Churrasco

Churrasco is a rotating parade of skewered cuts — beef, pork, sausage and more — grilled over open flame and carved tableside, one cut after another, until the guest signals they've had enough. It's Brazil's whole-meal answer to barbecue, built around the rodízio service style rather than any single cut, and it's the format that made the Brazilian steakhouse a global export.

What it really is

Whole cuts of meat, seasoned with little beyond coarse salt, skewer onto long metal spits and grill slowly over open charcoal or wood flame, turned regularly so the fat renders evenly and the surface chars without burning. Servers, called passadores, circulate table to table with each skewer as it's ready, carving thin slices directly onto the guest's plate — a small disc, usually one side red and one side green, sits at each table to signal whether more should keep coming or the guest has had enough for now.

The rodízio system, not any specific cut, is what makes it churrasco. A single grilled steak ordered off a menu is just a steak; churrasco specifically means the continuous, all-you-can-eat parade of different cuts carved tableside, one after another, until the guest calls a halt.

How it's served

• Carved directly onto the plate from a skewer, table to table, continuously.
• With a salad bar and simple sides — rice, farofa, fried banana — available throughout the meal.
• As a full dining experience, rarely a quick meal given the pacing of the format.

How to write it on the menu

• Say whether it's rodízio-style (continuous service) or a fixed selection of cuts.
• No major allergens are inherent to the meats themselves; flag any marinade or sauce served alongside separately.
• Note the signal system for pacing service, since guests unfamiliar with it may not know how to control the flow.

The ingredients, allergens and dietary notes listed here describe a typical recipe. They are not a binding declaration for any particular restaurant: recipes, portion sizes and the products used can differ.