Picanha, the sous vide way

Picanha Sous Vide

Having got hold of the latest gastronomic craze, Sous Vide,  played around with it,  got your head around of the process of preparation of the water-bath, placing your food in plastic bags, seasoning, sealing it, submerging it in the water-bath and cooking for a very long hours and sometimes days. Now it is time to think what is the next level after learning the principles of sous vide.

Learning to prepare food the sous vide way is discovering and mastering a whole new world of food preparation and cooking; very different for the conventional ovens, stove and even microwave.   Experimenting  is the key to sous vide method.  It does have to be costly, with the help of cookbooks  and a bit of maths, cheap cuts of meat and in season produce can be transformed into marvellous meals.

Forget about traditional methods of cooking when cooking the sous vide way, the same principles do not apply at all times.  For example, browning can be done before or after cooking, timings are much longer and at lower temperatures. Food can be pasteurised with ease and precision.

Sous vide lends to flawless execution, with practice, skills, creativity and endless possibilities are especially compelling aspects of sous vide cooking. Read more about my experiences: sous vide

Picanha is cut of beef popular in Brazil. It’s a cut from the rump, also known as rump cover or cap. For a while I wanted to cooked it  sous vide, medium-rare without blood running. Thanks to Donald Russell for sending the picanha for my experiment and expert carving by Cooksister. And that’s how I did:

Picanha Sous Vide

feeds 5-6 people
Ingredients
1kg of Picanha
thyme
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon of  minced garlic
1 small onion minced

Method:
1.    Fill with fresh, clean water and preheat the Sous Vide machine to 60C.
2.    Meanwhile prepare the meat, by cleaning and patch dry.
3.    In a medium bowl, make a paste for the picanha by combining all dry spices and seasonings, mixing well until incorporated.
4.    Coat the picanha on all surfaces with the paste liberally
5.    Put the meat into a large food-grade cooking pouch and vacuum seal it.
6.    Plunge the pouch in the water oven and cook for 2.5 hours.
7.    If eating straight away: remove the pouch from the water oven, open it, carefully remove the meat onto an ovenproof dish and put under very hot grill for about 4 minutes till golden. Carve and serve immediately.
8.    If not eating straightway:  shock freeze*  the meat in the unopened pouch and place in the fridge for max four days or freezer for a longer period. Once ready to eat, defrost the meat and re-heat and grill before eating.
*Shock freeze:  Blast chilling and shock freezing are the best natural systems to extend the shelf life of food. At home the best shock freeze method, if no blast freezer is available, is to add lots of ice and water in a bowl. The bowl should have 50% or more of ice than water. Plunge your pouch and let it cook completely submerged in the ice-cold water.

I served the picanha as starter with roasted garlic bulbs and pimenta de bico (very mild Brazilian chilli) and a tomato, pink onions and heart of palm salad.

Picanha Sous Vide