Lump charcoal and fire

What to buy for a backyard churrasco

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On the table: juice, guaraná, water, and cafezinho.

This is the kit for a backyard churrasco. Fire first, then the meter, then salt and farinha. Buy stainless steel when a tool touches food or the grate.

Fire

In Brazil the fire is lump charcoal, or wood burned down to embers. The bag is 100% lump, not briquettes. Embers, not flames. For a US backyard kettle grill, buy a named lump bag, light it in a chimney, and skip lighter fluid.

Charcoal. Lump only.

Chimney.

Grill. Mid and high have to let you set meat distance from the coals.

No lighter fluid. No briquette bag for this fire.

Tools

Stainless steel for anything that touches the meat or the grate. Skip coated, painted, or cheap chrome tools. Those flake.

Thermometer.

Grinder. For carne moída and linguiça. A mixer attachment is enough for a small batch if that mixer is already in the kitchen.

Skewers. Long flat stainless, 24–36 in: JOWHONK 27 in, 1 in wide. Not short round kebab sticks. Not wood for the main beef.

Tongs and knife.

  • Low: long stainless tongs, and a plain stainless or high-carbon knife you already own
  • Usual mid: OXO or similar long stainless tongs; a full-tang stainless chef knife
  • High: heavy restaurant tongs; a Wüsthof or similar stainless knife

Grill tool kit. Sets only — spatula, fork, tongs (and a basting brush or knife when the set includes one). No wire brush in the bag.

Knives / picanha slicers. A long wide blade for the whole picanha on the board. We slice thin after the rest.

Cutting boards. Wood is fine for meat when you wash and dry it afterward. Rest and slice here.

Pepper mills. Fresh cracked pepper for chicken, sausage, and the sides. Beef at a churrasco usually stays salt only.

Cleaning the grill

Wire bristles break off, stay on the grate, and can end up in the meat. A stainless coil brush is the brush that stays on this list. Clean on a hot grate, after the fire, then wipe. Stainless or wood. Nothing that sheds metal.

Scraper.

Stone.

Brush. Stainless coil. No wire bristles.

Wipe and wash.

  • Low: hot water, a drop of dish soap, a cloth, and a stainless bowl
  • Usual mid: the same, plus a nylon pot brush for the bowl and knife, not for the hot grate
  • High: food-safe grill degreaser if the lid is greasy, used off the fire, then rinsed

If the grate is still dirty, ball up a piece of stainless foil on the hot bars and wipe once. Check the grate with your eyes before the meat goes on. If you see a loose bristle or a flake, it is not clean.

Salt

In Brazil beef is coarse salt (sal grosso) only.

Meat

Start at a butcher when you can. Costco, Sam’s, and Walmart often have a labeled cap. Those warehouse pieces are easy to find. They are not as high quality as a butcher or a named shipper. Ask for the US name. The fat cap stays on. Order a shipper when you want a better cap, or when the local piece is trimmed or missing. Thaw shipped meat in the fridge 24–48 hours.

  • Top sirloin cap (picanha), fat cap on. Also sold as coulotte or rump cap.
  • Sirloin flap (fraldinha). Flank is the fallback.
  • Plate short ribs or long bone-in beef ribs (costela). Not brisket. Not thin flanken.
  • Tri-tip (maminha).
  • Top sirloin roast (alcatra), not the cap.
  • Pork sirloin cap (pork picanha), pork loin, pork ribs (costelinha).
  • Lamb rack or leg, or rib/loin chops.

Zebu hump (cupim) only if a Brazilian or Latin shop sells it. There is no true US cut. Well-marbled chuck is a fatty roast if you still want a slow piece.

Young chicken (galeto): Cornish hen or a small air-chilled bird. Hearts and gizzards: Latin, Asian, or Halal butcher, or the giblets tray. Linguiça: Brazilian shop for linguiça toscana, or mild fresh Italian if that is what they have. Not smoked kielbasa.

Shippers.

  • Low: Wild Fork, as a price option
  • Usual mid: a butcher, whole picanha; or Kansas City Steak Company aged picanha (3–4 lb / about 1.4–1.8 kg, fat cap on, aged up to 28 days, ships frozen)
  • High: Snake River Farms, Wagyu picanha

Crowd Cow only if the fat cap is on. ButcherBox only if that box actually includes picanha.

Farinha

Farofa is toasted cassava flour (farinha de mandioca). Not tapioca starch. A Brazilian grocer is often the better bag.

Vinagrete

Tomato, onion, pepper, oil, vinegar, salt, and cheiro-verde (parsley and green onion). Produce only. Mix it in a stainless bowl.

Nordeste

These are the Nordeste buys.

Drinks and dessert

Skip

  • Briquette charcoal for this fire.
  • Cheap wire-bristle grill brushes.
  • Coated, painted, or cheap chrome tools that touch food.
  • Rubs and barbecue sauce on beef.
  • Short kebab sticks.
  • Rainbow sprinkles on brigadeiros.
  • Tapioca starch sold as farinha.
  • Grocery “picanha” with the fat cap trimmed off.