BBQ with Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Picanha at its Best

 

BBQ with Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Picanha at its Best

After a wet spring, summer in the Netherlands is finally in full swing. There's no better time to barbecue again with friends and/or family, where extra virgin olive oil is, of course, a must! 

I often get asked how olive oil can be used during a barbecue, so in this blog, I want to give some examples of how you can use extra virgin olive oil, both for cooking and for side dishes.

Jersey Picanha

In preparation, I visited ONS Biologische Slager for a nice piece of BBQ meat. I didn't have to search long, as I saw a Picanha from a Jersey cattle of about 1.2kg. The Jersey cattle breed originates from the English island of Jersey and is known for its high-quality meat with beautiful marbling, slightly darker in color than Dutch beef.

Picanha is the rump cap of the cow and is very popular in Portugal and Brazil, among other countries. The rump cap is the triangular part at the end of the flat part of the cow's hindquarter. Because Picanha contains a large amount of fat, which we have also left in this recipe, not much olive oil is needed.

I am a big fan of sous-vide cooking because of its convenience and consistent results. In preparation for the BBQ, I therefore cooked the Picanha sous-vide to achieve the best result. During grilling, we only brushed the meat part with olive oilextra virgin olive oil. 

For this dish, you will need for 3 to 4 people:

• Picanha from 1kg to 1.2kg
• Olive oil Olive oil for cooking.  Of course, my friends have the best olive oil in stock; a 5-liter can of Oro de Genave to fill their own bottle, but the small bottle olive oil Oro de Genave can also be used.

 

Preparation:

1. For the very best result, I sprinkled the Picanha with salt the day before (about 12 hours) to create an osmosis effect. As the salt penetrates the meat, moisture is extracted, making the meat more tender. 
2. Early in the morning, I started with the sous-vide preparation. The meat was already well salted, so I then sprinkled it with pepper. After that, I put the meat in a vacuum bag and vacuum-sealed it. 
3. I found a preparation method online where the temperature was set to 39.5 degrees for the first hour, then 49.5 degrees for an hour, and then 53 degrees for six hours. This would achieve a warm aging effect and activate enzymes that would ensure a tender piece of meat. This was ultimately very successful! 
4. After sous-vide cooking, I let the meat cool down and then took it to friends. 
5. Once arrived, the BBQ was already well lit and had a section with coals and a section without, so that indirect heating could be done later.
6. Opened the sous-vide bags, inserted a core thermometer into the Picanha, then brushed the meat part of the Picanha with organic extra virgin olive oil Oro de Genave and started by placing the meat with the fat side on the grill. After the fat side had a nice brown grilled color, we grilled the meat side. 

1. After searing the Picanha, we placed the meat over the section without coals and slowly waited until the core temperature was around 54 degrees. 
2. When the core temperature reached 54 degrees, we removed the meat from the BBQ and let it rest for about 10 minutes under aluminum foil. We secretly cut off a piece a little too early, but quickly came to the conclusion that it really is worth the wait.
3. After 10 minutes, you can properly slice the meat and enjoy! 

As a side dish, we had homemade chimichurri, for which I still need to ask for the recipe, but it definitely contained organic olive oil Oro de Genave.

Our olive oil tip for this recipe

For this recipe, we like to use the Oro de Genave from Andalusia. This extra virgin olive oil, with its intense flavor and suitability for cooking at higher temperatures, pairs wonderfully with this dish.

You can also drizzle some Spanish olive oil Saqura over the meat for a peppery taste. A fresh salad as a side dish also goes well with this dish and summer temperatures, and Saqura is great for that. Plenty of options!