America's Culinary Cup
Baker:
Season:
Week:
Challenge Type:
Picanha Two Ways
A picanha two-ways plate: the centre cut grilled with a Japanese-barbecue rub, served alongside a beef sausage-style meatball made from all the trim, glazed with a touch of vinegar. A creamy matsutake dressing pooled underneath. Matt chose picanha with his partner after ending up on the bottom in the butchery challenge, and used the cut's irregular shape as an argument for taking the centre and grinding the trim rather than fighting the geometry. Matt: "Japanese barbecue, if you will." Matt (VO): "My home menu is going to be barbecue picanha, and then I made a sausage meatball, if you will. The scores from both butchery and cookery are going to be added together. Even if I do miss a couple points here and there, at least I have the leverage of the success of the butchery. So now I'm just putting a little bit of this vinegar just to kind of glaze the meatballs." Matt (to judges): "What we have here is picanha done two ways. What we did was took the centre cut of the picanha, and then we took all the trim and made, like, a sausage meatball. The centre cut has been rubbed with kind of like a Japanese barbecue rub, if you will. That's really a great choice for the picanha to take the centre cut of it because it's an irregular shape." Matt (on winning): "Feels good. Especially being on the bottom last week, trying to defend for our lives. This kind of helps bring a little bit of confidence for the rest of the competition."
Padma: "I love that beef sausage." Padma: "The dish had a ton of flavour from the chilies and the pickle and the two sauces. The grilled steak was also cooked with perfectly."
Michael Cimarusti: "This is like the clearest expression of using one cut of beef for two very different purposes. I also like the creamy matsutake dressing you put underneath."
Padma: "Great job, Matt."
RESULT: Winner of the Carnivore Classic with a combined butchery + cookery score of 87 out of 100 — one point ahead of Cara.
Would you like us to create a recipe to match this dish?
We try to create several recipes every day, and we'd love to prioritize a recipe for you. Just fill out the form and watch your inbox - no cost, no catch.
Your request has been submitted
An error occurred. Try again later
