Wagyu Chilean Beef Whole Rump Cap Picanha | ±1.6kg

Chilean Wagyu Picanha - Two Methods

±1.6kg. Serves 6 to 8. Roast it whole, or cut it for the barbecue.

1. Fresh or frozen
Check your pack. If it is chilled, keep it at 0-4°C in its unopened vacuum pack and cook by the date on the label. If it is frozen, thaw it in the fridge in its pack, allowing 22 to 24 hours.

2. Never trim the fat cap
The thick layer of fat on top is the whole point of this cut. Score it in a crosshatch, cutting through the fat but never into the meat, and salt it heavily. As the picanha cooks the cap renders down and bastes the meat beneath it.

Method A - Roast it whole (for a family table)

3. Salt the scored cap generously and leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight if you can. Out of the fridge one hour before cooking.

4. Heat the oven to 110°C. Set the picanha fat side up on a rack over a tray and cook until the centre reaches 48°C. Allow roughly 35 to 40 minutes per kilo, but go by the probe and not the clock.

5. Rest 15 minutes, then turn the oven to 240°C and return it for 10 minutes, until the fat cap is crisp and blistered. Pull at 52°C.

6. Rest a further 15 to 20 minutes, then carve across the grain at 1cm, taking a strip of the fat cap with every slice.

Method B - Brazilian style, on the barbecue (the churrasco treatment)

3. Cut the picanha into thick steaks of around 3cm, slicing with the grain rather than across it. This feels wrong and it is correct. The carving comes later.

4. Bend each steak into a C shape, fat cap on the outside, and push it onto a long skewer. Salt heavily with coarse salt.

5. Grill over direct heat, turning often, fat side down first so it renders and flares. 10 to 12 minutes for medium rare, or until the fat is crisp.

6. Carve thin slices off the outside of the skewer as it cooks, then return it to the heat. Each slice comes away across the grain, which is why the steaks were cut with it.

Coarse salt is the only seasoning it needs. Picanha is traditionally cooked with nothing else at all. Chimichurri alongside, if you want it.

If fresh
Keep refrigerated at 0-4°C in its unopened vacuum pack and use by the date on the label. You can freeze it unopened at any point up to that date - at -18°C or below it will keep well for up to 12 months.

If frozen
Keep frozen at -18°C until needed. Use by the date on the pack.
Defrost in the fridge, in its packaging, allow 22-24 hours. Never defrost at room temperature or in a microwave.
Once opened or defrosted, keep refrigerated at 0-4°C and use within 24 hours. Do not refreeze once thawed.
A faint metallic smell on first opening the pack is normal for vacuum-packed beef and will disperse within a few minutes in open air.