Slow rotations, big skewers, fresh meats, simple seasonings.
Churrasco, eaten in bustling churrascarias, is one of Brazil’s primary culinary exports and is known for its joyful excess.
What is churrasco?
Churrasco is a Portuguese and Spanish word meaning grilled meat and is most commonly associated in the U.S. with Brazil’s cowboy BBQing style, featuring large cuts of beef, pork, and poultry skewered and slowly rotated over open flames.
While churrasco can refer to Argentinian BBQing and other approaches to grilling meat, we will be focusing on Brazilian churrasco.
Brazilian churrasco is not based on smoking like American BBQ. While the spirit and variety of meats are similar, the meats are skewered or spitted and slowly grilled — either directly over embers or in a grill designed for churrasco. These churrasco grills are often brick pillars with a rectangular box containing a grill grate toward the bottom. Sauce is not an integral component of Brazilian churrasco, either.
Churrasco owes its roots to the Gauchos, Brazilian cowboys in southern Brazil who pioneered cooking beef churrasco-style. Beyond spit-roasting meats over a fire, churrasco is an act of celebration. It is an opportunity for communities to come together, gather a harvest, and share stories.
Churrasco is often heard of in the case of a churrascaria, a style of Brazilian restaurant where servers walk around the restaurant slicing skewers of meat directly onto your plate. It is an exercise of abundance, and that spirit lives outside of those restaurants in the homes of Brazilians — a Brazilian party often features an open air porch, endless caipirinhas, and a steady flow of grilled meats that last for hours.
Large Rodizio-style (rotation) Brazilian restaurants also often have custom churrasco grills, with a series of rotating skewers with multiple levels and a pool of water at the bottom. This allows fat to drip down between different cuts of meat and fall into the water without creating smoke.
What does churrasco taste like?
There is no one flavor of churrasco. Churrasco is good meat prepared simply: meat, salt, and flame. The taste is entirely dependent on the meat. This is what makes churrasco so special — it is a meal entirely dependent on butchery.
Go to enough churrascarias and you will begin to notice the subtle differences in flavor and texture between cuts.
The most common cuts used for churrasco
Anything is fair game, but if you go to a churrascaria or are looking to create an authentic experience at home, go for these cuts:
- Picanha. Picanha is the iconic Brazilian cut. We call this the sirloin cap, rump cap, or coulotte. Picanha used to be more difficult to find, with many butchers removing some of its signature fat cap, but picanha is rising in popularity. Either way, you can just ask for a sirloin cap without removing the fat cap. This cut is bent into a C shape for even cooking and is the most recognizable churrasco.
- Skirt steak. Similar to flank and popular in fajitas, skirt steak is a thin, tough cut that relies on perfect grilling and slicing execution. Skirt comes from the plate primal.
- Cupim. You won’t be able to find this at your butcher, but if you see cupim on the menu at a churrascaria, get it! This is the beef hump from a breed of cow we don’t often raise in the states [*]. Similar to camels, they have a hump — this is the meat from there. It is briskety in texture and full of flavor.
- Lombo. Lombo is what Brazilians call pork loin — not pork tenderloin! They usually top this cut with a bit of parmesan.
- Cordeiro. Cordeiro is grilled lamb, usually lamb chops.
- Frango. Frango is chicken, usually thigh, breast, and heart.
- Linguicia. Linguicia is a Portuguese sausage that is similar to a mild chorizo. These are stacked on skewers and handed out whole to guests.
- Chuleta. Chuleta is Brazilian for ribeye. If you see this at a churrascaria, get it! This is a high-end cut that is delicious when prepared churrasco-style.
- Filet mignon. Delicious filet mignon is a common choice for churrasco. Its tender texture makes it perfect for quick cooking.
- Alcaltra. Alcaltra is top sirloin. Top sirloins are lean and full of bold flavor.
- Fraldinha: This is Brazilian for bottom sirloin, known for its brisket-like texture.
How to prepare and cook churrasco
You need a grill and skewers. There are churrasco grills made for this purpose, but if you have any grill that you can suspend skewers above that will work. You can also build a fire and rotate them on a spit cowboy-style!
- Buy the highest quality meat possible. There is no hiding the quality of meat in churrasco — it’s all about the meat! If there is one time to buy grass-fed, grass-finished beef and other high-end pork and poultry, it’s when you are making churrasco.
- Square off and trim the slices to easily fit onto your skewers. This process depends on the cut. Don’t cut off too much fat, we want that flavor.
- Get your open flame or charcoal grill to medium-high heat. 400º is a good starting point.
- Build your skewers. Separate your meats and vegetables by skewer so you don’t have different cooking times on a single skewer.
- Salt beef and pork with large, coarse salt before cooking. With lamb, chicken, and turkey, you can prepare a marinade the night before and let them sit overnight. You can marinate the beef too, although this isn’t typical in churrasco. It can be difficult to reach the high temperatures (and subsequent ability to tenderize) required for churrasco at home, however, so don’t be afraid to get a little help and flavor with a marinade.
- Cook for 10-20 minutes (depending on heat). Rotate every few minutes until the meat comes to temp.
Our favorite churrasco recipes
Here are a few different churrasco recipes that feature beef, lamb, and pork. We also recommend watching a few Brazilian chefs making churrasco to emulate their process.
1. Amazing picanha steak
Why not start with the star? The trick with picanha is to render the fat just right so it is tender and also crisps up just a little. More Momma breaks it down.
2. Brazilian churrasco with three sauces
Having a variety of sauces available is a nice touch at a churrasco. This recipe from AGFG features skirt steak and a aji verde, chimichurri, and tomato red pepper sauce.
3. Flank steak churrasco
Similar to skirt steak, flank is also a lean and tough steak that is delicious but requires a little more care to cook correctly. If you are preparing to make a lot of flank steak for a party, you could also marinate this cut overnight to increase tenderness. Texas de Brazil shows you how they make their flank steak churrasco — complete with a marinade recipe.
4. Grilled linguica
Texas de Brazil has another good explanation of Linguica, complete with multiple cooking breakdowns and a bit of history to boot. They also discuss feijoada, which if you haven’t had, you must.
5. Brazilian grilled lamb chops
Lamb chops are always a hit at churrascos due to their striking appearance — appearing like tiny tomahawk steaks. Do not skip the mint jelly and mint leaves in this recipe from Today.com. That brightness cuts the gaminess of the lamb perfectly.
Where to buy churrasco meat
If you are throwing a party and making churrasco, it’s best to work with a good local butcher with good sourcing or a company that works with farmers who are true craftsmen. The difference in taste and texture between a steak from cows raised on industrial lots with cattle left to roam on healthy grass is a world apart.
It can also be nice to skip the butcher trip and order everything you need for your churrasco to your door.
If you want to knock everything out and get beef raised 100% on the best grass in the world by expert farmers, incredible pasture-raised pork, and pasture-raised chicken, come see what we are up to at U.S. Wellness Meats.
I can promise you that anything you get is sourced and tastes as best as possible. If you’re having a special event and making churrasco, this is how you can make the meal truly memorable.
See all of our churrasco meats.
Nathan Phelps
Nathan Phelps owns and writes for Crafted Copy, a boutique copywriting shop that finds the perfect words for interesting products. He is also an ethical foodie, outdoors-aficionado, and hails from Nashville, TN. He splits his time between helping sustainable businesses find new customers and managing his ever-increasing list of hobbies, which include playing guitar, baking bread, and creating board games.
