A new baby recently arrived at my house, the beautiful smoker that I had wanted so much. Today I am going to prepare a picaña to learn a little about its behavior and gain experience for what is coming in the summer.
Hello everyone, though the picaña is a super soft piece that can be eaten back and forth on the grill, today I wanted to try how it would be smoked, so get ready because although the road is long, destiny will bring its reward.
Ingredients
1 whole picaña
salt, pepper and cumin to taste (50%,40%,10%)
2 pinches of sugar
Liquid to hydrate the meat (the proportion is to taste)
soy sauce
Apple vinager
BBQ sauce
Water
Smoked caramelized onion
3 white onions
2 hints of bluish brunette
1 or 2 tbsp of honey
3 tablespoons of butter
Sandwich
6 loaves
pickles to taste
julienned red onion to taste
mustard
Preparation
Start by drying your picaña and then remove the excess fat and cut off the most protruding ends so that it has a more aerodynamic shape and will not burn during the smoking process.
Mix salt, pepper and cumin, we grind it all together so that it has the same texture but this is not necessary. Add 2 generous pinches of sugar. Brush the picaña on all sides with a little oil, then sprinkle the seasoning mix on all sides.
Turn on your smoker and place your beautiful picaña inside, it will be here until we reach an internal temperature of 72ºC. Try not to place it too close to where the heat is coming from to prevent it from burning. Place a bowl of hot water inside the smoker to create moisture inside the smoke chamber and prevent the meat from drying out. I'm going to take the opportunity to also make some chorizos to snack on before the sandwiches.
Now prepare a liquid mixture to keep the meat hydrated, it really doesn't matter much what you put on it, you can even use just water, although for this recipe I made it with soy sauce, vinegar, bbq and water.
Now that we have the smoker on, I'm going to make caramelized smoked onions. For this, cut the onions into thin julienne strips. Put them in a metal container, add salt, pepper, brown sugar, a splash of oil and two good chunks of butter. Place the container inside the smoker and approximately 30 minutes later add a good splash of honey, mix well and return to the smoker.
Remember to hydrate and rotate your meat every 30/40 minutes, in this way we ensure that cooking is uniform. Once it has reached 72ºC, remove it from the smoker and wrap it in aluminum foil with enough liquid to keep it hydrated. Take it back to the smoker until it reaches 92ºC.
Once you reach 92ºC, remove from heat and let stand for at least 30 minutes. Cut the meat into thin slices and build your sandwiches with a lot of meat, caramelized onions, pickles, fresh onion and lots of mustard!!
To enjoy...
As we always say:
If your plate doesn't look like our picture, don't worry! We spent over 40 minutes trying to find the perfect angle for the photo.
This recipe is just a guide, and you can adapt it to your tastes. So do not stop making it, you will be surprised how delicious it is!
Remember: "Practice makes perfect"
You can see how we did it in this video and don't forget to subscribe to our Arditos Kitchen YouTube channel:
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