Originally Posted by
Swissaire
Some tips from Marcos Bassi:
1. Choose the best quality cut of meat, with less, but not completely trimmed of fat. This is shown in one of his videos.
2. When slicing, use the knife to make one sharp cut down, rather than sawing strokes.
3. Prep the meat at room temperature before cooking, near the grill if possible.
4. Lightly salt the meat, primarily into the fat. The opposite is usually found at Churrascarias with a truckload of sale corso, (coarse rock salt), thrown onto the steaks. This we were told has been used to hide poorer cuts of meat in some restaurants.
On one of our visits years ago, Mr. Bassi joined us for a few minutes. He said that Brasilian beef is better than North American or European as the cattle is run, rather than standing around getting fattened. He stated that many Brasilians preferred Argentine beef, when Brasilian beef was as good, or better. He also mentioned that the best but most simple of sauce to accompany steak is made using garlic (alho), rosemary (alicrim ), and the cooking juices themselves.
About points 1, 2 and 3, I agree with everything in them. About point 4 (salting), there is difference based on how you are going to cook the meat:
- If you're going to cook it in a moist environment (such as a pan), or on a contact grill, then what Mr. Bassi said applies, otherwise you will end with a too salty meat.
- If you're going to cook it on dry heat, as on a wire grill or as the churrascarias do it, on skewers, you can use lots of coarse salt: it (the salt) will be absorbed in the right quantity, only by the meat juices that go to the surface of the given piece. To serve, you just discard the excess, not dissolved salt. Mr Bassi's restaurants serve very good beef, but he is not a "churrasqueiro".
As for the use of garlic (or any other sauce), I know that there are people that like it, but to me it is an heresy. The only seasoning that goes with a good piece of (grilled) meat is salt.
And for the comment about the origin of the meat, in the past most beef sold in Rio and São Paulo came from Minas Gerais' cattle, which is a mountainous region, where the cattle roamed free. As a consequence, their meat was savory, but too firm and fibrous. With the introduction of cattle raised in the Pampas (Rio Grande do Sul) and new farming techniques, the quality of the beef raised and sold in Brazil now is much better than in the past.