If you’re a lover of grilled steaks, you have probably heard of picanha steak by now. While the cut of beef wasn’t that widely known in the U.S. for a long time, its popularity at Brazilian steakhouses has brought it wider recognition in recent years. Presented in a line on a long skewer before being sliced off to order, picanha doesn’t look like any cut of meat you’ll see at most American grocery stores. And, of course. coming from a different country, the name doesn’t tell you much either, as it doesn’t follow the conventions of American beef labels. For starters, picanha is a steak cut also known as the sirloin cap, or coulotte, but even that doesn’t clear things up. The name sirloin cap is sadly imprecise and has led to picanha being mistaken for two other cuts: Sirloin itself, and tri-tip.
What makes everything so confusing is the picanha cut’s location on the cow. While the cut is called sirloin cap, it’s specifically from the rump section of the cow, between the round and the main sirloin section. Because of that, it’s also called the rump cap in other places like the U.K. This area is considered part of the sirloin in the U.S., but American butchers often divide up beef into different subsections than in Brazil, so it’s a hard cut to classify. This also leads to confusion with tri-tip, which is a similar cut from a different part of the sirloin.
Sirloin and tri-tip are sometimes mistaken for picanha
Like picanha, the name of tri-tip doesn’t tell the buyer a whole lot about its origins. Tri-tip comes from the sirloin, but unlike picanha, which comes from the far top, tri-tip comes from the bottom of the sirloin, down to the hip. Much like picanha, this is a border area, and tri-tip isn’t that similar to other areas of the sirloin. Likewise, it’s a popular grilling cut from a specific region, as tri-tip is a California barbecue classic.
While all those things make it easy to mix the two up, they are not the same. While tri-tip has some nice marbling, it is a relatively lean cut. The meat of picanha is also pretty lean, but it has good marbling, and a signature thick cap of fat on it, which helps give it a buttery flavor as it cooks. Picanha is also from a less worked area of the cow, which makes it slightly more tender.
As for sirloin, it can be divided up into a number of cuts, but sirloin steaks and roasts are usually quite lean and don’t have picanha’s richness. Top sirloin can be tender, but it won’t give you the flavor of fatty picanha. If you have a good butcher, they should know the difference and be able to deliver you a true picanha. And then you can let all your beef grilling dreams come true.
