Expocachaça - Prize-winning Cachaças Announced

Brazil's national cachaça trade show and exhibition, Expocachaça, recently wrapped up it's 2012 edition which was held from September 04 to 09 at São Paulo's magnificent Central Market, familiarly known as the Mercadão. Divided into sessions for trade professions and the general public, the exposition showcased more than 150 producers of cachaça, ranging from artisanal mom-and-pop distilleries to the large national and international brands.

Along with tasting lessons and sessions, lectures and demonstrations on how to mix drink with cachaça and how to use it in cooking, there was a juried selection of the best cachaças in four categories: white, aged in urubama (a native Brazilian wood), aged in oak or other wood, and Special Super Premium.

The most coveted awards are those in the Special Super Premium category, and this year there were three distilleries honored with gold-medals in this group. They were Cambraia Extra Premium, Porto Morretes and Weber Haus Extra Premium.

Cabraia Extra Premium is a product of  Cachaça Cambraia from São Paulo state. The distillery was recently purchased by large national distiller Pirassununga, although it is still operated independently and produces only premium small-batch cachaças.

The other two gold medal winners were from Brazil's souther region, one from the state of Paraná and the other from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state.

From Paraná comes Porto Morretes cachaça distilled in the small town of the same name, while Rio Grande do Sul boasts Weber Haus Extra Premium Cachaça from Cachaçaria Weber Haus, a distillery that has won prizes and trophies for its fine cachaças at shows and expositions around Brazil and internationally.

As it's only very recently that there has been international interest in cachaça, it's quite difficult to source artisanal cachaças outside Brazil, although the situation is slowly improving as the drink becomes more well-known and appreciated outside its native territory. A quick online check of international availability of the three gold medal winners shows that only Weber Haus has representation outside Brazil, specifically in Australia and in Europe.

The Brazilianization of a German Cake - Kuchen into Cuca

The Portuguese word cuca (at least the culinary meaning of the word) is a direct derivation from the German word kuchen, meaning cake. The word is much used in the southern states of Brazil, where large numbers of German immigrants settled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and where German culture flourishes to this day. Among the most transportable of cultural elements, food traditions and recipes from Germany can be easily found in Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, the three states that constitute Brazil's southern region.

Cuca in Portuguese does not refer to all cakes - there's another word, bolo, to serve that purpose. A cuca is a specific kind of cake - the cake that North Americans call a coffee cake. Often containing fresh or preserved fruits, or alternatively, spices like cinnamon, ginger and cloves, cucas are not frosted. Instead they are topped by a crumbly mixture of flour, sugar and butter.

Cucas are most often flavored with apples and bananas, two fruits that grow particularly well in the climate of southern Brazil, though recipes for cuca exist that call for many other types of fruits - particularly fruits of the temperate zone, within which the south of Brazil lies.

Brazilians eat cuca as part of a breakfast buffet, or as a mid-morning or late-afternoon pick-me up with coffee. It's less likely to show up as a dessert, though that's not unheard of. For the millions of Brazilians who don't live in the south, a cuca is an entirely Brazilian conception and few of them would be able to spot its German origins. In areas where temperate zone fruits can't survive, apples or cherries are likely to be replaced by mangoes or cajus, making the treat more Brazilian and less German. But at heart, a cuca is still the same homey cake that is was in its European homeland, back it's still called a kuchen. In Germany a warm kuchen served with coffee at the kitchen table is a symbol of gemütlichkeit, in the USA or Canada a coffee cake served the same way symbolizes coziness, and in Brazil, a slice of cuca means aconchego. Whatever you call it, it still symbolizes the human warmth of the family kitchen and it still tastes just as great.

RECIPE - Drayman's/Maria-Isabel's Rice (Arroz de Carreteiro/Maria-Isabel)

We'll leave it up to the cook how he or she wants to baptize this dish when presenting it at the dinner table or on the buffet. As mentioned in yesterday's post on Flavors of Brazil, in the south of Brazil the dish has one name and in the northeast an entirely different one. The choice is yours. Either name, though, will yield the same delicious result.

More than a traditional side dish (because of the presence of the dried/salted meat) and less than a main course, arroz de carreteiro/arroz Maria-Isabel is nonetheless considered to be a side dish in Brazil, where meals tend to be large and dependent on abundant quantities of protein. If you want to serve it Brazilian style but don't want overkill, it pairs well with a small, thin grilled steak of any kind and a green salad.

The dish requires carne de sol, which is Brazil's traditional salt-preserved beef. It's available in butcher shops and supermarkets everywhere in Brazil, but normally not outside the country. Click here for an earlier article on Flavors of Brazil on how to make a good version of carne de sol in your freezer.

This recipe is for a very traditional, basic dish - very similar to how it might have originally been served. Some modern versions add sausage, other meats and additional seasonings, but this recipe is the stripped-down original.
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RECIPE - Drayman's/Maria-Isabel's Rice (Arroz de Carreteiro/Maria-Isabel)
Serves 6

2 lbs (1 kg) carne de sol (or charque)
4 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves, garlic
2 cups long-grain white rice
boiling water
3 Tbsp finely chopped parsley

24 hours befor cooking, cut the meat into small cubes, place in a bowl or ban, cover with cold water at soak in the refrigerator, changing the water at least 3 or 4 times, to desalt the meat. When ready to cook, drain and reserve.

In a heavy deep pan, heat the oil, and then fry the onion and garlic until the onion just begins to brown. Add the meat and continue to cook, stirring very frequently, until the meat is nicely browned.

Add the rice and continue to cook, stirring regularly, until all the rice is coated with the oil and is turning transparent. Pour in boiling water to cover the rice and to reach two fingers' height above the top of the rice. Reduce heat, tightly cover the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the water and is tender. This dish shouldn't be too dry, so if it seems to be so, add a small amount of water at the end of the cooking process, just enough to moisten the grains. Remove from the heat and let stand for ten minutes before serving.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

One Dish, Two Names - Drayman's or Maria-Isabel's Rice

Gauchos with drayman's cart

From the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, bordering Uruguay and Argentina, all the way to Brazil's semi-arid northeast is a distance of around 2000 miles (3200 km) as the crow flies and significantly farther by road. So it's not entirely unreasonable that there are large differences between the two regions - economic, racial, meteorological and cultural differences among others.

But there are also similarities shared by these regions at opposite ends of the country. They are united by language, by religion, by politics and by the media. Although they are miles apart, Rio Grande do Sul and the northeast are in many ways more similar than Rio Grande do Sul and either of its next-door neighbors, Uruguay or Argentina.

The proof of this is in the pudding. Or at least, if not in the pudding itself, somewhere in the kitchen. Many dishes, foodstuffs and techniques can be found both in Brazil's south and in its north, yet are absent just across the border in neighboring countries. Sometimes this is evident - a dish is known and loved across Brazil but totally unknown in neighbouring countries - but sometimes it's not. Although Brazilians in different regions might be sitting down to identical dishes at the family dinner table, they might not be aware of that, as they each call the dish something different.

arroz carreteiro

An prime example of this is a very traditional Brazilian dish of rice cooked with salted-dried meat. In southern Brazil it's known as Drayman's Rice (arroz de carreteiro) but in the northeast it's called Maria-Isabel's Rice (arroz Maria-Isabel). Same dish, different names. In fact, even the regional name for the salted-dried meat that is essential to this dish varies - in the south it's called charque (a Portuguese word related to English jerky) and in the north carne de sol (meat of the sun).

History makes it easy to see how southern Brazilians came to call the dish Drayman's Rice or Carter's Rice. This region was originally settled by ranchers who raised vast herds of cattle on the open plains of the region. The cowherds who tended the cattle often spent months out on the plains, far from the nearest ranch. A network of draymen, using ox-driven carts, serviced these remote locations, carrying anything that the cowherds needed that wasn't available locally. These draymen spent months on the trail following the herds, and they needed to be self-sufficient in everything, including food. Charque doesn't require refrigeration, nor does rice. All that's needed to prepare these ingredients is water and heat. Combining the two ingredients into one dish made sense, and once the practice of cooking rice and charque together became established, the dish was baptized Drayman's Rice.

In colonial times, the dry interior or northeast Brazil was also an area of cattle ranching, with the same settlement patterns as in the south. Here, presumably, draymen also travelled the trails of the backland bringing goods to the cowboys and ranchers, and presumably they ate the same dish of rice and dried meat. But for some unkown reason, in this region they chose to honor a certain, unknown Maria-Isabel when it came to naming the dish, ignoring drayman entirely. Who Maria-Isabel was, or what her association with the dish was, is lost to history and likely will never be known. But her name lingers on in the kitchens of northeastern Brazil.

Call it Drayman's Rice or Maria-Isabel's, Brazilians love the dish and it's a standard of traditional Brazilian gastronomy. Not fancy, but filling, nutritionally balanced, and comforting, it's an essential dish in the Brazilian culinary pantheon.

Next post, we'll provide a recipe for the dish.

RECIPE - Rice Pudding (Arroz Doce)

To kick off the recipe posts for Flavors of Brazil's Rice Week celebration, we thought it might be fun to start with the dessert course and work our way backwards. We've already published lots of rice recipes on the blog, but up to now they've all been for savory rice dishes. The use of sweetened rice as a dessert isn't unique to Brazilian cuisine of course - for example American and British cuisines are famous for their good old-fashioned boarding school rice puddings, which seem to be one of those dishes that people either love or hate, and in Thailand they make a wonderful dessert out of black rice cooked in coconut milk and served with cubes of fresh mango. Brazilian traditional cooking, particularly home cooking, has numerous variations on the basic dessert rice formula of rice, sugar, dairy and (optionally) eggs.

This recipe, simply named arroz doce or sweet rice is from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul and is clearly part of the Portuguese heritage in Brazilian cuisine. Hallmarks are the presence of egg yolks and the high level of sweetness - these are common traits in Portuguese sweet-baking traditions and are found in most recipes inherited from convent-bakeries in the old country. The use of sweetened condensed milk marks it as a Brazilian recipe.
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RECIPE - Rice Pudding (Arroz Doce)
Serves 4

1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp butter
1 quart (1 liter) milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
2 Tbsp granulated white sugar
grated peel of 1/2 lime
3 egg yolks
powdered cinnamon to taste
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In a thick-bottomed sauce pan, soak the rice in 2 cups cold water for 30 minutes. Add the salt and butter and heat over medium-low heat until the water just boils. Continue to cook the rice until enough water is absorbed to just reach the level of the rice in the pan.

Add the milk, the sweetened condensed milk, the sugar, the grated lime peel, and cinnamon to taste. Stir well to mix and continue to cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the rice absorbs almost all of the milk and the mixture has a creamy consistency.

Place four serving spoonsful of rice in a medium bowl and add the yolk, one by one, mixing each in well before adding the next. Return this mixture to the pan and cook the dish for 10 more minutes.

Remove from heat, transfer the pudding to a serving bowl or dish and let cool completely. Once cooled, you can serve this immediately at room temperature, or cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it if you wish to serve it cold. If desired, you can sprinkle additional powdered cinnamon on the dish just before serving.

RECIPE - Stuffed Flank Steak (Matambre Enrolado)

Anyone who has some knowledge of Argentinian cuisine might be taken aback to see a recipe entitled Matambre Enrolado in a blog called Flavors of Brazil. First because the name is Spanish, not Portuguese, and second, because matambre is one of Argentina's most iconic dishes - a piece of flank steak that is butterflied, filled with vegetables and sometimes sausages, then rolled, tied with kitchen twine and grilled.

In Argentina matambre is associated with the culture of the gauchos - Argentina's "cowboys", who herd cattle on the enormous ranches (estancias) of the pampas. There are traditional gaucho ways of dressing, traditional songs and music, traditional legends and stories and traditional cooking - all as much a part of Argentinian culture and mythology as the cowboys of the Far West are a part of American culture.

The southernmost state in Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, shares the gaucho culture with Argentina and Uruguay. In fact, in Brazil, the name for someone from Rio Grande do Sul is gaúcho - the only difference being an accent on the letter u and a three-syllable pronunciation of the word (gah-OO-shoo). Rio Grande do Sul's gaúcho cuisine is based in large part on grilling beef in all its forms, and the world-famous Brazilian style of steakhouses called churrascarias originated in Rio Grande do Sul.

So it's really no surprise that Argentina's matambre crossed the frontier between northern Argentina and southern Brazil and became naturalized as a Brazilian dish in Rio Grande do Sul. It's often the centerpiece of a day-long weekend meal in the country and is an excellent choice for a crowd. The word matambre means "kills hunger" and that is certainly does. It does take some time to prepare, but the cooking process itself, though long, doesn't require much attention, leaving you free to participate in the festivities. And once sliced and plated, it's visually spectacular with its embedded vegetables and sausage - a showcase dish for an important event. And because flank steak (fraldinha) is a common and relatively inexpensive cut of beef almost everywhere, this is one dish that can be made almost anywhere without having to worry about substituting ingredients.
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RECIPE - Stuffed Flank Steak (Matambre Enrolado)
Serves 8-10

1 whole flank steak, about 4 lbs (2 kgs)
1 Tbsp salt, or to taste
1/3 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup green onion, finely chopped
2 large onions, cut in thick slices
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 small chili pepper (jalapena, serrano or similar), seeded and finely chopped (optional)
1/4 lb (100 gr) smoked slab bacon, cut into large cubes
1/2 lb (250 gr) kielbasa or other garlic sausage, thickly sliced
3 large carrots, quartered lengthwise
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Trim the flank steak of any visible fat and season it with salt. On a large clean countertop or butcher block, butterfly the steak, leaving the two halves attached at one edge. Open the steak and spread it out.

Sprinkle the surface of the opened steak with the chopped parsley and green onion. Do the same with the optional hot chili pepper. Lay out all the other ingredients, trying to spread each of them out on the surface.

Starting at one of the short edges, carefully roll up the steak tightly. When completely rolled, tie it securely with kitchen twine, making sure that the stuffing ingredients cannot fall out the ends. Reserve, in refrigerator if not cooking immediately. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking, if required.

Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium heat. Place the rolled steak on the grill and sear the surface on all sides, turning the roll carefully. Total cooking time should be about 20 minutes. With two spatulas, remove the roll from the grill and wrap it tightly in aluminum foil. Return the roll to the grill and cook for about 2 hours, turning from time to time, over medium low heat.

Remove from grill and let stand for 10 minutes in the foil, then remove the foil and let stand for another 10 minutes. Cut into thick slices with a sharp knife and present on a large serving platter.

Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora.

White Honey from the Canyonlands

The highlands of southern Brazil stretch along the border between two states, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. These highlands are known for being the coldest region in the entire country and are loved by outdoorsmen and hikers for their dense forests and deep canyons. In the heart of this absolutely beautiful and relatively pristine landscape sits the small town of Cambará do Sul.

Cambará do Sul

Cambará do Sul is a popular regional center for eco-tourism and for a town of only seven thousand souls hosts a surprising number of small inns and a couple of simple, good restaurants. But the town's main claim to fame has nothing to do with hikes, treks or tramps. Cambará do Sul is the home of the rare, expensive and sought-after product of an animal popularly called guaripo (scientific name of Melipona bicolor schenckis.)

Guaripos are a species of stingless bees, found only in the forests of these canyonlands, and the product which brings them, and Cambará do Sul, such fame is the white honey that they produce. Because this honey is produced in such small quantities and because of its itense floral flavor - the honey preserves more than 90% of the perfume of the flowers from which it's derived - white honey has achieved cult-like status in Brazil and consequently commands a very high price. Whereas standard commercial honey sells in Brazil for about R$10 per kilo (USD$2.70 per pound), white guaripo honey sells for seven times that amount - R$70/kg or USD$19/lb.

Guaripos collect nectar from only two species of bushes, both of which have white, highly-perfumed flowers. The lack of pigment in these flowers causes the whiteness of the honey the guaripos produce. One of the bushes they feed on has a strange name in Portuguese, carne-de-vaca, meaning "cow meat." It is a member of the Clethra genus, and bears the common name sweet pepper bush in the USA. The other source of nectar is the gramimunha bush (scientific name Weinmannia paulliniifolia Pohl) which exists only in this region and which doesn't have a common name in English.

Among the seven thousand residents of Cambará do Sul are 100 apiculturalists. They produce more than 200 tons of honey each year, but only one-quarter of that, 50 tons, is white honey. It is the star attraction at Cambará do Sul's annual Honey Festival, held at the end of April or in early May. If you want to try Brazilian white honey you just might have to make a journey to Cambará do Sul - most of the year's production is sold during the festival. We here at Flavors of Brazil are most curious to try it, but haven't been able to source it here in Fortaleza, nearly 2000 miles as the guaripo flies, from Cambará do Sul.

RECIPE - Brazilian Grog (Quentão)

Thanks to Hollywood, TV travel shows and advertisements from the Brazilian Tourist Board, it isn't a surprise that most North Americans and Europeans think that Brazil is hot the year round. That's only partially true, however. If you're speaking of Brazil's north or northeast, like Fortaleza where Flavors of Brazil is based, it's definitely true. Today is typical weather in here Fortaleza, with daytime temperature of about 86F (30C) and dipping all the way down to 77F (25C) in the overnight hours. Fortaleza's temperatures don't vary more than a degree or two throughout the year - there's really no summer or winter.

In the southernmost reaches of Brazil, on the other hand, there are four distinct seasons, and the temperature at times is much lower than you might expect. The mountainous regions of the state of Rio Grande do Sul regularly reach freezing temperatures during the winter months, around 30F (-2C), and the winter median temperature is a chilly 45F (7C). And since Brazil lies south of the equator, those cold, damp winter months are June and July - right about now.

To celebrate Brazilian winter, such as it is, Flavors of Brazil thought it would be fun to feature a recipe for a hot winter drink from Rio Grande do Sul - just what one needs to take the winter chill off, whether in December in Canada or Sweden, or in July in Brazil. Hot drinks, spiked with alcohol, are favorite warmer-uppers in many cultures. Brazil is no exception - though, since this is Brazil, the alcohol of choice naturally is cachaça.
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RECIPE - Brazilian Grog (Quentão)
4 drinks

1 cup (250 ml) cachaça
1 lime, sliced thinly
1 small orange, sliced thinly
1 cup orange juice (fresh-squeezed if possible)
8 whole dried cloves
4 sticks cinnamon - about 2" (3 cm) each
1 piece fresh ginger, peeled, about 1" (2 cm) long
1/2 cup (or less) sugar
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In a large saucepan mix all the ingredients, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil over low heat, and let boil slowly for about one minute only. Remove from heat.

Divide between four tumblers or mugs. Distribute the clove and cinnamon sticks between the drinks; discard the ginger. The slices of lime and orange can optionally be added to the drinks, or discarded. Serve immediately while still very hot.

RECIPE - Spring Chicken (Galeto al Primo Canto)

This recipe comes from a restaurant in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, called Don Nicola. It is one of the most traditional of the many, many restaurants in the city that specialize in Galeto al primo canto. The dish is so popular at Don Nicola that there is only one dish on the menu - Galeto al primo canto. It comes served with either spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce, or with olive oil and garlic sauce or with butter sauce. That's the extent of the choice. As they say at Don Nicola - take it or leave it.

Apparently most people chose to take it, as the restaurant estimates that they've served more than two million portions since opening over 40 years ago. The owner, Luigi Magno, is an Italian immigrant to Brazil, and brought his recipe with him when he left Calabria for South America. It was created by his aunt, sometime in the 1920s.

Galeto al primo canto can be grilled over charcoal or on a rotisserie, but the most traditional way to cook the small bird is between two hot griddles, pressing the chicken as it cooks. (The mechanism is something like those double griddles in which Italian panini are made, only much larger.) The recipe below is adaptable to any of the cooking methods.
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RECIPE - Spring Chicken (Galeto al Primo Canto)
Serves 6

6 small frying chickens (may be substituted with cornish game hens)
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
1 bottle (750 ml) dry white wine
2 Tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp green onions, green part only, finely chopped
3 sprigs fresh marjoram (optional)
pinch nutmeg
salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
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The night before serving, prepare the chickens. Remove the skin, then spatchcock each chicken (Click here for a good demonstration of spatchcocking.) Put all the remaining ingredients in a large blender, and blend until you have a homogenous marinade. Correct the marinade for salt.

In a glass or metal roasting pan or lasagne pan, lay out the chickens, then pour the marinade over them. Turn the chickens in the marinade to assure they are well covered with it. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Once or twice during that time, turn the chickens in the marinade.

The following day, take the chickens out of the refrigerator about one hour before cooking. Grill the chickens on a gas or charcoal barbeque, with or without a rotisserie attachment. If not using a rotisserie, turn the chickens over only once. Grill until the chickens are nicely browned, and the juices run clear. Do not overcook.

Serve immediately with a simple tomato and lettuce salad, and a side of spaghetti with sauce of your choice.

Recipe translated and adapted from Viagem Gastronômico através do Brasil by Caloca Fernandes.

Porto Alegre's Spring Chicken - Galeto al Primo Canto

Since Flavors of Brazil has spent most of this week in the far northern reaches of Brazil, with posts about the markets, seafood and fruits of the Amazonian rain forest, we thought it might be fun to take a virtual flight south, nearly two thousand miles by air, to the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, and its capital Porto Alegre. That's the equivalent distance north-south of a flight from New York to Aruba, or from London to the Canary Islands.

The south of Brazil is a very different place from the north of the country. The climate is temperate with distinct winter and summer seasons. The bulk of the population has its genetic roots in Europe (Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain) rather than in the New World or Africa. Even the way southerners speak Portuguese is different, with a unique accent and local vocabulary. And naturally the food is worlds away from the exotic fish, meats and fruits seen in the Ver-o-Peso Market in Belém.

Porto Alegre, despite its name which means "Happy Port" in Portuguese, is not a maritime city - it's located on a lagoon and is about 40 miles from the open sea. The food of Porto Alegre, therefore, is characterized by its dependence on meat and poultry as a protein, not on fish and seafood. Additionally, the immigrant communities of Rio Grande do Sul arrived with their culinary memories of Europe in their baggage, so German, Italian and Spanish-derived dishes predominate.

One dish that that displays these characteristics - probably the most famous local dish in Porto Alegre - is called Galeto al Primo Canto. Galeto is the Portuguese word for a very young chicken, slaughtered when less than a month old. In French, this type of young bird is known as "poussin" and in English, it's called a spring chichen (as in the expression "He's no spring chicken.") The remainder of the name (al primo canto) isn't Portuguese at all; it's Italian, and it means "at first song." It was Italian immigrants who created the dish in Brazil, and they used young chickens in place of small wild songbirds that were cooked the same way back in the mother country.

The preparation of Galeto al Primo Canto is simplicity itself. First, the chicken is spatchcocked - that is to say, the backbone and sternum are removed, and then the bird is flattened out. Next, the bird is marinated overnight, and finally, it is either charcoal-grilled, rotisserie-grilled or pressed between two hot griddles to cook. It is served normally with a simple lettuce-and-tomato salad and a side of spaghetti with tomato sauce.

In our next post, we'll feature a recipe for Galeto al Primo Canto from one of Porto Alegre's most famous shrines to this dish - one where the owners estimate they've served more than 2.5 million portions of this dish in the 40+ years that they've been open.

On the Road - Rio de Janeiro (Pt. 4) - São Pedro Fish Market, Niterói

If Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's San Francisco, a comparison that's been made many times, then the city of Niterói on the other side of the Bay of Guanabara is its Oakland. Connected to Rio by a trans-bay bridge, Niterói is less cosmopolitan, less glamourous and less wealthy than Rio. If Gertrude Stein had been from Niterói she might have written "Não tem ai ai" about that city instead of "There's no there there" about Oakland.

Apart from a spectacular museum of contemporary art designed by the famed Brazilian architect Oscar Neimeyer, Niterói doesn't have much to draw the tourists away from the beaches, bars, shops and restaurants of Rio de Janeiro. Except for tourists like Flavors of Brazil, for whom Niterói possesses a location of great interest - its fish market, named after St. Peter (São Pedro). For reasons of geography and access to fishing grounds up and down the coast of Brazil, it makes sense to have the area's regional fish market in Niterói, not in Rio de Janeiro itself.

Housed in a non-prepossessing industrial style building near the waterfront, the Mercado São Pedro is one of the world's great fish markets. The variety and quality of fish and seafood available in amazing - and with the exception of farmed salmon which comes from the cold waters off of Chile, it's all local. You won't find cold water fish here, only the bounty of the tropical oceans and freshwater lagoons of Brazil.

The first floor of the market is divided into retail stalls for direct sales to customers. One floor above is a collection of bar/restaurants. Fish market customers often choose their fish or seafood downstairs, carry it upstairs to one of the restaurants, and have it cooked and served to them right then and there. The next post here on Flavors of Brazil will discuss these restaurants.

The best way to show the range of products available at Mercado São Pedro, their freshness and presentation, is through photos. The following were all taken on day in late December 2010 at the market, and give some indication of what's available for sale at any given time.

The market is easy to reach from Rio de Janeiro by bus/bridge, or by ferry and a short walk from the pier. For anyone who is a tourist in Rio and wants a gastronomic day-away from the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, you can't do better than an excursion to Niterói's fish market - plan to be there at lunch time so you can choose your own fish or shellfish for lunch upstairs, and if possible, go during the week, when it tends to be somewhat less busy.

(click on photos to enlarge)

tuna

fish stall

shrimp

shrimp vendor

dourado (dolphin fish, mahi-mahi)

fish cut into steaks

unidentified tropical fish

octopus

dourado fillets

cavaquinha

sardines

roe

pargo

On the Road - Rio de Janeiro (Pt. 3) - RECIPE Filé Osvaldo Aranha

The garlic-covered steak known in Rio de Janeiro as filé Osvaldo Aranha and served in bars, steakhouses and fine restaurants around the city is a delicious combination of good-quality beef, crunchy fried garlic, and generous helpings of three side dishes. Named in honor of Brazilian politician and diplomat Osvaldo Aranha. this dish packs a whallop of protein and carbs, and the usual practice is for a single order to be shared between two people. In an earlier age when people had time for a leisurely lunch and a nap afterwards it might have been possible for a diner to polish off an order of filé Osvaldo Aranha singlehandedly, but in todays more rushed and health-conscious society, one plate will nicely satisfy two people.

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RECIPE Filé Osvaldo Aranha
Serves 2

Steak
2  filé mignons, at least 1 inch (3 cm) thick, about 1/2 lb (225 gr) each

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Farofa
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup (125 ml) manioc flour (farinha) - available in Latin American markets
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. finely chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp. finely chopped green onion
salt and pepper to taste

Home-chipped potatoes
1 large potato, peeled and very thinly sliced
neutral vegetable oil for frying
salt to taste

Plain white rice
Made in your accustomed way

Prepare the farofa. In a large heavy frying pan, melt the butter, then add the chopped onions and fry until transparent Add the beaten egg. Let set slightly, then using a spoon break the eggs up into small pieces. Add the manioc flour and cook for approximately 3 minutes, or until the flour just begins to toast. Remove from heat, then salt to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and green onion and reserve, keeping warm.

Prepare the potatoes. In a deep heavy frying pan, or deep-fryer, heat sufficient quantity of oil until hot but not smoking. Add the potato slices, in batches if needed to avoid overcrowding. Fry until golden, then drain the potatoes on paper towels. Season to taste and reserve, keeping warm.

Prepare the steak. In a heavy frying pan, preferably cast iron, heat the 1 Tbsp. of the butter until it melts and begins to bubble. Season the steaks liberally with salt and pepper and grill them in the frying pan for about 4 minutes per side, depending on thickness of steak and desired degree of doneness. Meanwhile, heat the remaining Tbsp. of butter in another small fying pan, and fry the garlic slices until crispy and golden.

Serving the dish. On each of two plates, place on steak, then top it with half of the fried garlic, with some of the butter the garlic was cooked in. Accompany the steak with servings of farofa, potatoes and white rice, either separately served, or mixed together at the very last minute, as desired.

RECIPE - Sausage Frittata (Fritada de Ovos com Linguiça)

As a bit of a break from things Maranhão-esque, here's a quick and easy recipe from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in almost all ways the cultural opposite of Maranhão in Brazil's northeast. It's 2000 miles as the crow flies from São Luis, the capital of Maranhão, to Rio Grande do Sul's capital, Porto Alegre, but the two regions are worlds apart in almost every respect. They're as different as Boston and Las Vegas, or Quebec City and Calgary. So, for a change of pace, Flavors of Brazil offers up this go-to recipe for a quick and light main course that serves equally well for brunch or supper.
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RECIPE - Sausage Frittata (Fritada de Ovos com Linguiça)
Serves 4

1 Tbsp. neutral vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 12-inch length of cured sausage - kielbasa, chorizo, linguiça, andouille style
1 small onion, finely chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
6 large eggs
1 Tbsp. Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. green onion, green part only, finely chopped

Finely slice the sausage into thin rounds. Reserve.

In a large frying pan heat the oil, then add the chopped garlic and sausage and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the garlic and sausage slices begin to brown. Add the onion, cook for a few more minutes, until the onion is transparent but not browned.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs lightly. Add this mixture to the frying pan containing the sausages. Lower the heat and cook, delicately mixing in the eggs. Continue until the eggs are cooked, but still moist.

Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, stir in the chopped parsley and green onion and serve immediately.

Translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora

RECIPE - Rice with Dried Peaches (Arroz com Origone)

This side-dish of sweetened, spiced rice flavored with origone, the traditional dried and pressed peach preparation of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state, is served in its home territory along side a main course of poultry, or less often red meat. Combining the savory flavor of meat with the sweetness of dried fruits is a culinary tradition that the Moors brought to the Iberian peninsula during the 700 years that they occupied that territory, and was then brought to South America by Spanish and Portuguese explorers and colonizers.

This dish, although meant to be served as an accompaniment to a main course of meat, is quite sweet. This is not unusual for the Brazilian palate, which loves combining sweet and salty flavors, and which has a tolerance for extremely sweet dishes. The quantity of sugar called for in this recipe, an authentic gaúcho dish, is large - 1 cup. To my taste, the dish is more pleasing with a much-reduced quantity of sugar, about 1/4 of what's called for in the dish. Feel free to limit the amount of sugar if you wish - the result will still be delicious, and the flavor of the peaches will be highlighted, a small price to pay for a loss of authenticity, I think.

I like to serve this with roast chicken, but I'm sure it would go well with lamb stews, pot roasts or even with grilled sausages. The recipe calls for origone, which are pressed as well as dried, but common dried peaches work well. I would think that dried apricot could successfully be substituted as well, but cannot vouch for that.
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RECIPE - Rice with Dried Peaches (Arroz com Origone)

1/4 lb (100 gr) origone (or dried peaches or apricots)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
4 cups of boiling water
1 cup dark brown sugar
5 whole cloves
1 cup white rice
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
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Wash the origone or dried peaches in running water, then place in large glass or ceramic mixing bowl. Pour over 4 cups of boiling water, then let stand for at least one hour. Remove the peaches, reserving the water in which they were reconstituted. Let the peaches cool, then cut into small cubes. Reserve.

Put the 1/4 cup sugar in a medium pan, then heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Do not let it burn. Remove from heat, then carefully add the reserved water - the sugar will sputter when the water is added. Then add the reserved peaches and cloves, bring to a boil, and let boil gently for about 15 minute or until the peaches are cooked and soft.

Add the rice, and with the pan partially covered, let cook until most of the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. Add the butter and the additional sugar, plus one cup of boiling water, and let cook, uncovered, until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is dry. Remove from heat, cover the pan, and let stand for 10 minutes.

Put the rice into a lightly buttered mold, press down, then unmold onto a serving platter. Serve immediately.

INGREDIENTS - Origone

A popular food from the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, origone are a form of pressed, dried peaches. Rio Grande do Sul is much less tropical than most of Brazil, lying in the temperate climate zone, so fruits that are cultivated in North America and Europe, like peaches, cherries, apples and grapes, can be grown there and nowhere else in Brazil. In most of Brazil there is not enough of a cool-weather season to generate the period of dormancy that these fruits require. In Rio Grande do Sul, on the other hand, there is a distinct winter season, with occasional snow at higher altitudes, and so temperate-climate fruits flourish.

The culture of Rio Grande do Sul has always been influenced by the culture of its neighboring Spanish-speaking countries, Uruguay and Argentina. To this day, inhabitants of Rio Grande do Sul are called gaúchos, the name given to the cowboys of the pampas throughout southern South America. The Portuguese name for these dried peaches, origone, derives from the Spanish word orejón meaning "big ear." When I was a kid I used to call dried apricots and peaches "dried ears" - the resemblance was clear to me. I guess that I wasn't the only to notice that resemblance.

Origone has a long history in the southern part of Brazil. In early times, drying fruit in the sun was a common and reliable way to preserve the bounty of the harvest for eating later in the year. The gauchos were often away from their homes for much of the year, herding cattle on the treeless expanses of the pampas. They had to carry much of their foodstuffs along with them and origone was light and easy to carry and store. The concentrated sugar and vitamins in these dried fruits also made them a valuable nutritive source when fresh fruits were not an option..

What once was made and eaten out of necessity became a food habit in Rio Grande do Sul, and origone is now considered one of the regions traditional ingredients. Although origone is delicious eaten "as is", it's more often reconstituted by cooking and eaten as a sweet dessert, or part of a savory dish of rice or meat. However it's eaten, it's symbolic of Rio Grande do Sul, and of that state's gaúcho culture.

These are Brazilian Dishes?? (REPOST)

(Please click here to read about this series of reposts of original posts from May 24, 2010 to June 12, 2010)

Imagine that you just bought a book of Brazilian regional cuisine. It has a beautiful cover and you thought it would be nice to have a book of Brazilian recipes in your collection of cookbooks. When you get it home and open it up to thumb through some recipes you find recipes for these dishes: lasagne, gnocchi, beefsteak tartare, chucrute, spatzle, Kassler rippen, and even knackwurstchen mit sauerkraut und salat. You'd think that somehow the wrong cover got put on the wrong book, and what you had was not a Brazilian cookbook but a German or Italian one. If your new book was about the regional cuisine of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, however,then those recipes are exactly the ones you  should expect to find, as they are the typical foods of this state of immigrants, particularly from Germany and Italy.

Southern Brazil is different from the rest of the country in topography, climate, racial and ethnic mixture, and all forms of culture, including cuisine. The three southern states, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, share a temperate climate that is very different from most of Brazil, which is tropical year-round. In the mountains of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul temperatures fall to freezing or below frequently during the winter months of June, July and August. Most of the current population of these states can look back up the family tree to find ancestors living in Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, Lebanon or Syria. And like descendants of immigrants around the world they continue to honor their immigrant heritage. Village festivals might include Oktoberfest-style beer tents and oom-pa-pa bands in lederhosen. Italian holidays are celebrated, as is the grape harvest with wine festivals. It's very different from the beach, sun and palm tree picture postcard image that most people carry in their minds when they think of Brazil.

But just as Carmela Soprano's baked ziti cooked at her home in New Jersey is not the same thing as her great-grandmother cooked in Italy, the dishes of these states, although they might have a name that comes from the family homeland, have been molded and modified by the years spent in Brazil. It's interesting to see what has changed over the course of a trans-oceanic voyage and a century or two in the New World, and what has not. In the next few posts, I'll give you some recipes from this region that reflect the immigrant heritage of southern Brazil. One thing for certain, the ingredients will not be difficult to find anywhere in North America or Europe. This is the cuisine of temperate climates, and the ingredients are very similar to areas with similar climates north of the equator.

RECIPE - Goulash

The previous two posts on Flavors of Brazil highlighted the German and the Italian components of the southern states of Brazil. It was from these two countries that came the bulk of the non-Portuguese European flow of immigrants to southern Brazil in the 19th and early 20th century.

They were not the only European countries that contributed the the European-originating ethnic mix that is found today in Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul. Immigrants arrived in these three states from Spain, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Russia.

Each group, of course, brought with them their cultural heritage - language, music, customs, dress, religion and food. Much of this heritage has been retained, resulting in the unique cultural mosaic that is shared in these states.


We've already posted on Flavors of Brazil a German recipe from Santa Catarina, an Italian one from Paraná, and now one from Rio Grande do Sul which came to the South Atlantic shores of Brazil with immigrants from the Austo-Hungarian Empire and which has been as enthusiastically adopted in Brazil as it has in similar circumstances in North America.

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RECIPE - Goulash
Serves 6

2 lbs. (1 kg.) stewing beef, cut into small cubes
1 large onion, chopped
2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp. neutral vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 dry red wine
1 tsp. paprkia (preferably Hungarian)
1 cup light low-sodium beef broth
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. cold water
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Heat the oil in a medium-to-large heavy saucepan over medium heat, then add the cubed meat to brown - in two batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding.  When all the meat is browned and returned to the pan, add the onion, tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and garlic, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Then add the wine, the paprika and the beef broth. Reduce heat, partially cover the pan, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the beef is tender. Mix the flour and water to make a paste, then add to the goulash in the pan. Let cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and lost its raw-flour taste. Serve immediately with noodles or white rice.

Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora. 

These are Brazilian Dishes??

Imagine that you just bought a book of Brazilian regional cuisine. It has a beautiful cover and you thought it would be nice to have a book of Brazilian recipes in your collection of cookbooks. When you get it home and open it up to thumb through some recipes you find recipes for these dishes: lasagne, gnocchi, beefsteak tartare, chucrute, spatzle, Kassler rippen, and even knackwurstchen mit sauerkraut und salat. You'd think that somehow the wrong cover got put on the wrong book, and what you had was not a Brazilian cookbook but a German or Italian one. If your new book was about the regional cuisine of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, however,then those recipes are exactly the ones you  should expect to find, as they are the typical foods of this state of immigrants, particularly from Germany and Italy.

Southern Brazil is different from the rest of the country in topography, climate, racial and ethnic mixture, and all forms of culture, including cuisine. The three southern states, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, share a temperate climate that is very different from most of Brazil, which is tropical year-round. In the mountains of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul temperatures fall to freezing or below frequently during the winter months of June, July and August. Most of the current population of these states can look back up the family tree to find ancestors living in Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, Lebanon or Syria. And like descendants of immigrants around the world they continue to honor their immigrant heritage. Village festivals might include Oktoberfest-style beer tents and oom-pa-pa bands in lederhosen. Italian holidays are celebrated, as is the grape harvest with wine festivals. It's very different from the beach, sun and palm tree picture postcard image that most people carry in their minds when they think of Brazil.

But just as Carmela Soprano's baked ziti cooked at her home in New Jersey is not the same thing as her great-grandmother cooked in Italy, the dishes of these states, although they might have a name that comes from the family homeland, have been molded and modified by the years spent in Brazil. It's interesting to see what has changed over the course of a trans-oceanic voyage and a century or two in the New World, and what has not. In the next few posts, I'll give you some recipes from this region that reflect the immigrant heritage of southern Brazil. One thing for certain, the ingredients will not be difficult to find anywhere in North America or Europe. This is the cuisine of temperate climates, and the ingredients are very similar to areas with similar climates north of the equator.

Mate - A Brazilian variety of tea

The dictionary offers two definitions of the word tea. One is an infusion in hot water of the leaves of Camellia sinensis , the plant which give us our common black and green teas. The second definition of tea is an unfusion in hot water of the flowers, leaves, or stems of any plant. Examples of such teas include camomile, mint, or linden. 


Brazilians do not drink much tea (in the first sense of the word). But as I have been discussing in the past few posts (click here or here) they do drink enormous quantities of mate, derived from the plant erva-mate. In southern regions, it's mostly drunk in the form of the traditional chimarrão. In all parts of Brazil, however, people drink something which they call chá mate. Chá is the Portuguese word for tea, and so chá mate merely means mate tea. The difference between chimarrão and chá mate is that in chimarrão the leaves of the plant are dried, but are still green, whereas in chá mate, they are toasted. You can think of it as being the same as the distinction between green tea and black tea.

 Chá mate can be bought in supermarkets in bulk or in tea bags, and can be used to make a hot drink like a "good cup of tea."  In Brazil's tropical climate, however, the appeal of hot tea is considerably lessened, and a good portion of the  consumed in Brazil is drunk in the form of iced tea, either home-made, or purchased in the form of pre-made, pre-sweetened, and often flavored iced drinks. It's a very refreshing however it's made, and makes a great thirst quencher at the beach, or in the hot sun. The commercial product, in line with Brazilian preference, tends to be very sweet, and so if you prefer a less-sweet drink, it's best to make it yourself, and keep some in the refrigerator at home.


Toasting the leaves of erva-mate do not seem to interfere with it's healthful qualities. Studies at the University of Santa Catarina indicate the the cholesterol-lowering properties of erva-mate are not reduced by toasting, and that drinking chá mate is equally beneficial in this regard as drinking chimarrão.

Chimarrão - The Gaúcho Way to Drink Erva-Mate

In an earlier post on Flavors of Brazil, I wrote about the plant erva-mate (or in Spanish, yerba mate) which is the iconic drink of a large part of southern South America. You can read about the plant here. Throughout the southern cone of South America, the leaves of the erva-mate plant are used to create a variety of drinks - some hot, some cold, some with green fresh leaves, some with dry leaves, some bitter, some sweet. In this post, we'll discuss the way erva-mate is most commonly drunk in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul - in the drink known as Chimarrão.

In Brazilian Portuguese, the inhabitants of Rio Grande do Sul are called Gaúchos. Gaúcho in Portuguese carries the same original meaning it does in Argentinian Spanish - referring to the ranchers and cowboys of the vast pampas of this region. In Portuguese, the word is pronounced slightly differently than in Spanish, as "ga-OO-shoe." To most present-day Brazilians, however, a Gaúcho means nothing more than a person who lives in Rio Grande do Sul, and the word has lost its connections to ranching and cowboys.

Even though most Gaúchos have little or nothing to do with cattle ranching, the culture of the original cowboy gaúchos is still very much present in the south of Brazil. This can be seen in the cuisine of Rio Grande do Sul, and heard in the music; both derive from traditional  gaúcho ways.

Many Gaúchos make drinking erva-mate a daily habit; indeed, many drink it continually all day. In the streets or in the parks of any city in Rio Grande do Sul, at work or at home, a significant part of the population will be drinking erva-mate in the form of chimarrão at any given time. And it's easy to spot who's drinking chimarrão, because the apparatus used, and the ritual of preparation are unique to this type of tea. For many visitors to Porto Alegre, or other cities of this state, the sight of omnipresent chimarrão drinkers is one of their strongest memories when they return home.

Chimarrão is a drink made by infusing dried leaves and stems of the erva-mate plant in hot water (not boiling water which makes it bitter). The essential equipment, other than the tea itself includes a thermos jar of hot water, a cuia and a bomba. The cuia is a dried gourd, usually rounded or egg-shaped, which has been hollowed out and dried, often carved or ornamented with worked gold or silver. A bomba is simply a hollow metallic "straw" with a filter at one end, from which the  chimarrão is drunk.

To make chimarrão, some erva-mate leaves are placed in the bottom of the cuia, then hot water is poured over them, and left to steep. After a few minutes it is ready to drink.

The etiquette and ritual of drinking chimarrão is detailed and unvarying. Chimarrão is a social drink, and there are strict rules which must be obeyed when drinking it with others. The "host/hostess", the person who is offering the drink, must be the first person to pour hot water over the tea, and also the first person to drink. This is considered altruistic, as the first infusion is the strongest, and can be bitter. When he or she has drunk all the chimarrão he must refill the cuia with hot water from the thermos, and pass the drink and the thermos to the next person (usually people are served in order of importance, socially or economically). That person in turn must drink all the chimarrão, then refill the cuia and pass it to the next person along with the thermos. In turn, each person in the group receives the cuia filled with chimarrão , drinks it, refills the cuia and passes it on. It is considered extremely bad manners not to drink all the chimarrão, and to leave some in the cuia for the next person. To show to the group that one has drunk all the chimarrão, it is considered polite to drink until the bomba makes a gurgling sound, indicating there is no more liquid in the cuia.

 Chimarrão is not the only drink made from erva-mate, but it is definitely the most important one culturally. Drinking chimarrão with family, colleagues or friends creates a social bond, and fosters one's identity as a  Gaúcho.

In future posts, I'll talk about some of the other drinks made from this very special type of holly.