Picanha Steak | Top Sirloin Caps

Easy Barbecue

If you’re not familiar with Picanha, just know that it is the caps of Top Sirloin and that it isn’t an overused muscle so, the meat tends to be super tender when it’s cooked. It’s also fairly inexpensive and the popularity of these cuts are growing because of the amazing results achieved from a simple barbecue or rotisserie. Brazilian restaurants like Rodizio’s and Tucanos have introduced this style of cooking and slapped the staple on this fine cut.

Preparing Picanha

Technically, you can cut up these caps and serve them any way you like. I tend to clean each cut, cutting away the silverskin and unwanted fat, and then slice the steak ,with the grain, into for pieces; all being equal in thickness not length. These steaks can then be seasoned and cooked as is or shanked onto shish kebab skewers for a rotisserie or easy flipping on the grill or under a broiler.

Grilling Top Sirloin Caps

The easiest way to cook these Picanha steaks on the grill is cook on low, with the lid down. I time it, flipping every five minutes for approximately 20 minutes total. It’s not a bad idea to monitor the internal temp with a meat thermometer, if you’re a bit inexperienced, especially if you like to “reverse sear”. In this video tutorial, I demonstrate grilling under bad circumstances to show you how to overcome hot spots and flare ups.

final results

Truthfully, these are the WORST looking picanha steaks I could’ve put on camera but, as you can see down below, the results were tremendous. So, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. These steaks were great and I even made tacos, the next day, with the leftovers.

Picanha Top sirloin Steak Ingredients:

2 Top Sirloin Caps

1 tbsp Garlic, minced
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Kosher Salt and Pepper

Blackened Seasoning, optional

King Crab Legs Baked, Grilled or Steamed

2 lbs of cooked Alaskan King Crab Legs on a sheet pan with butter.

Delicious King Crab Legs

Out of all seafood, I’ve got to admit that King Crab Legs are my all time favorite thing to eat. I love Snow Crab and Dungeoness Crab too but nothing, to me, is so satisfying as rewarding your self with a hefty sized piece of crab meat dipped in garlic butter. The flavor is so rich and sweet and it literally does melt in your mouth. The only problem is that they’re usually horribly expensive. I believe, however, that there is a time and place for everything, special occasions like birthdays and holidays have always warranted a place in my heart to splurge a little, even on a budget.

2 pound package of frozen Red King Crab legs labels $24.98/lb, total price $50.83!

King Crab Legs Market Price

The market price of seafood changes like anything else judging by the supply and demand. The only problem is is that it’s a little bit more unpredictable than, let’s say, beef or cattle because no one really knows how much is actually available. All we can do is judge the market by the previous and current catch recorded by quality control and government observers that keep track of the numbers.

I worked in Alaska, for a time, on a fishing factory trawler so, I know a little bit about how it works. I lived on a 220 ft fishing boat, out at sea, for 3 to 4 months at a time, depending on the fishing season. The difference with crabbing is how much further north they have to go and how much colder it gets. Crabbing is considered to be one of the most dangerous and deadly professions in the world. If you’ve ever caught an episode of Deadliest Catch, you know what I’m talking about.

All things considered, there are many other factors that go into pricing King Crab Legs when they hit the market. I can tell you that the price jumped 3 dollars more per pound, when I decided to film this video, from the previous week. If you want to know how I’ve gotten them cheaper, and I mean 1/3 this cost, check this out.

2 lbs of Frozen King Crab Legs on a cookie sheet.

Frozen King Crab Legs

It’s no secret that when we buy King Crab Legs we’re usually buying them frozen but did you realize that they’ve already even been pre-cooked. So, cooking these up at home really isn’t going to be that difficult because all we need to do is reheat them. They can easily be over cooked, though, so that’s something you should avoid at all costs. Following these simple methods should help you cook your crab perfectly and without complications.

Fully Cooked King Crab Legs and one thigh meat portion removed from the shell.
King Crab Legs Baked, Grilled or Steamed by PoorMansGourmet.
Baked, Grilled or Steamed King Crab Legs

The 3 most common ways to cook and/or reheat King Crab Legs is baked in the oven, barbecued on a grill or, the most popular, steamed in a large pot on a stove top. In this video tutorial, I demonstrate how to do all three with ease and I’ve listed the cooking time and temps, for each process, down below.

King Crab Legs Time and Temperature

Baked: 425° F 15 minutes

Grilled: 400° f 20 minutes

Steamed: 2″ Boiling water 8-10 minutes

Grilled Meatloaf

1″ inch slice of Meatloaf with a Hoisin Sauce glaze on a blue plate.

The Best Meatloaf

Most folks agree that you haven’t really had meat loaf until you’ve had it grilled. I originally wrote this recipe using an oven but a grill follows the same basic principles. Set you’re temp, keep the lid down and watch the clock and that’s basically all you have to do. My recipe, however, excludes ketchup. If you’ve got a problem with that, just top it with a Ketchup glaze at the end instead of my Hoisin Sauce and no one’s the wiser. I can promise you this, though, this recipe is tender, moist, flavorful, it will still stay on your fork and it makes the best leftover sandwich’s.

Raw ground beef and pork sausage in separate packages.

Meatloaf not Beef loaf

One of the things I learned, long ago, was to mix sausage with Beef in any recipe with a ton of ingredients and this recipe is no different. I mean, that’s one of the secrets to my Chili recipe and it is phenomenal. There is a 2 to 3 standard ratio that I use being 2 parts sausage to 3 parts beef and you’ll see that reflected in the ingredients. After all, we’re making Grilled Meatloaf, not beef loaf.

If you’ve ever tried my Chili recipe, you might notice that the ingredients are very similar to this recipe, too. I’ve simplified each recipe with the addition of taco seasoning but there are also a few other herbs and spices to fine tune it to the point to where they’re distinguished. Though, some things just shouldn’t change.

Chopped and sauteed onions in a large pan on the stove top.

Raw or Cooked Onions

Technically, once the Grilled Meatloaf is cooked, the onions are cooked as well but they usually go into the meat mix raw. Barf! I don’t know what it is about raw onions, in this recipe, but I can’t stand them cooked that way in meatloaf or on pizza. This is crazy to say because I love onions. In fact I’m a huge fan but, for some reason, I just can’t stomach them in a meatloaf recipe. That’s why I recommend sauteing them first. It’s just a personal preference but I find that there is a much more enjoyable flavor and texture, doing it this way, too but whether you choose to do it this way will be up to you.

Raw Meatloaf, all mixed, shaped and uncooked in a cake pan.
Mixing the Meatloaf Ingredients

There’s really nothing special you have to do to mix the ingredients correctly. Other than the sauteing of the chopped onion, that I’m recommending, all you have to do is mix everything together into one big mush, then shape into a loaf on a baking tray or sheet.

You may find that the meat mix is very wet and you might be tempted to add more bread crumbs but this is folly. In order to maintain moisture, the meat loaf must be like this. A dried out Meatloaf is just as bad as any dried out or over cooked Roasted Turkey!

Grilled and glazed Meatloaf in the roasting pan on the grill.
How to Grill Meatloaf

Grilling Meatloaf really isn’t much different than baking it in the oven. You need to establish a 350° Fahrenheit temp, with the lid down, and cook over indirect heat. The other difference is, just rotating the pan half way through cooking and I demonstrate everything you need to know in the video tutorial.

Because I use a propane grill, it’s easy to focus my heat from 1 out of the 3 burners by turning the front burner on only, then cooking the meatloaf over indirect heat over the other two burners, not lit. The only thing I might recommend, if you’r using gas too, is adding some chips to the lit burner to get the smoke flavor affect going. That’s the only thing I wish I did differently in the video, just to add more smoke flavor. If you’re using charcoal or smoker anyway, you’re already set!

Fully Grilled Meatloaf, cooked and cooling down on a cutting board for slicing.

Grilling Meatloaf Ingredients:

1.5 lbs Hamburger
1 lbs Pork Sausage, breakfast
1 Onion, chopped and sauteed in Olive oil and salted
1 pkg Taco Seasoning, original (2 oz )
1 tbsp Adobo Sauce, from Chipotle Peppers
1 15 oz can Diced Tomatoes
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Mexican Oregano
1 tsp Coriander
1 tbsp Worcestorshire Sauce
1 cup Bread Crumbs
2 Egg
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
5 Cloves Garlic, chopped

Hoisin Sauce for Glaze

Mix all of the ingredients together and shape the meat into a loaf in a cake pan. Grill or bake at 350° Fahrenheit, 45 minutes, add glaze and bake at 400° Fahrenheit for 15 more minutes. If you want to see how I make a Mushroom and Swiss with Leftover Meatloaf, CLICK HERE!

Grille Meatloaf video tutorial by PoorMansGourmet