Disclaimer: I appreciate everyone has their own taste and grilling style. The following notes work great for me. Experiment and have fun!
Preparing the meat.
Lightly cross-score the fat cap with cuts 1/8″ apart and 1/4 of the way through the fat cap.
Lightly rub the meat and cover the fat cap with your rock or flake salt.
Cut the meat across the grain into the picanha cuts about 1 1/4″ thick and cut the largest crescents in 2.
When the meat slices or crescents are squeezed like they are when skewered, 4-5 inches is the max size, and smaller is fine.
Smaller pieces are easier to balance on the skewer and you can eat them sooner.
Cover and refrigerate if you have time for the salt to tenderize the meat.
Skewering the meat.
If this is your first time using the Spinarri Arrows(below). They need to be pre-fitted.
Wash and pre-fit them on the skewer following the original instructions.
You can use 1 Spinarri Arrow on each end of the skewer to stop any flopping of the meat.
Try to put tension on the crescents when you skewer them (you can see the tension in the pictures and gif, they look pinched).
It is very important to take extra care and balance the meat on the skewer.
Again because of the size and shape, the picanha cuts need to be as balanced as possible.
You may need to re-skewer a cut twice to get it as balanced as possible.
Grilling on Gas Grills
Preheat your grill with the lid closed, then add the Spinarri 543-EX loaded with meat.
Make sure the grill motor is pulling the chain toward it and the chain is going from left to right.
You can change the direction of the motor by turning it ON-OFF-ON quickly.
Place the skewer point in the corresponding hole and set the handle side beside the corresponding groove.
Leave the grill lid open and cover the Spinarri 543-EX with the triple Spinarri lid covers if you are cooking with gas or propane.
Let the meat heat up so it shrinks and grabs the skewer a little for a minute or so.
Then before it starts to burn, set the skewer in the groove to begin rotation.
Once you do it a couple of times you can use fewer or no Spinarri Arrows.
The photo below is on Weber GoAnywhere, using Spinarri 543 and the portable mounting rails.
Here’s a video using the Spinarri 543 grilling Picanha on the Gas Weber GoAnywhere.
Grilling on The Weber 22 Kettle grill with charcoal.
What you need:
The Spinarri 543-EX and the accessory – adjustable mounting rails are used.
This can be more challenging than using a gas grill but if you are careful to follow the above skewering notes and heed the WARNINGs: everything will turn out great.
I prefer to use lump charcoal, have a set of tongs to manipulate the charcoal, and a set of grill gloves to handle the hot Spinarri frame.
I remove the Weber grill grate and do not use it while grilling so I can adjust the charcoal as needed.
I take a water bottle and remove the cap, piece it with a knife, and put the cap back on.
If coals flare or you need to cool it a little you can give it a squeeze or water.
Make sure the rails are installed on the Spinarri with the wingnuts tightened.
The front of the Spinarri frame wall needs to be even with the outer edge of the grill.
Start the coals with a chimney, let them burn down, and move them to the left side.
Make sure the grill motor is pulling the chain toward it and the chain is going from left to right.
You can change the direction of the motor by turning it ON-OFF-ON quickly.
Place the skewer point in the corresponding hole and set the handle side beside the corresponding groove.
Let the meat heat up so it shrinks and grabs the skewer a little for a minute or so.
Then before it starts to burn, set the skewer in the groove to begin rotation.
WARNING: The 3 Spinarri lid covers are NOT used when grilling with charcoal due to the extreme radiant heat.
WARNING: The fat on the picanha cuts will melt and cause an extremely large flare-up and burn the meat if you are not careful.
WARNING: To avoid flareups, use less charcoal than you think you initially need, it is easier to add it than to remove it.
WARNING: To avoid flareups, use indirect cooking by piling all your coals to the left side and only use 2 skewers to cook on the right switching their position if you need to.
Please take some pictures or video and send it to me if you have time, I really appreciate seeing what people are grilling.
If you have any questions please email me any time.
Kind Regards,
Ettore Spinarri
