Churrasco Rodizio

Churrasco (pronounced shoo-RAS-koo) means "Barbecue" in Brazil.

I have grilled and cooked indirect for a long time but this past year I have been concentrating on the "low and slow". I have gotten pretty good at it but..... My visit last year to a Brazillian Churrascoria restaurant and the recent board discussion of Tri tip/Santa Maria BBQ has inspired me to go back to my roots here in California. Ranchero style BBQ is traditionally cooking "what ya got".....beef....chicken directly over an open wood fire. The Brazillians do it on a skewer or spit.

I am a 5th generation Californian (on my Mom's side) and did grow up a bit in the sticks (for CA). All of the BBQ's I attended as a kid were some Good Old Boys drinkin' bourbon highballs direct grilling beef over oak wood with simple rub of salt, pepper and maybe garlic powder.

Since I have a Weber Kettle Rotisserie and love to play with it I decided to experiment with Rotisserie cooking over a direct fire. I wanted to get a Top-Sirloin roast (Picanha in Brazil) but none available. Got a 2.5 lb Ribeye Roast, bone in, rubbed with sea salt, pepper and garlic powder and did it on the spit.


I used kingsford with mesquite chunks. The difference from just direct grilling was of course no grill marks. The meat turned out a wonderful, uniform golden brown roasted color. I just kept checking with a direct probe thermometer and pulled it at about 135-140 for med. rare. I could actually see the small side strip fat cap self basting the meat. This was not a choice cut, just Select from the local market but very satisfying.

Spit roasting over a direct fire. A fun technique of Ranch style cooking. I am definately looking forward to doing more cuts of beef direct on the spit.

Sacmer,
That looks sooooooo delicious!
I’m totally with you on the direct grilling issue; I have not done much in the Low and Slow area for a while now. Brazilian BBQ is one of favorite as well, we have a famous Brazilian restaurant here in Atlanta (Fogo De Chao), and that’s exactly how they cook their meat, over wood open fire and on a spit. They only seasoning they use, as I was told, is sea salt.

I used this exact technique two years ago but used a bottom sirloin roast and packed it in sea salt.
Unbelievable.

sacmer wrote:

All of the BBQ's I attended as a kid were some Good Old Boys drinkin' bourbon highballs direct grilling beef over oak wood with simple rub of salt, pepper and maybe garlic powder.

Sounds like the type of BBQ I'd like to attend NOW.
Great stuff thanks for sharing.

BBcue-Z wrote:

Sacmer,
we have a famous Brazilian restaurant here in Atlanta (Fogo De Chao), and that’s exactly how they cook their meat, over wood open fire and on a spit. They only seasoning they use, as I was told, is sea salt.

I eat at Fogo whenever I am in Houston, which is a lot. I suppose some of their meats are cooked with sea salt alone, but there is planty of garlic in some of the cuts,

I was thinking about their bottom sirloin (one of my MANY) favorites, and I think this is essentially the same as a tri-tip. I recently got a rotisserie attachment from CharGiller and tried it last night with a tri-tip marinated in a simple chimichurri (olive oil, black pepper, chopped parsley, garlic and kosher salt.) I used my Reveo (vacuum marinater) which pumps the stuff in after 20 minutes of rolling in the barrel. Normally, if I direct grill, I remove the fat cap so the meat can absorb more marinade, then replace it on top when I direct grill. As I was spit-roasting, I just left it, and it still turned out pretty well.

I left in on the rotisserie over hardwood charcoal about 15 minutes with a water-filled drip pan to catch the initial fat and keep flare-ups down. After the coals died a bit, I yanked the pan and cooked it directly over the embers for a last browning (about 10 minutes). It was perfectly rare in the middle, with nicely browned edges.

I just wish I had prepared the fried bananas ala Fogo ......

phillyjazz