Brazilian beef cuts
The Brazilian beef cut catalogue native to churrasco. Alcatra, picanha, fraldinha, costela, coxão and the rest, organized by primal with grading context.
Brazilian beef culture centers on the churrasco, an open-fire grill tradition in which whole primal cuts are skewered, salt-crusted, and roasted slowly over hardwood embers. As a result, Brazilian butchery names cuts by the region of the carcass rather than by individual steak portion. The picanha, alcatra, and costela are entire muscles or muscle groups, served by slicing thin off the cooked roast at the table.
Brazil does not have a national beef-grading system equivalent to USDA or JMGA. The MeatGrader Quality (MGQ) classification is the best fit for Brazilian-finished beef, with four tiers (Supreme, Superior, Select, Standard) calibrated to pasture-finished animals more typical of Brazilian production than the heavily grain-finished US carcass.
Buyers in this market reference the MeatGrader Quality grade. MeatGrader scores Brazilian beef on its own universal scale and shows that grade only as a courtesy translation.