Grilled Whole Maminha

Initial preparation

1. Mix a 6% salt brine (1 liter of water and 60 g of salt) and submerge the meat for 6 hours or overnight.
2. Let the meat preheat either at room temperature (still vacuum-sealed) for a couple of hours, or place the vacuum-sealed maminha in a large bowl with hot tap water (about 50–55°C) for about half an hour. This method raises the internal temperature more effectively and helps achieve a more even result.
3. If you prefer to rub the RUB seasoning on the meat the day before (salt penetrates better over time), cook the meat entirely on the grill. The easiest way is to heat the grill to have both direct and indirect heat zones.
4. Trim off any skin from the meat but leave the fat on the surface.
5. Drizzle a bit of oil on the meat and rub Poppamies Texas Beef RUB or Garlic RUB evenly over the surface. Use as much as the surface can easily absorb. Pat the seasoning until it is moistened evenly before grilling.

Cooking with direct heat

1. If you preheated the maminha in hot water, you can grill it whole directly over coals or burners in a medium-heat grill (about 150–175°C). This takes about 7–8 minutes per side, starting fat side down.
2. The internal temperature should now be around 52–54°C at the thickest point. The spices and meat surface should brown during grilling but not burn. If the surface starts to char, turn the meat or move it to indirect heat to finish cooking.
3. Wrap the meat in parchment paper and foil and let it rest on a cutting board for 10–15 minutes. During resting, the internal temperature evens out and continues to rise about 4–5 degrees.

Cooking by searing the surface

1. The most popular method is to first sear both sides over direct heat and then move the meat to indirect heat to finish cooking (fat side up).
2. At this stage, you can lower the grill temperature to about 100–125°C for more even doneness. Once the internal temperature reaches about 52–54°C, wrap the meat in parchment paper and foil and let it rest for 10–15 minutes.

Smoking method

1. Smoking a whole maminha using the “reverse sear” method. This is similar to the two-zone method but in reverse order—start with indirect heat, finish with direct heat. I recommend cooler meat here to better absorb the smoke and stay longer in the smoke phase.
2. Place the meat in the grill (fat side up) only once the wood chips or chunks start producing smoke.
3. With this method, cook over indirect heat until the internal temperature is about 5–7 degrees below your target. Then grill over direct heat (open grill vents and burners to max) to brown the surface, about 2–3 minutes per side.
4. Finally, wrap the meat in parchment paper and foil to rest for 10–15 minutes, still fat side up.

Serving

1. After resting, you can slice the meat and brush it with Poppamies Texas Barbeque sauce, and sprinkle with fresh coriander.