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
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!
Grilled Ham & Cheese with Black Forest Ham, Swiss and Mozzarella cheese.
The Best Ham & Cheese
I bet you didn’t think a Ham & Cheese sandwich couldn’t get any better but, I’m telling you, it can and it’s the little things that make all the difference. Really it’s all about personal preference but if you choose the right kind of bread, the right kind of ham and cheese, you can really make something special with just a few other trade secrets that I’m going to show you in this simple little recipe.
Black Forest Ham, thinly sliced from my local deli.
Black Forest Ham & Cheese
When you make a Ham & Cheese sandwich, do you get all serious about what you put in it or do you just quickly throw something together so you can eat? Personally, I’m not a big fan of ham, which is funny considering how much I love, just about anything, pork. I chose Black Forest Ham for this recipe but I think it would be just as good with about anything you decided to use as long as it wasn’t watered down and packed with unnatural alternative preservatives other than curing salt. Just kidding. I could probably make this sandwich with spam and be completely happy with it so, it’s up to you.
Mixed Mozzarella and Swiss Cheese.
Cheese in your Ham & Cheese
There are so many different kinds of Cheese in this world that they have to write books to describe them all. I know that some people like a sharp Ham & Cheese and there are some that like a Swiss. In this recipe I chose to go with Mozzarella, to make it more cheesey, and Swiss cheese for more flavor. I really think the two balance each other out.
Another thing I like to do is season the buttered bread. You can choose white, wheat, rye or even sour dough bread, if you prefer but I highly recommend using an all purpose seasoning, to season the sliced buttered bread, before grilling. All purpose seasonings usually have garlic and onion powders in them and a few earthy herbs as well so, they’re perfect to add more flavor. Technically, it’s now a garlic toast Grilled Ham & Cheese but I’m not too sure that anyone would think to google the name of that sandwich.
