INGREDIENTS OF BRAZIL - Feijão Manteiga (Butter Beans)

If the Lord's Prayer were colloquially translated into Brazilian Portuguese, those who recited it wouldn't ask for their "daily bread" but rather for their "daily rice and beans." In the biblical prayer bread represents the food required to sustain the body, and for millions of Brazilians, rich or poor, it's not bread that they eat every day of their life, it's rice and beans.

The beans that Brazilians eat on a daily basis are not, of course, green beans. They are dried legumes that have been reconstituted and cooked in liquid until tender. In fact, Brazilians don't even use the word feijão (which means bean) when referring to green beans. They have another word, vargem, for this vegetable and don't consider it a bean at all. Beans mean dried beans, full stop.

There are numerous varieties of dried beans eaten in Brazil, ranging from black beans to white ones, and from large kidney beans to small pea-shaped varieties. The choice of bean is often regional, and most people in Brazil do not eat one type of bean on Monday, another on Tuesday, etc. The bean they eat is always the same. If a Brazilian was raised on black beans, that's likely all he or she eats, and if it was carioca beans served at the family table, that'll be the bean of choice forever.

One bean that is very strictly regional is called feijão manteiga, which translated literally into English means butter bean. However, the bean is not the same as the lima bean, which is called butter bean in many regions of the USA. That bean is called feijão-de-lima in Brazil. The bean on which Brazilians have bestowed the moniker feijão manteiga is a medium-size, light brown bean about the size and shape of a pinto bean, but without the mottling that gives that bean its name.

The Brazilian butter bean is well-named, for it has a rich creaminess when properly cooked, and this richness gives it the mouth feel of butter, though there is almost no fat in the bean. The taste is also characteristically nutty with a hint of sweetness. It's one of the most flavorful and delicious of all the thousands of varieties of dried beans.

Feijão manteiga is eaten primarily in Brazil's north and northeast, and in the state of  São Paulo, and is not well known in other regions of the country.

In the next post on Flavors of Brazil, we'll publish a traditional recipe from São Paulo for this delicious legume.

FREVO - Home of São Paulo's Best Beirute

Named after the frenetic dance whose rhythms drive the Carnavals of Recife and Olinda in Brazil's northeastern state of Pernambuco, Frevo restaurant has been a luncheonette institution in São Paulo since it first opened its doors in 1956. Frevo, situated on the city's toniest shopping street, Oscar Freire, has been the restaurant of choice for hungry shoppers for years, and has spawned branches throughout  the city.

Frevo's decor is something to behold. Call it retro-diner mixed with elements of 1950's Brazilian design, all preserved marvelously. There is the obligatory counter, of course, with stools upholstered in red naugahyde. The same material covers the dining chairs in the restaurant's table-service area. On the white walls float wire-and-wood scupltures of frevo dancers, some lifting high the small umbrella that frevo dancers use to balance, just like tightrope walkers. It's worth a visit to Frevo just to see the interior design.

However, the crowds that fill the restaurant daily don't return time after time to admire the decor. They are back because of the food. No restaurant can flourish for 55 years on design alone - only good food merits that kind of success.

The menu at Frevo features pizzas, sandwiches and burgers, plus sundaes, pies and other diner standards. The most popular of Frevo's sandwiches is their take on a beirute, a Syrio-Lebanese pita-bread sandwich that has become a Brazilian favorite. (Click here to read more about the history of the beirute). The restaurant's beirute is so well-loved that it was named São Paulo's best in this years Best of São Paulo competition. The prizes in this competition are awarded based on public votes, not on the votes of food professionals or journalists, as are some other gastronomic competitions.

At Frevo, they serve a classic beirute, without pretention and with no 21st-century additions. It's simply roast beef, melted cheese, sliced tomato and a dusting of oregano, all served in a toasted pita. There are two sizes - the large (enough for two normal eaters) which sells for R$22 (about USD $11) and the small (individual) which goes for R$12.30 ($6.15).

If someday you happen to be shopping in Oscar Freire street's designer stores - Calvin Klein, Cartier, etc. - and suddenly feel a pang of hunger, stop off at Frevo for a beirute and a look at the decor. You'll be glad that you did.

An Homage - Chico César

Presumably the Brazilian singer/songwriter, journalist, activist and politician Chico César loves to eat, as his music, his lyrics and his writings are full of the absolute delight in sensual enjoyment in all its forms. But, in reality, he has little to do directly with Brazilian gastronomy - the nominal subject of this blog.

However, having attended a stupendous show of this remarkable artist last night in Fortaleza, it's impossible for us not to honor him with his own post here on Flavors of Brazil. Among all the flavors of this vibrant country, he is one of the richest, and certainly among the spiciest.

Chico César comes from Brazil's long-suffering northeast, from the tiny state of Paraíba, and he has long been a champion of his state and of his region. His music reflects the rhythms and dance styles of the northeast - from the frevo of Recife's Carnaval, to the endemic dance rhythm, forró, and on to the tradition of folk ballads from the harsh sertão in the interior of the northeast that punishes those that live in it and love it.

His career began as a journalist in Brazil's biggest city, São Paulo, where he learned to play guitar (marvelously) and began to compose his first tunes. From the beginning his lyrics became known for their linguistic cleverness, complexity and beauty. Unfortunately, as with all poets, his lyrics are practically impossible to translate, at least in all their richness of allusion and connotation. But take it as gospel that they can be beautiful, moving, hilarious, and ascerbic - sometimes all at once.

He was never satisfied just to be a popular musician and composer, though that he was, with success in Brazil and Europe, and in 2009 he returned to the capital of his native Paraíba, João Pessoa, where he assumed the presidency of the city's Cultural Foundation. In 2010, he took the post of Minister of Culture for the state, a position he holds today, even as he continues to write music, release CDs and DVDs and tour.

In honor of this great Brazilian, our blog will feature traditional recipes from Paraíba in the next few posts. In the meantime, do yourself the favor of searching out Chico César on the usual spots on the Internet. You won't be disappointed. To get you started, here's a video of his from YouTube that showcases just a few of the aspects of his artistry. It was filmed in his hometown and co-stars his family and neighbors. It's called Mama Africa and the lyrics are in praise of the African spirit that inhabits and inspires the poor and downtrodden of the northeast.
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RECIPE - Left-over Rice (Arroz de lambiragem)

Since the vast majority of Brazilians eat rice every day, usually at the mid-day meal, it's not uncommon for there to be some rice left over when the family stands up from the table at the end of the meal. No one, especially a Brazilian home cook, wants to run out of rice in the middle of a meal, so the temptation is to cook just a little bit more than what a cook estimates will be eaten during a meal.

If the left-over rice is a small quantity, it can be thrown out or composted, but if there's a significant quantity, it's usually put away for eating at a later time. At least in frugal Brazilian kitchens it is. Brazilians strongly believe that it's a crime (if not a sin) to throw away good food. Perhaps this is a relic of Brazil's past, when poverty meant that people sometimes starved to death, or perhaps it's just that it's just good Brazilian common sense not to waste food. Whatever the reason, from time to time there will be left-over rice in the fridge, ready to be re-used and recycled.

So what do Brazilian cooks do with this rice? This recipe, from São Paulo chef Carlos Ribeiro, is a restaurant-style reimagining of a traditional Brazilian way to serve left-over rice. In the recipe, rice is combined with whatever other left-overs might be on hand and fried in the style of Asian fried rice. It make perfect economic and ecologic sense to empty the refrigerator of all left-overs, and it makes great culinary sense, as the dish is tasty, satisfying and filling.

A recipe such as this one is a framework for creating a dish, not a step-by-step gastronomic manual. Therefore, there are no quantities given and all ingredients (except rice) are optional.
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RECIPE - Left-over Rice (Arroz de Lambiragem)

cooked rice, white or brown
whole eggs, lightly beaten
butter
neutral vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
left-overs of the day (meat, chicken, fish, potatoes), cut into bite-sized pieces
ripe tomato, seeded and chopped
onions, chopped
olives, pitted and chopped
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In a large frying pan, combine the oil and butter and heat until the butter is melted and the oil is hot. Add the eggs and cook without stirring until done. Remove from the pan, rip into strips and reserve.

Add all the other ingredients except the rice to the pan. Cook and stir for a minute or two, then add the rice and continue to cook, stirring frequently until the rice is very hot. Mix in the reserved egg, season for salt and pepper and serve immediately.

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.

RECIPE - Café au Lait Pots-de-creme (Potinho cremoso café com leite)

This astonishingly contemporary recipe is the last one in Flavors of Brazil's trilogy of 19th century recipes from Fazenda Capoava Ranch and Hotel in the state of São Paulo. Like our two previous recipes from the hotel's restaurant, this simple and elegant dessert was adapted from the original hand-written recipes found in the hotel's archives by Heloísa Bacellar, a reknowned chef from São Paulo (the city).

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RECIPE - Café au Lait Pots-de-creme (Potinho cremoso café com leite)
makes 6

4 large whole eggs, preferably free-range
1 cup brewed coffe, strong, preferably dark roast
2 cups whole milk
2 cups granulated white sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
coffee beans (optional), for decoration
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Preheat oven to 325F (160C).

Have ready 6 ovenproof ramekins or custard cups. Put 1 cup of the sugar in a small saucepan, add the 1/4 cup water and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until you have a medium brown caramel. (Click here for a demonstration how to make caramel). Using caution because of the high temperature of the caramel, immediately pour 1/6 of the caramel into the bottom of each ramekin. Reserve the ramekins, letting the caramel cool.

Prepare a bain-marie by having 4 cups (1 liter) of water at the boiling point. Carefully position the 6 ramekins in a large roasting pan or lasagne dish.

Over a medium mixing bowl, pass the eggs through a sieve into the bowl. Add the coffee, milk and the other cup of sugar. Mix well with a spoon, then beat with a whisk or eggbeater until you have a frothy, like mixture. Pour the mixture into the 6 ramekins in the roasting pan.

Carefully place the roasting pan in the preheated oven, then pour the boiling water into the pan to create the bain-marie. Cook for 35 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a custard comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and let cool completely on a wire rack. When completely cool, refrigerate for at least six hours.

Serve the ramekins cold. If desired, decorate the surface of the custards with one or two coffee beans.

RECIPE - Chayote Gratin (Tigelada de Chuchu)

The recipe, the second that we have published from the historical recipe collection of the Fazenda Capoava Ranch and Hotel in São Paulo state (as reimagined by chef Heloísa Bacellar) is an interesting combination between a traditional French vegetable gratin and a souffle. And the choice of chayote (chuchu in Portuguese) as the principal ingredient makes it thoroughly Brazilian as well.

The dish combines the bechamel sauce, grated cheese and bread crumbs that are integral parts of a gratin with beaten egg yolks and white that lighten it in the style of a souffle. The result is a substantial and rich side dish, one that adds some punch to the subtle delicate flavor of chayote. The dish could probably be made successfully with other vegetables if you can't find chayotes in your local market; however, this native American vegetable can increasingly be found in supermarkets everywhere, and can easily be sourced in Latin American markets.
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RECIPE - Chayote Gratin (Tigelada de Chuchu)
Serves 4

2 medium to large chayotes, peeled, seeded and cut into small cubes
1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk, wamr
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2 whole eggs, separated
softened butter and dried breadcrumbs to grease and prepare the bowl
salt to taste
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Prepare a deep ovenproof bowl or dutch oven by greasing it thoroughly with softened butter, then dusting with dried bread crumbs. Reserve.

In a medium saucepan with a lid, melt half of the butter, then add the onions and garlic and cook over low heat until they soften and just begin to brown . Stir in the cubes of chayote, cover the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring from time to time, or until the chayote is softened. Remove from the heat, stir in the parsley and reserve.

In a small saucepan, prepare the bechamel. Melt the butter, then slowly add the flour, blending completely to avoid lumps. When you have a thick paste, begin to add the milk, stirring constantly. When all the milk has been added continue to cook until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and combine with the reserved chayote. Stir in the cheese and season to taste with salt. Reserve, letting cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). In a large bowl beat the egg whites to the firm peak stage. Stir the lightly beaten egg yolks into the chayote mixture, then carefully fold in the egg whites, taking care not to deflate the beaten eggs. Spoon or pour the mixture into the prepared ovenproof bowl. Smooth the surface gently, then sprinkle bread crumbs over. Put in the preheated oven and cook for 40 minutes, or until it has risen, and turned golden.

Remove from the oven and serve immediately in the bowl it was cooked in.

RECIPE - São Paulo-style Moqueca (Moqueca Paulista)

Although moquecas are associated with the Afro-Brazilian cuisine of Bahia in the minds of most people, there are numerous regional variations on the moqueca theme in traditional Brazilian cuisine. For example,  the state that is immediately south of Bahia, Espírito Santo, has its own way to make a moqueca - the liquid for the stew is made from tomatoes rather than from coconut milk and dendê oil as is done in Bahia.

The one thing that most moquecas do have in common is that they are cooked and served in a deep bowl of some sort, often clay, as they are normally rather liquid, soupy stews. However, there is one regional style of moqueca that dispenses with the deep bowl. In fact it dispenses with a serving dish of any type. Traditional paulista (from São Paulo) moquecas are served wrapped up in banana leaves, creating individual packages to be opened by diners at the table.

In the recipe archives of Fazenda Capoava, 100 km. from the city of São Paulo, there is a hand-written 19th century recipe for just such a moqueca. As part of her project of recreating recipes from the ranch's archives for use in the current-day restaurant at Fazenda Capoava, chef Heloísa Bacellar updated the old recipe for modern kitchens and modern cooks. The result - the recipe below - now has a place on the Fazenda Capoava menu.

Note: The recipe calls for the moqueca to be wrapped in banana-leaf parcels for cooking and serving. French or frozen banana leaves can often be found in Latin American and Asian food markets in metropolitan areas in North America or Europe. If you can't source banana leaves, the packages can be formed from aluminum foil, though some of their tropical charm will necessarily be lost. The same stores are good sources for farinha, also known as manioc flour, or cassava flour. This is essential to the dish and shouldn't be substituted with other types of flour.
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RECIPE - São Paulo-style Moqueca (Moqueca Paulista)
Serves 6

1 free-range chicken (about 2-3 lbs), in serving pieces, with giblets, or the same quantity of chicken pieces
2 large onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
4 cups water
2 Tbsp butter
4 very ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley
12 sprigs Italian parsley
2 cups manioc flour (farinha)
4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled
salt and pepper to taste
2 full-sized banana leaves, thawed if purchased frozen (can substitute aluminum foil)
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In  a large sauce pan, combine the chicken pieces, half of the onion and garlic, the bay leaf, salt to taste and the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken meat is falling off the bone. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve. Bring the cooking liquid back to the boil and cook at high heat until the liquid is reduced to about 1 cup. Reserve.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and shred it by hand. Reserve.

In a large saucepan melt the butter and when it's hot but not smoking, add the remaining onion and garlic and saute them until they are lightly golden. Then add the tomato, the olives and parsley and the reserved chicken and cooking liquid. Correct for salt and add black pepper to taste. Slowly add the manioc flour, stirring constantly, and cooking over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a thick paste that begins to pull away from the sides of the pan when you stir. Remove from the heat and let cool until no more than warm.

Preheat the oven to 375F (200C). Cut the eggs into three thick slices each. Have a large baking dish ready.

Cut the banana leaves into 12 portions, each one about 8 by 8 inches (20 x 20 cm). If using aluminum foil, cut squares of the same size. On each square, put about one 12th of the moqueca mixture in the middle, place one round of egg and a sprig of parsley on top, then close and seal the package (if using banana leave, cut ties from the banana leaves and use them like gift-wrapping ribbons to seal the packages.

Put the packages in the baking dish and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the banana leaves are nicely browned. Place two packages on each plate, serve, and let the diners open their own packages at the table.

Based on material written by Camila Bianchi for Prazeres da Mesa magazine.

Mining Gastronomic Treasures - Brazil's Fazenda Capoava Hotel

Casa Grande - Fazenda Capoava

Located in the hills of São Paulo state, only 100 km (60 miles) from the megalopolitan state capital, the city of São Paulo, the Fazenda Capoava hotel and restaurant offers guests a relaxing stay on a ranch that has been functioning since the 17th century, being at successive times a sugar plantation, a coffee plantation and a cattle ranch. Today, visitors come for the comfortable accommodation in chalets that surround the original casa grande (big house) built in 1750, as well as numerous leisure activities such as horseback riding, hiking, kayaking, bicycle touring, plus a spa and massage facility.

An integral part of the hotel/ranch complex is a building called the Espaço Memória Fazenda Capoava, meaning the Capoava Ranch Memory Space. This museum of the ranch's history is open to the public as well as to hotel guests, and is a repository for artifacts and documents from the ranch's past. The museums collection includes antique industrial-sized coffe grinders, farm implements, and valuable antique furniture from the casa grande. Alongside the artifacts, the museum has an impressive display of documents from the archives of the ranch. There are also many documents for which there is insufficient space to display. These, however, are available to historians and researchers.

Among the most interesting documents, according to Danilo Costa, the food and beverage manager of the ranch, is an extensive collection of 19th century recipes from the ranch's kitchen - four generations-worth of hand-written recipes. Sr. Costa has taken the initiative of inviting one of São Paulo's best-known chefs, Heloísa Bacellar, to study the recipe archive and to recreate several of the best recipes for 21st century cooks. These recipes are now being served in the hotel's restaurant.

Sra. Bacellar chose to begin her task by reinterpreting three 19th century dishes from the ranch - a Paulista-style moqueca, a chayote gratin and a sweet coffee-flavored pudding. The dishes are now available to diners at Fazenda Capoava and in the next few days Flavors of Brazil will publish these historial recreations for our readers.

Based on material written by Camila Bianchi for Prazeres da Mesa magazine.

Weird Food News Brazilian-style: Possum-spit coffee

Pardon us if we sound a bit P. T. Barnumesque, but a recent article in São Paulo's Folha de S. Paulo newspaper brought his "sucker born every minute" quote to mind. We can't speak for our readers, but we have a feeling that very few of our followers would spend R$900 (USD$450) for a kilo of coffee beans that had been chewed, then spit out, by a gray four-eyed possum. Those readers of Flavors of Brazil who would fork out that kind of cash, consider yourself among those to whom Mr. Barnum was referring.

Accord to the article, this rather extraordinary coffee bean, is a marketing idea conceived by Rogério Lemke, owner of a coffee plantation called Camocim, located in Pedra Azul, Brazil. Pedra Azul is located in the state of Espírito Santo, which is situated on the Atlantic coast of Brazil, just north of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The cuica

When interviewed by the newspaper's reporter about his R$900/kg coffee beans, Sr. Lemka explained that he discovered the beans by accident. He had long been puzzled by the fact that every morning the earth around his coffee trees was sprinkled with partially chewed coffee beans. The shell that normally protects the bean on the tree was missing, as was the sticky, sweet substance that surrounds the bean, called "honey." Even though he picked up the fallen beans, there were more of them the following day. One night, he decided to stay up and watch his trees to see what happened. And what happened was this: after dark, a native, nocturnal marsupial that inhabits the area, called cuica in Portuguese (and gray four-eyed possum in English) would settle in the coffee trees and begin to sup on the fruit. The little critters appear to love the shell, adore the honey, yet only tolerate the bean itself, spitting most of it out. The beans that Sr. Lemke found daily on the ground were the cuica's left-overs from their nightly coffee binge. He now says that he has determined how best to treat and to roast these beans, and plans on bringing them to the market beginning this November, at the startling price mentioned above.

There's no indication of how the market will accept these beans, but being followers of Mr. Barnum's philosophy, we won't be surprised if Sr. Lemke's (and the cuicas') coffee turns out to be a big success.

Sr. Lemke noticed that the marsupials didn't eat every fruit, and that they appeared to be quite selective in choosing which fruits to eat. Taste tests of coffee made from the cuicas' reject pile proved that they only ate the very best-quality fruits. Thus the coffee beans that they spit out constituted the best of Sr. Lemke's crop.

Being entrepeneurially inclined, Sr. Lemke decided to harvest the coffee beans that the cuicas rejected separately, a time-intensive and expensive process. He roasted these beans separately and began testing them for flavor, color and aroma. Having come up with what he thinks is the best roast for these beans, he plans on launching these beans on the market in November of this year. There's no real indication how these extraordinary beans (and their extraordinary price) will be accepted in the marketplace, but we have a feeling that Mr. Barnum might be proved right one more time. We'll have to wait and see.

A Contradiction in Terms? Vegetarian, Organic Feijoada Arrives

Properly made, a plate of feijoada, Brazil's most popular candidate for the status of "national dish", is a vegetarian's nightmare. Centered around a bubbling pot of black beans laden with chunks of all the fattest, greasiest parts of the pig, feijoada must seem like the devil's dish itself to someone who eschews animal-derived food. The cauldron that is the centerpiece of a feijoada table is likely to contain, hidden under the glossy, pitch-black surface of the beans, things like fat links of sausage, racks of smoked ribs, salted pig's tails, ears and feet - anything and everything that's full of animal flesh and fat.

But the love of feijoada runs deep indeed in Brazil, and even vegetarians and veganBrazilians can't imagine living a feijoada-less existence. In São Paulo, at least, they no longer have to. A small enterprise called  Comida & Consciência (Food and Consciousness in English), in the city's upmarket Higienópolis neighborhood, has come to their rescue. Every Saturday (the traditional day for eating feijoada) the owners of Comida & Consciência make organic, vegetarian feijoada for their loyal customers, thus allowing those folks to share in Brazil's weekend ritual of feijoada.

Comida & Consciência is in the business of making and delivering home-cooked ready-to-eat vegetarian meals to their customers' apartments, houses or offices. Because many of their customers get their meals delivered every day from the shop, there are no repetitions on the monthly menu - except for feijoada, that is. It, by popular demand, is available every Saturday. Originally started by two friends who shared a common interest in healthy, organic eating and who began sharing their vegetarian dishes with likeminded friends, Comida & Consciência has become a way for the two women to share not only their philosophy of food, but also, as they say, their "consciousness of life."

Comida & Consciência's feijoada contains black beans, of course, but instead of cooking the legume with smoked pork products, their vegetarian version uses smoked tofu, soya cutlets, zucchini, parsley stalks, beets and strips of dried coconut to give the beans depth and richness. The beans are accompanied by traditional accompaniments - rice, sauteed kale and toasted oat flour, which stands in for the traditional toasted manioc flour. All the ingredients are organic, and the dish is completely vegan. Each serving of feijoada costs R$20,00, or just USD $10 at current exchange rates, plus a small delivery charge which varies depending on distance.

Lighter, less heavy and much healthier than traditional feijoada, Comida & Consciência's feijoada might just be the proof (literal in this case) of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

With material from the food section of Estado de S. Paulo newspaper,

The Word Is Getting Out - Brazilian Food in the English Press

Last week the highly-respected British newspaper, The Guardian, published a lengthy article on Brazil's new place at the forefront of the world's gastronomy. The article, entitled Brazil: nuts about food was wWritten by Susan Smillie following a trip she made to Brazil, the article covers suchs topics as celebrity chef Alex Atala and his 4th-ranked in the world São Paulo restaurant D.O.M., Brazil's ongoing love affair with the boteco, a bar where you can find good beer, good snack food, and often great live music. She also discusses how the country's leading and most-creative chefs are turning their focus from imitating "continental" cuisine to explore the bounty of native ingredients, techniques and dishes.

Many of these topics, we're proud to say, have been extensively covered in the three years of Flavors of Brazil's existence. We're also very happy that Ms. Smillie used Flavors of Brazil as a reference source for her article, and included several links to posts on this blog in the online edition of her article. Click here to be taken to the Guardian's website and the article.

Saveur Magazine visits Marajó

Although the article appeared last month in the print edition of Saveur magazine, an American food and wine publication, Saveur's online edition has only recently been updated to include a wonderful article by noted Brazilian food writer Neide Rigo on the gastronomy of Marajó Island, the Switzerland-sized island that is sits right at the mouth of the Amazon River.

Neide Rigo is a perfect host for a journey to Marajó. Based in São Paulo, she has traveled the length and breadth of Brazil is search of exotic fruits, interesting grains and traditional recipes that are on the verge of extinction. Her blog Come-Se is probably the most highly-regarded and one of the most well-read food blogs in Brazil, and she has made regular appearances at gastronomic trade shows and expositions, on TV and radio and contributed to magazines and reviews.

For the Saveur article, she took the magazine's editor, James Olesand, on an exedition to discover the foodways of Marajó. A sample from the article:

Invariably, such visits become meals. On this part of the island, fishing and cattle ranching drive the local economy, and my hosts pull together extravagant dishes that speak to the bounty of Marajó's rivers or ranches, or both: casquinha de caranguejo, stuffed crabs strewn with butter-fried cassava flour; filé Marajoara, meltingly tender fillets of buffalo steak seared in a skillet and topped with slabs of queijo do Marajó, sweet, soft buffalo milk cheese that melt luxuriously over the meat; sombremesa de banana com queijo, a layered, luscious dessert of sliced banana and queijo do Marajó drenched in sweetened condensed milk and sprinkled with cinnamon. The Amazon forest harbors ingredients that just don't exist elsewhere in Brazil, and I savor the impossible-seeming flavors that the island gives in abundance. There's a tree, cipó-d'álho (garlic bush), growing outside of the Britos' kitchen that smells of garlic and, interestingly, bacon; the leaves bring a smoky-savory depth to everything from soups to grilled foods. Another morning, at the market in Soure, I'm served a bowl of pork stew that's been simmered with aromatics and jambú, a wild cress that gently, pleasantly numbs the mouth in much the same way that Sichuan peppercorn does. I eat it with rice and beans, noting its layers upon layers of flavor. The tingling sensation of the jambú stays with me after I've drained the bowl.

The article is accompanied by photos taken by James Olesand and is well worth the short time it takes to read. You can find the whole article by clicking here.

RECIPE - Some Sandubas

If Brazil has a Mecca for the extra-large, extra-delicious sandwich that Brazilians love to call sanduba (click here to read more about the sanduba), it has to be São Paulo's Municipal Market. Specifically the mezzanine with its line-up of restaurants open at lunchtime only to serve the thousands of vendors and shoppers who flock to the market in search of the best of the city's foodstuffs.

Downstairs at the market you'll find the usual selection of individual vendors selling fruits, vegetables, grains, spices, oils and pickles, meat, cheese, poultry and seafood. But if you head upstairs at the back of the market just before the lunch hours, you'll find an assortment of open-air restaurants on the mezzanine, all ready to sate that appetite you gained while grazining through the stalls below.

Each restaurant has its regulars, often strongly partisan and extremely loyal. Some of that loyalty even extends to particular items on the menu, and there are stories of customers who have eaten the same lunch daily for umpteen years. What makes or breaks the reputation of these restaurants, often, is the quality (and dimension) of their sandwiches (the sandubas). All the sandwiches are made on a crusty French bun, all have prodigious amounts of stuffing, and all are tremendously filling. But they succeed in their purpose - keep the customer happy and coming back for more.

Here are three recipes for sandubas from the Municipal Market, courtesy of UOL's Gastronomia & Negocios website.

Salt Cod Sandwich

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RECIPE - Salt-cod sandwich (Sanduíche de Bacalhau)

1 large French bun (or Kaiser bun or similar)
5 oz (150 gr) de-salted salt cod
1/4 cup (50 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
red wine vinegar to taste
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Boil the salt cod for two minutes in plenty of water. Drain, reserve.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, then fry the salt cod until it is golden on all sides, using two forks to shred the fish as it fries - remove any bones or skin. When the fish is golden, add the onion and garlic and heat briefly, but do not cook them.

Remove from heat, sprinkle additional olive oil and red wine vinegar over to taste. Do not season with salt.

Cut the bun in two, pack with the filling, cut the sandwich in half and serve hot.

Escabeche Sandwich

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RECIPE - Escabeche sandwich (Sanduíche de Escabeche)

1 large French bun (or Kaiser bun or similar)

Two large fresh sardines, cleaned and deboned
1/4 cup (50 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
red wine vinegar to taste
salt and black pepper to taste
sprig fresh thyme
--------------------------------------------------------------------------  Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the sardines, plus the chopped onion and garlic. Pour red wine vinegar over, but don't drown the sardines. Cook at medium-low temperature until the onions are soft and the fish is cooked.

Remove from heat, sprinkle with additional olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add fresh thyme (leaves only) if desired.


Cut the bun in two, pack with the sardines and vegetables, cut the sandwich in half and serve hot.

Fresh Ham Sandwich

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RECIPE - Fresh Ham Sandwich (Sanduíche de Pernil)

1 large French bun (or Kaiser bun or similar)

6 oz. fresh, (not smoked or cured) ham

2 thick slices large tomato
4 slices medium red or white onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh oregano chopped
3 bay leaves
salt to taste

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Twenty-four hours in advance, combine the wine, the oregano and bay leaf in a medium Zip-loc type bag. Add the ham and let marinate in the refrigerator until the next day.

Remove the ham from the marinade and drain thorough. Put the ham in a small roasting pan and cover with aluminum foil. Roast the ham in a preheated 375F (200C) over,for about 20 - 30 minutes, or until the juices run clear. If desired, you can baste once or twice with the left over marinade.

Remove the ham from the oven, place on a cutting board and cover with the aluminum foil. Let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the tomatoes, onions and green peppers and cook until the tomato is breaking up and the onion and peppers are softened. Season with salt.

Slice the ham. Cut the bun in half, fill with the sliced ham, then top with the tomato/onion/pepper sauce. Serve hot.

RECIPE - Rice Pudding with Caramel and Fleur du Sel (Arroz Doce ao Caramelo com Flor de Sal)

Lucas Corazza

Yesterday's recipe for Brazilian rice pudding was the homemade original - today's is the downtown, day-after-tomorrow chef's showcase recipe. It is the creation of São Paulo chef/patissier Lucas Corazza, chef-in-command of the kitchen at the city's Bar.bar Gastronomia. In an article in May's issue of Brazilian food and wine magazine Prazeres da Mesa, Corazza advocates for the inclusion of rice as a legitimate ingredient in the sweet kitchen, and explains how he finds the grain useful in the creation of new pastries, desserts and sweets.

His recipe for rice pudding combines a fairly standard rice pudding preparation with a refined salty-sweet topping of cream-caramel and fleur du sel. Best served in a tumbler, or even better, a stemless wine glass this sophisticated dessert dresses up sometimes-dull rice pudding for a night on the town, São Paulo-style.
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RECIPE - Rice Pudding with Caramel and Fleur du Sel (Arroz Doce ao Caramelo com Flor de Sal)
Serves 10

For the rice pudding:
4 cups water
2 cups long-grain white rice
2 cups whole milk
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
2 vanilla beans
powdered cinnamon to taste

For the topping:
1 cup creme de leite (see note above)
1 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp fleur du sel

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Rice pudding:
Combine the rice, the water, the vanilla beans, opened with seeds scraped out, and the whole milk in a pressure cooker. Seal the pressure cooker, heat over medium high heat and cook for six minutes from the time the cooker takes pressure. Remove from heat, let cool to release pressure, then pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.

Stir in the sweetened condensed milk, the cover the mixture with plastic film and refrigerate.

Caramel:
Heat the creme de leite over low heat, but do not let it boil. Put half of the sugar into a heavy saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until it caramelizes. Remove from heat and immediately stir in the creme de leite very slowly, stirring all the while, until you have a homogenous mixture. Return the pan to the heat and bring it briefly to the boil. Remove from heat, stir in the fleur du sel, let cool to room temperature and reserve.

Mounting the dish:
Using cups or glasses as above, fill them half full with the chilled rice pudding. With a spoon, carefully pour a layer of caramel on top, then serve immediately.

A Canadian-Brazilian FairyTale - Rance Hesketh's Happy Pigs

Rance Hesketh (in blue T-shirt) and his pigs

The lucky porkers who live on the Alfheim ranch, located high in the Serra do Mar mountain range that separates São Paulo city from the coastal plain of São Paulo state, just might be the most blissed-out pigs in all of Brazil. The ranch, whose name means "elf home" in German, is situated deep in the dense mountain forests of the Mata Atlantica, Brazil's threatened coastal rain forest. It is at Alfheim that Rance Hesketh, 49, a transplanted Canadian, cultivates organic crops and raises a variety of animals in the best-possible and most organic way, and it is there where those fortunate porcines spend their days rooting around, rolling in the mud and grunting contentedly.

Hesketh moved to Brazil in 2008, although he was already familiar with the country from previous visits, upon arrival began to implement his dreams for the ranch. Among his plans and ambitions was a scheme to raise native breeds of pigs organically and humanely. He eventually decided to raise two breeds, the Sorocaba and the Monteiro. When the ranch was ready to receive its first animals, he traveled to Mato Grosso state in western Brazil to pick up his first breeding pairs. Today, Alfheim is home to about 150 pigs who share their territory with organically raised dairy cows and free-range chickens.

The pigs are only fed organic food, which is primarily cultivated on the ranch itself. Sugar cane and manioc are planted on the ranch, and provide the bulk of the pigs' nutrition. Corn which comes from neighboring Paraná state supplements their diet and contributes about 20% of the animals' caloric intake. When the pigs are ready to go to market they are also given whole milk from the ranch's cows to prepare them for slaughter.

Every week, the ranch sends two or three pigs, aged between 3 and 6 months, to the nearest licensed slaughterhouse, located in Ubatuba, 35 kilometers away. Hesketh would prefer to slaughter the pigs on site, but is forbidden to do so by agricultural regulations. He disagrees vigourously with this requirement and says, "What good does it do to submit the animals to the stress of transport? It destroys all we have done in raising them humanely. We need to come up with a less stressful way of slaughtering our stock."

The pigs from Alfheim go to market at a much smaller size than most pork - at about 70 kgs (150 lbs), yeilding about 20 to 30 kgs (45 to 70 lbs) of deboned pork - but Hesketh believes that at that size, the animal provides a better-tasting and more tender meat.

The idea of humanely raising meat animals who feed only on organic, vegetable food is a new one in Brazil, where such ideas are just beginning to take hold with producers and consumers. Whether there is a viable market for such meat in the long run is still unknown. But what can be stated with certainty is that the grunts of the Sorocaba and Monteiro pigs who call Alfheim home sound like the grunts of very, very happy piggies.

With material from an article by Olivia Fraga published in the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. Translation of Mr. Hesketh's remarks by Flavors of Brazil.

Motel Menus

Brazilians love to hear the many, mostly apocryphal, stories of American tourists who arrive in some city in Brazil without hotel accommodation. During their search for a place to sleep these hapless travelers spot a large sign MOTEL atop a nice looking building so they decide to check it out. When they ask the desk clerk what the price is, they're shocked by how low it is, so they decide to confirm it before checking in. They ask the clerk, "Are you sure it's only R$30 (about USD $15) per night?" The clerk replies, "Per night? Of course not, that's the price per hour."

The word motel, in most parts of Brazil, does NOT mean simple roadside accommodation where you can spend a night or two while on the road. What motel does mean is an establishment which rents out rooms by the hour, presumably for people to have sex. People sleep in hotels, people sleep with each other in motels. Motels range from the very basic to Las Vegas-style luxury with circular beds and mirrors on the ceiling. Some are grotty, but many are spotlessly clean with fresh sheets on the bed and thick towels in the bath. Motels can be found in every Brazilian city, from small towns to metropolises. There's little social stigma attached to using motels.

We're not sociologists here at Flavors of Brazil, but it seems there are a couple of main reasons for the popularity of motels in Brazil. First, it's usual for a family's unmarried children to live at home with parents even into their 20s, 30s and 40s, so there's really no place else for young couples to spend private time together. Second, commercial sex (prostitution) is big business in the country, and many professionals use motels to meet with clients. Also, clandestine sex outside the marriage bond is fairly common, so married men or women use motels to meet with their lovers.

Whatever activity it is that couples get up to during their stay in a motel, they often get hungry and thirsty. Room service is available in the better class of motels where one can order champagne, wine or cocktails delivered to the room, as well as a range of things to eat from simple snacks to gourmet dinners. Even grotty downmarket motels will have beer and packets of chips available for their clientele.

Next week, on June 12th, Brazilians celebrate their own equivalent of St. Valentine's Day, a day called Dia dos Namorados (Lovers' Day). In preparation for that big event, which is probably the biggest day of the year for motel operators, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, one of São Paulo's largest daily newspapers, sent Josimar Melo, one of their food critics, out to some of the city's motels to critique the menu and food service. The resulting article is both informative and amusing.

In his article, Sr. Melo was surprised to find that Asturias, one of the most expensive, luxurious motels, had the worst food.  (Click on the link above to visit the motel's website). Prices were high (steak with potatoes and rice for two cost nearly USD$50), the menu itself was tattered, and worst of all, the plate the dish was served on arrived wrapped in plastic!

Lumini Motel

His experience in another motel, Lumini, was exactly the opposite. The menu was created by Ana Soares, a consultant to many of São Paulo's better restaurants. In this motel, the food arrived on a cart covered with white linen, there were cloth napkins, and the plates of food were served under cloches. He found the menu interesting, with items such as chicken with Brie sauce, accompanied by risotto milanese (USD $20) or bacalhau (salt cod) with arugula and fresh vegetables (USD$25).

He also visited and evaluated other motels and found their offerings fell somewhere between these two in terms of quality, service and price.

From this article, it would appear that it's not only the circular bed or the mirror on the ceiling that keeps motel clients coming back. Just like in the Ritz-Carlton or the Four Seasons, it's what comes out of the kitchen. Next week, on Dia dos Namorados, we're sure those kitchens will be serving up a lot of food for energy-depleted Brazilians in the nation's love motels.

The Continuing Rise of Alex Atala

Alex Atala

Three years ago, when the prestigious World's Best 50 Restaurants awards were announced in London, Chef Alex Atala's flagship São Paulo restaurant, D.O.M., was honored as the twentieth-best restaurant in the world. Two years ago, Sr. Atala's restaurant had climbed to 17th position, and in 2011, his rise in the ranks of the world's best restaurateurs continued as he moved into 7th place.

In the 2012 edition of the award, announced just this past weekend, D.O.M. was crowned the fourth-best restaurant in the world. For the third year running, Copenhagen's Noma restaurant was named the best in the world, and the second and third place restaurants were both Spanish - El Celler de Can Roca, located in Girona, and Mugaritz, located in San Sebastián.

D.O.M.'s ranking just behind this prestigious trio puts Chef Atala firmly in the top rank of the world's contemporary gastronomy scene. D.O.M. is now ranked higher than any restaurant in the USA, France, Italy or England. The top American restaurant, Per Se in New York is in sixth position, and the best restaurant in France, L'Atelier Saint-Germain de Joel Robuchon in Paris is ranked no higher than 12th.

There are three other Latin American restaurants listed in the top 50 - Astrid y Gaston of Lima, Peru in 35th place, and Mexico City's Pujol (36th) and Biko (38th).

Alex Atala's rapid climb has put São Paulo's star high in the gastronomic heavens, and this award being treated in Brazilian media, deservedly, as not only a personal honor for the chef, but a recognition that contemporary gastronomy is Brazil is as exciting as anyplace in the world. Brazilian chefs everywhere are celebrating D.O.M.'s new ranking and hope that next year Atala will continue his winning ways.

Flavors of Brazil joins a happy, enthusiastic and patriotic crowd of Brazilian gastronomes in saying, "Parabéns, Chef Atala!"

The Beirute - A True-Blue Brazilian Sandwich Classic

Just as French toast didn't really originate in France, the sandwich known universally in Brazil as a beirute wasn't invented in the Lebanese capital. It was invented, created or put together for the first time in Brazil's largest metropolis, São Paulo.

French toast's anonymous creator chose the name he (or more likely, she) did not because the dish came from France, but more as an homage to France and French cooking, a recognition that the dish was inspired by French cooking techniques and ingredients. Brazil's beirute sandwich was given its name for similar reasons.

Levantine immigrants, Brazil, early 20th century

In the early years of the 20th century, burgeoning São Paulo received a large number of immigrants from the Old World, and among them were significant numbers of immigrants from the Levant, specifically from Syria and Lebanon. They prospered in Brazil and their community grew to be one of the most important ethnic communities in the giant melting pot that is São Paulo. In fact, at present both the mayor of the city of São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, and the governor of São Paulo State, Geraldo Alckmin, have Lebanese background. Current estimates of the number of Brazilians who identify as purely or partially of Lebanese of Syrian stock is between 10 and 13 million.

One of the foods that these immigrants from the Levant brought with them from their homeland was the round, often pocketed flatbread called pão sírio (Syrian bread) in Portuguese and best known in English as pita bread. Variations of this bread can be found throughout the Balkans, Greece, Turkey and the Middle East, and in Brazil, pão sírio is now considered an integral part of Brazilian food culture.

No doubt it was the Levantine bread used that caused the sandwich to be called beirute, because it's the one essential ingredient of a beirute. The meat, cheese and everything else that goes into the filling can vary from place to place and from restaurant to restaurant, but if it's not served on pão sírio, it's not a beirute.

Most typical recipes, however, do include some sort of cold meat and slices of cheese, making the sandwich a member of the Brazilian meat/cheese sandwich family along with the Bauru and the misto quente. The classic beirute is filled with sliced cold roast beef, sliced cheese, a fried egg, plus lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. In a beirute, the filling goes between two whole pieces of pão sírio, not into the pocket, making the sandwich a true meal in itself. This is not finger food - a good beirute will fill the whole plate and requires nothing else to make a complete and satisfying lunch.

INGREDIENTS - Bifum (Rice Vermicelli)

Although the thin, long noodles made from rice and known in English as rice vermicelli originated in south-eastern China, this pasta is an integral part of many Asian cuisines and can be found from India, through Southeast Asia, and on to China and Japan. It is probably most commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, however, and its name in Cantonese, mifen, has made its way to Brazil, where the noodle is most commonly known as bifum. It is also occasionally marketed under this same name in English-speaking countries, though the package will likely also refer to the contents as rice vermicelli.

As Brazil doesn't have a tradition of Chinese immigration, bifum came to this country by way of Japan. In the early 20th century large numbers of emigrants left Japan to find their fortune in the coffee and orange plantations of São Paulo state, and today the city of São Paulo has the largest ethnically Japanese community in the world outside Japan.

Brazilians have taken enthusiastically to Japanese food, and even many small towns in Brazil have a sushi restaurant, probably the only non-Brazilian restaurant in town. Bifum noodles have found a place in Brazilian domestic kitchens as well,something that sushi hasn't accomplished - as elsewhere sushi is considered restaurant food in Brazil.

Bifum can be found in most Brazilian supermarkets, in the pasta aisle, right alongside the spaghetti, lasagne, and macaroni. Brazilian home cooks make use of bifum in stir-fries and in salads, as it can be served hot or cold.

Preparing bifum for cooking is simplicity itself. The noodles do not have to be cooked. They only need to be soaked in hot water for about 10 minutes, and then they are ready to be stir-fried or tossed with a dressing and some chopped meats or vegetables in a salad.

One note of caution: there is another type of Asian noodle that is similar in size, shape and packaging that is made with mung bean flour, not with rice. In English, it is called bean-thread or cellophane noodles. This noodle is also known in Brazil, though really only in areas with a Japanese population. It is similar to bifum, but not close enough that it can be substituted for bifum in recipes.