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The favourite Brazilian cut

Picanha is sliced from the centre of the bull’s rump. Its generous amount of fat melts during grilling, giving the meat a rich flavour. It is by far the favourite cut in Brazil.

It is also the favourite of chef Guilherme Reis, now cooking at Intercontinental Abu Dhabi Brazilian steakhouse Chamas.

“Picanha, the big strip that looks like half moon when it is on the skewer, is, of course, my favourite meat,” says Guilherme.

“I brush the meet with garlic sauce, which is crushed garlic mixed with water and olive oil, before grilling, and it is so tasty, juicy and tender!”

To make the perfect picanha steak, the meat, which comes in triangular shape, should weigh between 1,100 and 1,400 grams. Any heavier means the beef will be too old and the steak will be too tough or chewy. Sea salt is ideal for seasoning and then the meat should go under high-heat grill for browning, then medium heat for cooking and low heat for keeping it warm.

“For a medium-rare cut seven minutes is enough cooking,” points out Guilherme. As a young boy, Guilherme, like any Brazilian, grew up with grilled meat and loved it. His passion, though, was a cut above, as he decided to study the art of cooking and eventually he became a chef.

“You know, we do a lot of barbeques at home, so I started since I was a kid, but professionally I got into the business of cooking eight years ago,” he says.

“I was 20 years old, in a churrasquería in Sao Paolo, when I started my career, first as a passador, the mid server, the gaucho who carried the meat skewer to the tables and sliced the meat.”

“Gradually, I moved up all the way to becoming a chef.”

“For me, it is all about the meat. It has long been my passion. I love touching the meat, working with it!”

Churrasquería, the Brazilian style steakhouse, is a meat heaven. Usually, there is no menu involved. For a fixed price, you get a salad bar and endless meat cuts, grilled on large skewers and sliced at the table by the passadores until you ask them to stop.

Open in December 2007, Chamas is the only churrasquería in Abu Dhabi. Ever since chef Guilherme took its kitchen by the horns six months ago, flavours got ever more Brazilian!

“We serve 16 different types of barbeques, plus grilled pineapple,” reveals Guilherme.

There are three different lamb meats, two different chicken grills, sausages and an impressive 10 cuts of beef, everything from rib eye and tenderloin to sirloin and ribs.One of the largest grills are top sirloin, usually 2.5-3kg piece of meat, tied on the skewer with special non-burning of inflammable string, which are barbecued on coal fire in just 12 minutes!

The beef, which is imported through Intercontinental’s food supplier, is always Angus. “The Brazilian and Argentinean beef is very good, and also the Scottish, but I would say that the US Angus beef is the best,” thinks the chef.

“We end up cooking about 120kg of meat every night and grill about 30 pineapple,” reveals Guilherme.

Chamas is opened for just dinner every evening except Fridays, when there is also a brunch and lots more Brazilian gastronomic delights, such as tapioca soup and traditional deserts such as Brazilian banana pie, pumpkin compote, chocolate brigadao and, Guilherme’s absolute favourite, pineapple cassata.

The chef, who is no stranger to this part of the world, as he previously cooked in Bahrain and Jordan, is now planning to introduce some traditional local flavours to the menu as well.

“I kept experimenting cooking it in various styles, so very soon we will serve camel meat too. It is first going to be marinated in herbs, olive oil and salt, then grilled,” says the chef.

“We are also planning to introduce some more exotic cuts as well, like quail, venison and buffalo.”

Wild grills have been tamed before at Chamas, as the churrasquería used to serve South African ostrich, North American bison and Australian kangaroo previously, and chef Guilherme is even thinking that crocodile might be added to the list. For now, though, the idea remains a bit of a joke.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com