Brazilian Beef Churrasco

Churrasco is the national barbeque of Brazil, where whole meals are cooked on a rotisserie.  ‘Churrasco’ is the spanish word for grill and in Brazil the meat is skewered and roasted on a rotisserie over coal.

This dish uses a cheaper cut of steak and we chose to serve with a smoky tomato pepper sauce.  It will also work well with a chimichurri or the Creamy Aji Verde Sauce we served with the Peruvian Chicken Anticuchos skewers.

 

BBQ Temperature

Ingredients

For the meat and marinade

  • 1kg beef skirt (onglet), flank or bavette steak
  • 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1.5 tbsp worcestershire sauce
  • 1 small onion, grated
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 3 tsp Aleppo pepper or chilli flakes
  • 1.5 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

For the Smoky Tomato Pepper Saunce

  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 1 small handful of coriander (leaves and stems)
  • 125g cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 red pepper
  • 2 tsp tomato puree (concentrated)
  • 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
  • pinch of sugar

Equipment

Method

Preparing your beef

  1. Chop the steak into 4 to 6 even portions and season with salt on both sides.  Place the steak in a shallow non-metallic dish.
  2. In a bowl add all of the other marinade ingredients and mix well.
  3. Pour the marinade over the steak pieces, and mix to cover the steak on both sides.
  4. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate overnight.

Cooking your steak

  1. Setup your grill for a direct cook with your rotisserie at 200°C.
  2. Thread the marinaded steak onto skewers and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.
  3. Add your loaded skewers and cook at 200°C. .
  4. Cook until the steak has an internal temperature of at least 50°C. Leave to rest for a few minutes.

For the sauce

  1. Take all of the sauce ingredients and place in a blender.  Pulse until roughly chopped.  Alternatively, you can chop by hand.
  2. Pour into a bowl and season with salt and ground black pepper to taste..