Cooking and crypto have more in common than you’d think. Both need the right ingredients, good timing, a bit of experimentation and the ability to stay calm!
The market can butcher your emotions faster than a chef carving into a full-flavored beef joint, while the kitchen is all about balancing heat, texture and flavor to get the perfect result.
So what happens when Brazilian-style beef meets a proper British Sunday roast? You get a little bit of Brazil on the plate, a little bit of Britain on the side, and hopefully no financial liquidation involved.
Picanha was on the menu today! Cooked up a British Aberdeen Angus picanha beef joint and went straight for the important stuff!
Used a proper pan sear with butter, garlic and rosemary until that crust was looking dangerously good. It's an expensive joint so cook it to enhance the flavors!
So what actually makes picanha different? Picanha is a Brazilian cut of beef, usually known as rump cap or sirloin cap in the UK. Sounds familiar?
It comes from the top of the rump and has one very distinctive feature... that thick layer of fat sitting right across the top. It gives that extra kick!
That fat cap is a big part of what makes picanha special. Instead of trimming it away, you want to cook it so the fat slowly renders, basting the meat and bringing loads of flavor with it.
Underneath, the beef is relatively lean, giving you that great combination of rich, fatty flavour on the outside with proper beefy meat underneath.
Picanha is especially famous in Brazilian churrasco, where it's traditionally cooked over charcoal and often served in thick slices.
That's a very different approach from what I did with my British Aberdeen Angus joint. I basically took a Brazilian BBQ favorite and gave it the full British Sunday roast treatment.
I started by searing the joint in a pan with butter, garlic and rosemary to build a proper crust, then moved it into the oven for a slower cook alongside the roast potatoes.
The slower cooking gives the fat time to render while keeping the beef juicy, and you end up with that beautiful combination of crispy edges, rich rendered fat and tender beef.
It's also worth remembering that picanha isn't the same as a standard roasting joint. The shape, grain, fat cap and relatively small size all make it behave differently during cooking.
The fat cap is basically part of the experience rather than something you want to remove. So yeah, not your traditional British beef joint.
It's Brazilian picanha, British Aberdeen Angus, cooked with garlic, rosemary, butter and roast potatoes. No fancy restaurant... no £40 tasting menu.
The next step? Into the oven alongside some chunky roast potatoes for a slow, gentle cook. A decent joint of beef and absolutely zero intention of sharing the best bits.
Crispy potatoes, buttery garlic, rosemary, and a juicy piece of beef doing exactly what beef was put on this planet to do. Alpha on a plate!
Minimal ingredients, minimal effort, maximum satisfaction. Sometimes the internet really does get it right. Coming over for dinner?
Read previous articles like When Life Gives You Lemons... Buy the Dip! and West African Stew And The Perfect Egg-wich or dive into the Chapter 1 Almanac Of Web3-Powered Recipes which contains the first 20 crypto cooking recipes!
Alpha stuff:
Claim your Zerion XP!
Play2Earn: Splinterlands & Holozing
PVM The Author - My Amazon Books
