What to serve with your steak
Sides, sauces and wine for every cut — chosen on flavor logic and tradition, not sponsorship. Fat wants acid, lean wants richness, char wants tannin.
How these are picked: Classic A long-standing steakhouse or regional pairing served this way for generations. Sommelier consensus What wine professionals broadly agree on for this level of fat and char. Crowd favorite What diners order with this cut most often. Nothing here is paid for, and there are no affiliate links.
Choose a cut
Picanha pairings
A fat cap that bastes the meat as it cooks. Brazilian churrasco already solved what to serve with it.
Sides
Farofa (toasted cassava flour)Classic
The traditional churrasco side; its dryness absorbs the rendered fat.
Vinaigrete (tomato-onion vinegar salad)Classic
Served at every Brazilian steakhouse precisely to cut the fat cap.
Black beans and riceClassic
The standard plate alongside.
Sauces
Coarse rock salt onlyClassic
How picanha is seasoned on the churrasco grill — the cap supplies the rest.
ChimichurriClassic
The wider South American answer to a fatty grilled cut.
Garlic mojoCrowd favorite
Sharp garlic and oil, a common churrascaria table sauce.
Wine
MalbecSommelier consensus
Ripe tannin handles the fat cap without tasting harsh.
Douro red or AlentejoSommelier consensus
Portuguese reds are the traditional pour in Brazil for good reason.
Not drinking wine? Beer: an ice-cold pilsner. Non-alcoholic: limeade (caipirinha, minus the cachaça).