NARRATOR: And now Signature Dish, a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on Signature Dish, we're on a savory journey across South America.

We'll first fire up the coals.

GUI: This is the queen of the Brazilian barbecue, the picanha.

SETH: That's just pure bonus flavor.

Enjoy the bounty of the sea.

My goodness.

What are we looking at right here?

FITO: We're looking at a tuna, 88 pounds.

We brought it in this morning.

SETH: Wow.

And dig into a Bolivian behemoth.

Is that a rock?

MARIA: Yes.

SETH: All right, I've seen it all now.

This is meat and potatoes at its finest.

I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer and DC native and I love good food.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV, at each stop looking for the one thing you just gotta try... That Signature Dish.

♪ ♪ My first stop is a pit stop in Rockville, Maryland and a truck parked just off Route 355.

I'm following my nose to Fire Pit Brazilian Barbecue, which is delivering all the flavors of a great Brazilian steakhouse to customers on the go.

GUI: I'm from Porto Alegre.

Porto Alegre is the barbecue place in Brazil.

We're in the south of Brazil.

We make border with Argentina and Uruguay, so we are also called Gauchos.

So for us gauchos it's common that we learn barbecue from little kids.

So I already had a background from my father, my grandfather, uncles.

The Brazilian barbecue is famous here in America on the concept of the big chain Brazilian steakhouses, but we are different.

I do want to provide the opportunity for people to enjoy and experience the real gaucho barbecue, but as a more affordable and quicker concept.

Fire Pit is a family business.

Me, my mom, my aunt, we run it.

My wife, she cooks all the side dishes and everything.

Even the kids, they love to be around, so when they're bored they say, "Oh, let's go to Fire Pit and hang out with dad a little bit."

Most of food trucks, they move around.

We opted to be stationary so people know where we are and the specific times that we operate.

We are right by the traffic light.

And when people have their windows down, they smell, they see the smoke, they see the fire, and they smell it.

They make a U-turn and stop by to see what's going on because you know, it smells so good that they want to try it.

When they try it, they always come back.

SETH: Chef.

GUI: Hey, Seth.

SETH: Good to meet you.

GUI: Likewise.

SETH: It's a little chilly, but I'm excited to be outside.

Love the idea of taking the Brazilian steakhouse on the road.

And what is this cut of meat that we're looking at right here?

GUI: This is the queen of the Brazilian barbecue; the picanha.

It's a part of the cattle that's on top on the rear section, so it doesn't do any work.

SETH: Hence all the fat.

GUI: Exactly.

And it gives the special flavor of the picanha.

SETH: All right, so how do you get this prepared for the barbecue?

GUI: So if we flip it around, we can see that we have some excess fat here and some silver skin.

We can go ahead and start taking those off.

So taking the excess of fat here on the sides.

SETH: That's a really nice white, creamy fat there.

GUI: That's what we look for.

SETH: And so why do you think it is that Brazilians just fell in love with this particular cut of meat?

GUI: Because we discovered it.

It's in every single cow, but we found it and it became popular in Brazil and also the Portuguese people took it from Brazil to Europe and then it became so popular in Europe.

Now, the last few years it became very popular in the United States as well.

All right, so let me take this extra fat here and silver skin.

And what we're going to do, we're going to cut it into steaks across the grains.

SETH: All right.

GUI: So we go ahead and cut it like this.

SETH: And there's a decent amount of marbling in that.

GUI: It is.

SETH: More than I expected to see.

GUI: There is.

Yes, there is.

So now we have all the steaks cut that we want on this picanha.

So we like the fat, but not as much.

SETH: Yep.

Are there some people who don't like to see any fat on there, on the picanha?

GUI: Yes, unfortunately, but we have to respect, but I think you lose some of the... SETH: It breaks your heart a little bit.

GUI: It does.

SETH: Okay.

GUI: Let me go ahead and discard this extra fat so we can season it.

SETH: And what do you season it with?

GUI: It's just sea salt.

SETH: That's it?

GUI: Yeah.

In Portuguese we call it sal grosso and we want to go ahead and put a good amount all around.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

Nice little crust right there.

GUI: All the sides.

Yeah.

I'm going to go ahead and trim and season the rest of these.

SETH: All right, just an explosion of salt and meat.

Those are beautiful steaks, chef.

GUI: Thank you.

So why don't you go ahead and follow me so we can put it on the grill.

SETH: Let's do it.

All right.

This is a good spot to be on a cold day, chef.

GUI: Oh, yes, it is.

SETH: And I see you got some more that are already seasoned up and ready to go.

GUI: Ready.

Yeah.

I'm going to go ahead and get the steaks that we prepared and put it over here.

SETH: And these baskets will allow you to get nice and close to the flames.

GUI: Yeah.

So we can go ahead and move these over here now.

So we do want the Maillard reaction to happen so we can get all the flavor that we need... SETH: Got it.

GUI: For the best picanha.

SETH: What do you do to keep the coals a nice, consistent temperature?

GUI: So I have my blower here, which helps getting oxygen into the coals so we can make sure the ash is not suffocating our flames so the fire is nice and hot, nice and strong.

So at this point we're going to have some flames coming up.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

GUI: We want flames, but not too much.

So I have my water spray here just to control the flames so it doesn't burn.

SETH: And, chef, uh, the one thing that this Brazilian barbecue is missing are swords.

Why do you choose to use the baskets?

GUI: So I don't puncture holes on my, on my steaks because that's a point to release the juice from the meat.

SETH: And we do not want that.

We want the juice to stay inside the meat.

GUI: And that's why we sear it.

SETH: No marketing gimmicks here, chef.

GUI: I flipped because we don't want to burn.

So let's get started on the other side and then we flip it back so we can finish off.

You can see that I don't use a tong, so I like to touch the meat.

So, so, touching, I am able to tell the temperature, oh you see this is the crust that we're looking for.

See?

SETH: Oh, wow.

GUI: The caramelization from the sugars inside of the meat.

Yeah.

So now we're going to stand up.

So you want to sear the fat as well.

See.

We like fat, but the fat has to be cooked as well.

SETH: And I like the way the fat is just dripping onto the coals and just feeding that fire right there.

GUI: Yep.

And that smoke means flavor to the meat.

SETH: Of course.

Does your family make you do all the barbecuing for family functions as well?

GUI: Always.

Always.

SETH: You never get a break?

GUI: Yeah, no I don't.

When you hear about barbecue, family, friends, church events, um, you know, it's all about Gui cooking the meat.

SETH: Clearly better you than me.

GUI: Now that these have a nice crust, we're going to go ahead and slice them off, with the grain now, so we can finish it off on the grill to be ready to serve so we can have that nice crust on both sides.

So we'll go ahead and serve them along with our authentic Brazilian side dishes that we offer.

SETH: All right, chef, this is a family affair you got going.

You weren't joking.

GUI: Correct.

So yeah, here's my wife Fabi.

She cooks all the dishes, the side dishes and helps me run the business.

My sons, Anthony and Benjamin.

SETH: Aspiring gauchos?

GUI: Yeah.

And the kids love to be around.

They are already learning.

SETH: Why would you not want to be hanging around this spot?

FABI: Right.

SETH: Well, I am excited to try some picanha.

Mm.

Wow, I love that.

The meat is so juicy and that fat, it just melts in your mouth.

There's no sinew, there's nothing you have to kind of bite through.

That's just pure bonus flavor.

And I love the crust that this got on as well.

GUI: Yeah, so the crust gives that explosion of taste.

The Maillard reaction gives the flavor mixed with the smoke from the coals, so that's why it's so important to get the fire on the right temperature.

SETH: And is there a little dipping sauce here as well?

GUI: Oh yeah.

That's our signature sauce.

The Pit sauce.

FABI: It's a homemade mayonnaise.

It's lots of cilantro, garlic, vinegar and a little extra stuff.

SETH: Not that there's any spice to this, but a little cool refreshing dip to put the meat in as well.

That's really nice.

And are these the rest of these sides, these are things that you would find typically with Brazilian barbecue?

GUI: Yeah, everything is made by us from scratch.

FABI: Please serve yourself with the farofa.

This is a most authentic Brazilian dish and it has onions, bacon, lots of butter, and the cassava flour, which is very unique and gives a little crunch to your food, so we usually dip the meat on the farofa to get that crunch.

SETH: If there wasn't already enough of a crust on that meat, add a little extra with the cassava.

FABI: Yeah.

SETH: Wow.

That bacon fat comes through loud and clear.

And you boys, you like hanging around with mom and dad and grandma and being able to taste this amazing food?

BENJAMIN: Yeah.

ANTHONY: Yeah.

SETH: What's your favorite side dish?

BENJAMIN: It's the rice.

SETH: Can't go wrong with the rice.

And Anthony, what about you?

FABI: Um, the farofa.

SETH: Farofa.

GUI: Well mine is the potato salad.

SETH: So there's something for everybody here on the table.

GUI: Exactly.

FABI: Right.

SETH: You, guys, you think one day you might want to be working the grill?

BENJAMIN: Yeah.

ANTHONY: Uh, yeah.

I already know a lot, but I know there's always stuff that you can learn, especially when my dad's cooking on the grill all the time.

SETH: There's always more secrets you can learn in the world of grilling.

Well I'm just super excited to finally have a food truck on the show and see what can be done in a small space, but clearly using a lot of passion, a lot of love for what you do.

GUI: And we are so proud to be the first food truck you guys ever featured.

SETH: And hopefully not the last.

GUI: Not the last.

FABI: Right.

SETH: Thanks, guys.

Really appreciate it.

FABI: You're welcome.

GUI: You're very welcome.

♪ ♪ SETH: Having had my fill of meat, I'm off to Arlington to try something a bit lighter.

I'm checking out Inca Social, which offers a sleek, modern take on Peruvian favorites.

FITO: That's what makes Peruvian food so great is you can mix it up so many different ways.

You can take a dish, a ceviche.

We have a variety of ceviches.

It's not just one simple classic dish, right?

We want to be a little bit different.

So we're just always experimenting.

SETH: At Inca Social the colorful dishes are matched by the decor.

FITO: We wanted you to come, look around, have fun, like, feel energy.

I'm big on energy.

We want it to be something different, something new, something exciting.

We want it to show our Peruvian food in its authenticity and something wow, this is so cool, something different.

(chatter) SETH: Chef, good to meet you.

MICHAEL: Mucho gusto.

SETH: Mucho gusto.

Hey.

FITO: How you doing?

SETH: Fito, pleasure.

I'm doing pretty well and I walked in and I saw something that I have not seen on this show before.

Wow.

What are we looking at right here?

FITO: We're looking at a tuna, 88 pounds.

We brought it in this morning and this is what we're going to use to make our Nikkei ceviche.

SETH: All right, well I love ceviche.

I'm not sure I've had Nikkei ceviche though.

What is that?

MICHAEL: Oh, it's ceviche... SETH: And I mean Peruvian cuisine in general, it's all about that fusion of different cultures, right?

FITO: Yeah.

That's one of the things that makes Peruvian cuisine great is you have a little bit of flavor of everything too mixed in.

SETH: So this is ceviche with a little bit of Japanese influence and I mean, my goodness, how do you even begin to attack this thing?

SETH: All right.

SETH: Wow.

And there is something to be said for working from a whole animal too, right?

FITO: Well this is the best way to get the best flavor and you get to pick the best part of the fish too, as chef is showing you right now.

MICHAEL: Okay.

SETH: Oh, wow.

FITO: Delicious.

SETH: Look at that color.

After Michael separates the loin, he continues to trim the tuna, cutting it into small cubes and seasoning with salt and pepper.

SETH: Ah.

There you go, sir.

SETH: And the leche de tigre, I mean this is, any ceviche's got to have the leche de tigre.

FITO: Yeah.

Every ceviche, it's proven to have leche de tigre.

This is a little different version... SETH: Ooh.

SETH: And there's a few peppers that are just kind of uniquely Peruvian, right?

FITO: That's one of the three main peppers in Peru.

We want to make sure, even though it's Japanese influence, we keep our Peruvian flavors in there.

That's a good way to do it.

SETH: All right, so you got some fish going in the leche de tigre as well?

FITO: That gives it the more Peruvian flavor as well.

SETH: There's a lot of Japanese ingredients.

With the ingredients now assembled, chef Michael blends and strains the leche de tigre, which will be reserved and poured table-side.

He then builds the finished dish incorporating a mix of Asian and traditional Peruvian ceviche garnishes.

All right guys, there's so many beautiful colors in this dish, on this table and in the drinks as well.

FITO: Yeah, no, we have our classic pisco sour.

We have some fusion styles, our chicha sour we made with chicha morada and the maracuyá sour which is passion fruit.

And then even on the top of the pisco sour, we have the alpaca, which is iconic animal for Peru.

SETH: Love an alpaca.

Salud.

FITO: Salud.

MICHAEL: Salud.

FITO: Refreshing, right?

SETH: That is a refreshing, unique sip right there.

All right, well I'm ready to dig in here.

FITO: We have the most important step, the leche de tigre.

SETH: Ah, yes.

The tuna did not need to marinate before?

FITO: No.

So the tuna, you can eat a pretty much raw, but we want at least you about 30 seconds and you have a nice flavor to it too.

SETH: I know it's important to have fresh fish when it comes to ceviche.

And I have no doubt about how fresh this tuna is.

Wow.

FITO: What are you thinking?

SETH: Oh, I'm thinking there is a blast of flavor there.

Freshest tuna imaginable.

Nice sort of citrus, soy sauce notes in that leche de tigre, but it's not blasting you with heat.

Nice little balanced bite right there.

SETH: And I also like how, besides all the Japanese influence, some of the stuff I am more familiar with, with the traditional ceviches, the corn, the cancha, some of those elements still in place.

FITO: We always have a conchita, which is very popular in Peru and it kind of goes with every ceviche.

And then maiz, the corn, the big maiz obviously absorbs the flavor too, so people love that.

SETH: And I'm loving this colorful fusion here.

And even just the vibe of this place.

It just, this just seems like a fun spot.

FITO: And that's what we were trying to do when we created Inca Social.

So you come in here, it's not just the food's colorful, but all around you is just full of energy, great music, great colors.

SETH: Well thank you guys for keeping the Peruvian party going here in Arlington.

This is great.

FITO: We got to finish it with a cheers.

Salud.

SETH: Hey, one more time.

Salud.

MICHAEL: Salud.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ SETH: My last stop is Wheaton, the Montgomery County neighborhood that is a mecca for great international cuisine.

I'm paying a visit to Kantutas, a restaurant named for the national flower of Bolivia.

Kantutas specializes in the cuisine of Cochabamba, a sprawling Bolivian city that lies in a valley in the center of the mountainous, landlocked country.

The restaurant is run by brother and sister team Maria and Fernando Peredo.

MARIA: Cochabamba is the paradise for the Bolivia.

Is the heart.

Everybody say, "In Cochabamba, everybody live for eat."

FERNANDO: So Cochabamba is very popular for the food.

So the other cities from Bolivia, like La Paz, Santa Cruz, a lot of people come on the weekends and the holidays just for food.

We want to explore the food, the same ingredients to Cochabamba.

SETH: Bolivian dishes are also famous for their generous portion sizes.

None more so than the signature dish of Cochabamba.

FERNANDO: We have a lot of people not from Bolivia and when they asking, "Hey, what you recommend me?"

So the first word is silpancho.

It's meat, eggs, rice, home potato, and Bolivian pico de gallo and the people love it.

MARIA: And then the portion is not a little one if we have put a little one, so no, that is not silpancho.

The silpancho is really big.

Just when they say, "I can't finish," and then when we put on the table, "Okay, you want the bags?"

And then the bags is empty because they finish.

The food is delicious.

SETH: Maria, nice to meet you.

MARIA: Hi, nice to meet you.

SETH: I am excited to try some Bolivian food today.

What are you making?

MARIA: I make the number one dish for Bolivia, city Cochabamba.

The name is silpancho.

SETH: Silpancho.

All right, so there's going to be some meat involved.

And what are these peppers for in the dish?

MARIA: This is the magic.

The magic spice in my restaurant.

The name is ilajua.

SETH: Ilajua.

All right.

MARIA: Ilajua.

SETH: Am I saying that right?

Ilajua?

MARIA: Ilajua, exactly.

SETH: So this is the Bolivian version of hot sauce.

MARIA: Yes.

SETH: All right, so you're going to blend this up?

MARIA: Sure.

We can start with jalapeño.

SETH: There's a lot of spice going in this dish.

MARIA: Yeah.

Habanero, chilies serrano.

This is the scallion, green onion, cilantro.

SETH: It's a colorful salsa.

MARIA: Okay.

This need the water.

So now the ilajua is ready, so now we focus on the meat, okay?

SETH: So this is beef obviously right here.

Looks like you've pounded these nice and thin.

MARIA: We slice the meat, but we need to make a more of a bigger one.

SETH: All right.

MARIA: It's silpancho.

So we need a little bit condiment.

This is the mustard, white pepper, a little bit salt, front and back.

All right, that's it.

Just we need to put a first in here.

SETH: These are just like seasoned breadcrumbs?

MARIA: Yes.

This is seasoned breadcrumbs.

So we put one piece in, then we put a little bit like this.

Cover.

Okay, we start.

That one.

SETH: Is that a rock?

MARIA: Yes.

Yes.

SETH: All right.

I've seen it all now.

Pounding steak with a rock.

So this is really working the breadcrumb into the steak.

MARIA: Yes.

Yeah.

More.

SETH: All right, can I try my hand at this, Maria?

MARIA: Sure.

Absolutely.

SETH: All right.

Thinking about a few of my enemies here while I do this.

MARIA: Yeah.

SETH: I think I could probably just spend the rest of the day doing this.

MARIA: It's not enough.

More bigger.

SETH: Wow.

MARIA: Yeah.

Good job.

SETH: Will you hire me?

MARIA: Maybe my next employee.

SETH: All right.

Is there still more work left to be done?

MARIA: It's not enough.

We need continuing because this need to stay very slight, very, very slim.

SETH: All right, I'll let you finish the magic here.

We're making a mess and we're having some fun.

MARIA: Mm-hmm.

Okay, now it's good size.

The meat is ready.

Yeah.

SETH: That is a sizable cut for the silpancho right there.

MARIA: Now we put the meat in the fryer.

We cook potatoes.

We fry the three eggs, rice.

And serve it with pico de gallo on the top, on the side with ilajua.

SETH: All right.

There's hearty portions and then there's hearty portions.

I don't even know how to begin here.

MARIA: You can start whatever, but just the most important taste, the ilajua and the salsa golf.

Let me show you how you put in your plate and use silpancho, okay?

SETH: So this is just another layer of flavor on top of it?

MARIA: Yes.

SETH: Don't be shy?

Is that good?

MARIA: No.

There you need finish.

Please.

FERNANDO: That's perfect.

SETH: All right, let me give this a shot.

Oh, nice runny egg on top.

Oh, this is going to be good.

Mm.

MARIA: It's good?

SETH: Oh, that is dynamite.

So many textures have plate and we really work those seasonings in well, Maria.

There is a nice little crust.

This is meat and potatoes at its finest.

But I got to take the spice to the next level here.

MARIA: Okay.

SETH: With the, the ilajua.

MARIA: Yeah.

Put a little bit first.

SETH: Be careful?

Okay.

MARIA: Yeah.

FERNANDO: Yep.

SETH: Fernando, I can tell you're eyeing like I'm making a mistake here.

That ilajua definitely packs a little bit of a punch.

Kind of wakes you right up.

And is this drink, it's going to cool me right back down?

FERNANDO: So that's mocochinchi and it's very, very popular in Cochabamba.

SETH: That is nice and refreshing.

And these are some Bolivian saltenas as well?

MARIA: Yeah.

SETH: And does one just take a bite?

Just eat it with a hand, fork and knife or what's the plan?

MARIA: I recommend you can take first in the little one, the first part... SETH: Little bite on the edge.

MARIA: Because sometimes it's very hot and juicy.

FERNANDO: Good job.

MARIA: Then you can take a spoon, with a spoon... FERNANDO: And you can eat inside.

SETH: Just go in a little... Oh, look at that.

FERNANDO: There we go.

SETH: It's a little soup bowl right there.

MARIA: Yes.

FERNANDO: There we go.

Mm.

Good job.

MARIA: All right.

SETH: More spices, more flavors.

These saltenas, the mocochinchi, this Cochabamba silpancho, it's all so good and such a generous portion.

Definitely more than I can handle on my own.

SETH: What's that, Jordan?

JORDAN: I think you should try to finish the plate.

SETH: This entire plate of food?

JORDAN: The entire plate.

MARIA: The silpancho is really big.

Just when they say, "I can't finish," they finish.

SETH: I'll see what I can do.

MARIA: Yeah.

You do it.

You do it.

SETH: All right, here we go.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (applause) FERNANDO: Good job.

SETH: Ah!

I did it.

FERNANDO: Great job.

But now this is your dessert.

SETH: No way.

Feast is over.

But this was absolutely wonderful.

I'm going to go home and take a nap now.

Thank you both.

MARIA: You're welcome.

FERNANDO: Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

MARIA: Anytime, please.

(music plays through credits) ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: To find out more about great food in the Washington Metro area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.