RECIPE - Stewed Beef with Cachaça (Carne na Cachaça)

This Brazilian take on the French classic dish boeuf bourguignon retains traditional French touches like pearl onions but makes a bold leap by substituting Brazilian cachaça for the hearty red wine called for in the original. This switch takes the dish from the vineyards of Burgundy to the sugar-cane plantations of tropical Brazil, and it changes the character of this dish completely but interestingly - adding smoky notes that aren't present in the original dish.

Stewed beef with cachaça is a good example of the way in which Brazilian chefs are opening up their minds to the potentials of cachaça as a recipe ingredient. (Click here to read more about this trend). Reinterpreting classics, creating entirely new dishes, all with the distinctive taste of cachaça - just part of how Brazilian gastronomy has shifted its focus from its former slavish imitation of classic French or Italian cuisine. Now native Brazilian ingredients and techniques are front and center as Brazilian food steps into the world's gastronomic spotlight.

This dish is total comfort food and not difficult to make. It's especially suited to cold or damp evenings, especially when accompanied by mashed potatoes, as suggested in the recipe. Cachaça is increasingly easy to find in North American and European liquor shops, so there should be a problem sourcing all the ingredients. As an added bonus, you'll have plenty of cachaça left over, so you have all you need to make your own caipirinhas!
____________________________________________________
RECIPE - Stewed Beef with Cachaça (Carne na Cachaça)
Serves 6

2 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 lbs (1 kg) stewing beef (chuck or similar), cut into large cubes
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cachaça
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups pearl onions, peeled
finely chopped parsley to garnish
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan, then brown the meat on all sides, in batches if necessary to prevent crowding. Remove the browned meat from the pan and reserve. Add a bit more oil if needed, then saute the onion and garlic in the same pan just until they begin to brown. 

Return the meat and any accumulated juices to the pan along with the water, the cachaça and the tomato paste. Mix thoroughly to dissolve the tomato paste, then add salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook at low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is fork tender.

Add the peeled onions and cook for an additional 10 minutes or so, or until the onions can be easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife.

Put the stew into a decorative serving bowl, sprinkle over chopped parsley and serve with mashed or boiled potatoes.

RECIPE - Barreado

If you are planning to make this traditional dish from Brazil's southern state of Paraná, (read more about barreado here) you're going to need two specific things that might not be already hanging around in your pantry. First, the dish must be cooked in a large clay pot with a lid - the type of pot that's often referred to as a bean pot. Bostonians use them for cooking baked beans, as do Quebecers, so if you're in either of those categories you just might have one in the house. If not, you'll have to beg, borrow or steal one, as the dish really can't be made in any other pot or pan.

Second, you'll need to find manioc flour to make the thick dough that seals the pot. Not being able to source manioc flour doesn't mean that you can't make barreado however, just that it won't be completely authentic. You can make the same sort of dough with wheat flour and water. Manioc flour is also used to thicken the broth in a traditional barreado, but again you can substitute flour, although the result won't taste exactly the same.

One of the nice things about making barreado is that all the cooking can be done long before the dish is served. In fact, the dish tastes better this way. So when you want to do your cooking the day before you serve a meal, barreado is an excellent option.

___________________________________________
RECIPE - Barreado
Serves 4

6 lbs beef shank, cut into long strips in the direction of the grain
salt to taste
1 lb lean smoked slab bacon, cut into julienne strips
5 medium onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 to 3 cups manioc flour, mixed with a little water to make a thick dough

For the pirão
cooking liquid from the barreado
1 cup manioc flour

sliced ripe banana to garnish
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Season the beef with salt to taste (remember the dish will contain bacon, so season lightly). Reserve.

In a large saucepan, fry the bacon strips until they have rendered their fat and are beginning to brown. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Then add the beef, the bay leaf, the oregano and cumin and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the meat has browned.

Put everything from the saucepan into a large clay bean pot, then add sufficient water to cover. Reserve.

Make a thick dough with the manioc flour and water, and roll it with your hands into a long thick "rope." Cover the bean pot, then firmly press the rope around the rim of the lid to seal the pot entirely. Cook the dish over lowest flame or electrical burner for 6 hours. If steam begins to escape from the pot, use additional manioc flour dough to patch the holes, making sure the pot stays sealed for the entire cooking process. Let the pot cool completely, then break the seal to open the pot. (Be careful when opening as there might still be steam in the pot.)

Remove the beef from the pot, leaving the cooking liquid in the pot. When the beef is cool enough to handle, shred the beef with two forks.

Pour the cooking liquid into a clean saucepan. Heat over medium heat and when the liquid is hot, sprinkle manioc flour, by the small handful, over the surface then mix in. Continue to add manioc flour slowly until the mixture thickens to the consistency of gravy.

Reheat the shredded beef if necessary, then place some in the bottom of 4 deep soup plates. Pour some  pirão over - enough to moisten the beef and provide a bit of gravy, but not enough to drown the meat. Garnish with slices of ripe banana and serve with plain white rice.


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

Barreado - Paraná's Iconic Claypot-cooked Beef

A sealed barreado pot

We've been talking a lot recently at Flavors of Brazil about pressure cookers, and how they are a common feature of contemporary Brazilian home kitchens. It turns out, though, that the tradition of using pressure and steam vapor to cook and tenderize tour cuts of meat in Brazil predates the invention of the pressure cooker itself.

In the southern Brazilian state of Paraná there is a well-known traditional dish called barreado that uses a hermetically-sealed clay pot to achieve the same results that a pressure cooker does. There are various theories about who created the dish and when, some saying it was native Amerindian tribes and other attributing the dish to tropeiros, colonial donkey-caravan traders. What is not in doubt, though, is that the technique is very old.

Barreado is basically a meat stew thickened with manioc flour and served with slices of banana. Barreado must be cooked in a clay pot for a long period of time over low heat - preferably the coals of a wood fire. To seal the pot, cooks first make a thick paste of manioc flour and water and then apply that seal to the edges of the pot's lid to ensure that vapor cannot escape. The seal is renewed as needed during the long cooking period, which can be as long as 12 hours. Some 19th Century recipes call for barreado to be cooked for at least 24 hours, though there is probably very little reason to extend the cooking time that long.

Because of the long cooking time in a moist environment even the toughest cuts of meats are rendered fall-off-the-bone tender. To serve barreado, the meat is lifted from its broth and is shredded, while the broth itself is thickened with manioc flour to create a thickened sauce called a pirão. The meat is served on a bed of pirão and is garnished with banana slices. Cachaça is the drink of choice when eating barreado.

Barreado is associated with the coastal region of Paraná, particularly the small community of Morretes located in the state's litoral. On weekends thousands of tourist from the state's capital, Curitiba, and from further afield swamp the small town of only 15,000 residents and fill its restaurants in search of a plate of barreado. For many of them it's a reacquaintance with a treasured dish from their past, for others it's a new experience that connects them to the culinary history of Paraná.

Next time round, we'll post a recipe for make-at-home barreado.

RECIPE - Spicy Pressure Cooker Beef (Acém Pimentada na Panela de Pressão )

Judging from the statistics that Google kindly compiles for bloggers whose blogs are hosted on Google Blogger, Flavors of Brazil's recent articles about the continued popularity of pressure cookers in Brazil and related recipes for pressure-cooked dishes have been well received by our readers. These articles have had higher numbers of page views than average. Even though the pressure cooker's glory days have faded in the northern hemisphere there must be a few die-hards who continue to use their mother's old pressure cooker. Either that or there are forward-thinking culinary vanguardistas to are just the first of a new wave of pressure cooker enthusiasts. In either case, our pressure cooker posts seem to have struck a chord.

In an effort to satisfy these readers, and to encourage other readers to take a pressure cooker for a test drive, this recipe for chuck steak (acém) cooked in a pressure cooker shows how Brazilian cooks use pressure cookers to quickly tenderize tougher, though flavorful, cuts of meat and at the same time create a rich and hearty sauce.

Note: If you don't have the hot paprika called for in the dish, you can substitute 1 Tbsp sweet paprika and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.
______________________________________________
RECIPE - Spicy Pressure Cooker Beef (Acém Pimentada na Panela de Pressão )
Serves 8

4 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
2 lb (1 kg) chuck (acém) trimmed of excess fat and cut into large cubes (2 inch)
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
3 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp hot paprika (more or less if you wish a less spicy or more spicy dish)
1 cup vegetable broth, white wine or water
salt and pepper to taste
chopped Italian parsley to garnish
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and brown the beef cubes on all sides, in batches if necessary to avoid crowding. Reserve.

In a blender, blend the garlic, onion, green pepper, tomatoes, paprika and vegetable broth (or wine or water) until smooth and homogenous. If necessary, blend the vegetables in two batches, using half of the liquid for each batch.

Put the browned beef cubes in  the pressure cooker, then pour the blended ingredients over. Put the top on the cooker and heat over medium-high heat until the pressure takes. Reduce heat to medium-low and pressure cook for 30 minutes. Remove the cooker from the heat and let stand until the pressure is fully released.

Put the put in a decorative serving bowl, pour the sauce over and sprinkle with the chopped parsley. Serve immediately with boiled potatoes or white rice.

Recipe translated and adapted from Mdemulher Culinária .

CUTS OF BEEF - Acém (Chuck)

Location of acém (chuck) highlighted

One of the most popular and versatile cuts of beef in the Brazilian kitchen, acém is also one of the tastiest and most economical cuts on the entire beef carcass. In English, we call the same cut of meat chuck, and as in Brazil, we use it for pot roasts, braised beef dishes and to make the best quality ground beef.

Acém (or chuck) is technically known as a sub-prime cut of meat meaning that it can be further subdivided into smaller cuts. In English these are known as chuck steak, chuck eye steak, cross-rib roast, top blade steak and others. Brazilian butchers will custom cut similar steaks and roasts, but in butcher shops in Brazil, the cut is usually marketed whole or ground simply as acém.

Acém is cut from the front quarter of the carcass, and basically corresponds to the animal's shoulder. It's the largest cut on this part of the carcass and represents almost a third of the dressed carcass's total weight. The large size of the cut is part of the reason for its relatively cheap price, as a large amount of acém must be produced for each pound of the more noble cuts like filet, loin and sirloin.

Because the animal uses the muscles of its shoulder for movement, acém is not as tender as the noble cuts, which are not charged with getting the animal from point A to point B. It also means that acém has a higher percentage of connective tissue. This higher quantity of connective tissue, which melts into the meat during cooking means that beef from this part of the animal is high in flavor.

Traditionally, Brazilian cooks prefer acém when cooking any type of braised beef dish, and it's the cut of choice for the Brazilian comfort food known as assada da panela (literally - pot roast) which is a piece of beef cooked in liquid over low heat for a long time. Often Brazilian cooks resort to a pressure cooker to lessen the time required for the meat to become tender. Recipes in Brazilian cookbooks also often specify acém when ground beef is used in a dish as its level of fat is neither too much nor too little to make perfect meat loaf (bolo de carne) or meatballs (almondigas).

We'll serve up some Brazilian recipes for this cut of beef in the next few posts here on Flavors of Brazil.

RECIPE - Bolivian "Rice" (Arroz Boliviano)

Call it the "blame-it-on-the-neighbors" school of recipe naming. It seems that in many cultures a hotchpotch recipe, in which a motley of ingredients are tossed together, heated and served, is often characterized as coming from a neighboring country, even if that country has nothing to do with the dish. A childhood friend's less-than-gourmet Canadian mother often dished up something that she called "American Chop Suey", a casserole that combined low-grade ground beef, elbow macaroni, chopped onions and green peppers and undiluted Campbell's Cream of Tomato Soup. (She was a lovely and warm-hearted woman, just not a great cook). In French-speaking parts of Canada, the dish called Shepherd's Pie is knwon as Pâté chinois, (Chinese Pâté in English.)

The Brazilians aren't blameless in this regard. They have a very similar naming tradition and have been known to take the name of neighboring countries in vain when choosing names for Brazilian dishes. This habit seems particularly strong, naturally, in parts of Brazil which border other South American countries. In an earlier post on Flavors of Brazil, we highlighted a dish from the Brazilian border state of Mato Grosso do Sul called Sopa Paraguaya, which is neither a soup nor Paraguayan.

This dish, called Arroz Boliviano in Portuguese, is from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, which unsurprisingly has a long frontier with Bolivia. Although Sopa Paraguaya isn't a soup, Arroz Boliviano at least does include rice. It does, however, also include many, many other things. The list of ingredients includes ground beef, plantains, hard-boiled eggs, Parmesan cheese and french fries. With the exception of plantains, none of those ingredients are commonly associated with Bolivian cooking. It appears that this dish is just one more exemplar of the "blame-it-on-the-neighbors" school.
______________________________________________________
RECIPE - Bolivian "Rice" (Arroz Boliviano)
Serves 8

3 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
1 lb (400 gr) ground beef
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
salt to taste
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup fresh or frozen greeen peas
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/4 chopped green onion, green part only
6 cups cooked long-grain white rice
2 ripe plantains, peeled sliced into rounds, and fried in butter until soft
1 cup fresh or frozen french-fried potatoes
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preheat oven to 350F (180C).

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil, then add the onion, garlic and ground beef and cook, stirring frequently and breaking up the beef, until the beef has lost all pinkness and the onion is transparent. Season for salt. Mix in the tomato paste, the peas and corn. Remove from the heat, then stir in the green onion. Reserve.

In a glass, ceramic or metal rectangular casserole spread out the rice in a layer. Spread the ground beef mixture over. Top with the banana rounds, the french fries and the slices of egg. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over all. Put in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the cheese has nicely browned and everything is heated through. Serve immediately.

RECIPE - Shredded Beef (Carne Desfiada)

There's no question that Brazilians, or at least those that eat meat, like to eat ground beef. Just like most carnivores Brazilians enjoy a burger (of varying quality, it must be said). They like meatballs, and they love to put ground beef in pasta sauces and use it to top pizzas.

But it often seems that although Brazilians like to grind beef before eating it, they really prefer not to grind it raw, but to shred it once it's cooked and then use it as an ingredient in a casserole or a filling for a sandwich - anything that one might use ground beef for. Shredded meat shares with ground meat the virtue of being completely eatable  - no need to cut around the bone or remove the fat. But because it's cooked first, before it's pulled apart, it can stand up to long cooking in sauces without becoming lost in the mix. Shredded beef retains the fibrous structure of the cut from which it comes - it's closer to natural meat than ground beef it - and Brazilians like it that way.

It's not just in Brazilian culture where shredded meat is valued. American pulled pork is an example of the same technique. But Brazilians make use of the technique with a number of meats to create a large repertoire of dishes. Shredded chicken is used in sandwiches, shredded salt-dried beef (carne de sol) is cooked in the oven under a layer of mashed manioc to create something very similar to a shepherd's pie, and large cuts of beef are shredded, seasoned and recooked to create casserole dishes that are perfect for feeding a crowd.

This recipe, called simply carne desfiada (shredded beef) in Portuguese, is an example of this last type of dish. It can be made in larger or smaller quantities depending on the number of people that need to be fed, it can be made more fancy or simpler depending on the mood and the budget and it is perfectly suited to being part of a buffet table - because it can be successfully served from a casserole dish using only a large spoon, and because it can be eaten without needing to use a knife.

The cut of beef called for in the recipe is top round/topside (called coxão mole in Portuguese), but other large cuts of beef can very successfully be substituted. The recipe is in two stages which need not be done one right after the other. You can do stage one, the precooking and shredding, one day and continue the next to finish the dish. This dish can serve up to 10-12 persons as part of a full meal or buffet table, and can be modified for larger or smaller crowds. It can also be served hot or cold as a sandwich filling or can also be used as a sauce for pasta.
___________________________________________________
RECIPE - Shredded Beef (Carne Desfiada)

First stage:
7 lbs (3 kgs) top round of beef, or other large cut
1 cup neutral vegetable oil
1 head garlic, finely chopped
2 cups chopped onion
1/2 lb bacon, chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
3 Tbsp dried oregano
2cups white wine or apple cider vinegar

Second stage:
1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil
1 green bell pepper, seeded and julienned
1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned
6 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup water
2 cups red wine vinegar
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
First stage: The day before cooking, in a large bowl or large Ziploc bag combine the meat with the garlic, onion, bacon, salt and pepper, oregano and vinegar, mix well to ensure the meat is covered with marinade and let stand for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. The next day remove the meat from the marinade, reserving the marinade, drain it well, then dry it with paper towels.Iin a large Dutch oven heat the oil over medium-high heat, the add the meat and brown it thoroughly on all sides. When it's brown, add the reserved marinade and sufficient water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil, then cover the pan and reduce heat until the liquid is simmering only. Cook over low heat for 3-4 hours, adding water if needed to keep the meat covered, until the meat is very tender and beginning to fall apart on its own. Remove the pan from the heat, take the meat out of the liquid, reserving the liquid, and let the meat cool completely. When the meat is cool, cut it into large chunks, about 1 1/2 inches on a side, then using your hands shred the meat completely. The shredded meat may be reserved up to 24 hours.

Second stage: In a large heavy saucepan or Dutch oven heat the oil until hot but not smoking, add the red and green peppers and the onions and saute for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but not browned. Add the water and vinegar, increase heat and boil rapidly until the liquid is reduced by about a third. Add the reserved shredded meat and heat it, stirring frequently until the meat is very hot and the liquid has reduced to about half its original volume.

CUTS OF BEEF - Coxão Mole

From time to time Flavors of Brazil has dug into the arcane world of butchering in an attempt to clarify the differences between cuts of beef as they are found in Brazil and the cuts that result from a North American or European style butchering. Every culture has its own way of cutting up a beef carcass, and although some of the cuts might be made identically from one culture to another, but more often they are not.

The Three Graces
 by Peter Paul Rubens

The cut of beef that is the topic of this post, charmingly called coxão mole in Portuguese, is one of the most versatile and useful cuts of beef to know in Brazil. We say it is charmingly named because the  best English translation of coxão mole would be something like "big, soft thigh". (Makes one think of those voluptuous nudes who frolic around the edges of Rubens' painting).

This cut, which comes from the upper posterior part of the animal, also exists in English-style butchering where it is variously known as topside or silverside and in American-style butchering where it is referred to as top round. The cut isn't considered a first-class cut, like filet mignon or the prime steak cuts, but when properly cooked it can be one of the most delicious cuts from the entire animal.

Because coxão mole is very lean it is best suited to either roasting or to braising or stewing. If it is cooked quickly without liquid it can be very dry because of the absence of far. But a long cooking at low temperature, whether in a dry oven or in a brasing liquid, brings out the best in this cut.

In Brazil coxão mole is used in many traditional braised dishes where its qualities and flavor might shine. But it also has another very important role in traditional Brazilian cooking. Coxão mole is one of the most-preferred cuts to use when making carne de sol, Brazil's salted and dried beef. Because beef fat doesn't dry well, the leanness of coxão mole makes it perfect for undergoing the salting and drying process that creates carne de sol.

In Brazilian butcher shops it's also common to find lean ground beef that is made from coxão mole but it's in hearty Brazilian stews and braised dishes or disguised as carne de sol that coxão mole makes its true contribution to Brazilian cuisine.

RECIPE - Panelada

Should you decide that you want to make the traditional Brazilian stew called panelada, you're likely to run into two obstacles en route to a culinary home run at the dinner table. First, if you live in North America or metropolitan areas of Europe you're likely to have problems finding sources for some of the ingredients that the dish demands. Things like cow stomach (including but not limited to tripe) and cow intestines. The other problem (at least if you consider honesty a virtue) is convincing family members, dinner guests or amyone else to whom you serve the dish to try panelada with an open mind. (If you don't consider honesty a virtue and try to lie your way into general acceptance of panelada the shape and form of the stomach and intestines will probably give your game away.)

But there are always those culinary pioneers who boldly go where no cook has gone before, and for them we offer this recipe for panelada from the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará, where panelada is considered an iconic dish.
___________________________________________________
RECIPE - Panelada
Serves 4

1/2 lb (250 gr) cow stomach (tripe may be substituted)
1/2 lb (250 gr ) cow intestine
juice of 3 limes
1/2 Tbsp salt
2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 Tbsp annatto powder (sweet paprika may be substituted)
2 bay leaves
1 red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup chopped cilantro
fresh-ground black pepper to taste
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno or serrano chili
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using kitchen scissors, cut the stomach (or tripe) into small squares and the intestine into 1/2 in (1 cm) rings. Wash them very well in several changes of water. Put them in a heavy saucepan, cover with cold water, add the lime juice and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Let boil for one minute, then drain them in a sieve. When cool, wash again in several changes of fresh water.

In a large pan, combine the washed stomach or tripe and intestine, the salt, the chopped tomato and onions, the annatto or paprika and the bay leaves. Heat over medium heat, partially covered. Stir from time to time to mix ingredients and to help the tomato to break down. When liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for approximately 40 minutes, adding a small amount of water from time to time if the dish appears to be drying out.

Stir in the bell peppers, the garlic and chilis. Cover the pan and cook over low heat until the meats can be easily pierced with a fork and are tender.

Remove from heat, pour into a deep serving bowl and mix in the chopped cilantro. Serve immediately accompanied by white rice.

BEEF CUTS - Mocotó (Calf's foot)

Photo courtesy Come-se.

In technical terms the pedal extremities of a cow or calf, the cut of beef known in Brazilian either as mocotó (a word of Tupi-Guarani origin) or as mão-de-vaca (a Portuguese word meaning simply cow's hand) has been part of the Brazilian kitchen since earliest colonial times, when the first Portuguese settlers brought cattle to the New World. Mocotó is the bones, cartilage and meat making up the ankle joint of the animal and although in many cultures this part of the animal is discarded at the time of slaughtering or put to industrial use, in Brazil it is sold by butcher shops and in supermarkets.

When the Portuguese arrived in Brazil with cattle in the holds of their caravels, they also arrived with recipe books containing recipes for mão-de-vaca.  Back in Portugual,  mão-de-vaca was primarily used to create rich, gelatinous and flavorful soups called caldos. In Brazil, they continued to make caldo de mocotó just as they had done in the motherland. It was particularly popular in Rio de Janeiro, and in the 19th Century, many cariocas (residents of Rio de Janeiro) didn't break their nightly fast with toast and jam or bacon and eggs. Rather they started the day with a healthy bowl of caldo de mocotó. Even today many of the small botecos and street-corner bars of Rio serve caldo de mocotó  at breakfast time and it's common to see customers drinking it from mugs or small porcelains bowls in these establishments first thing in the morning.

The presence of cartilagenous tendons in the ankle joint mean that  is very gelatinous - and in fact,  commercial gelatin can be made from this joint. Gelatin is a translucent, colorless and flavorless protein derived from collagen in animal tendons, skins and bones and is used as a gelling agent in many types of food. In candies, jellies, aspics and marshmallows gelatin provides a rubbery, semi-solid consistency that can hold other ingredients in suspension.

Besides eating caldo de mocotó, Brazilians take advantage of the gelatinous property of mocotó to create sweetened, flavored jellies called geleia de mocotó. Less commonly eaten today than previously, geleia de mocotó was a favorite childhood food of many modern-day Brazilians. Flavored with strawberry, or grape, or peach, geleia de mocotó could be spread on crackers, toast or bread, or even cubed and served as dessert - kind of like a readymade Jell-o. For many in Brazil, geleia de mocotó is one of the comfort foods of their early years and even though they might not eat it today, they still have a nostalgic reverence for it. Geleia de mocotó is also available unsweetened and unflavored - a relative of jellied beef consommee.

Next post, we'll publish a Brazilian recipe for caldo de mocotó. If you can find calf's foot, and if you can get over any cultural prejudices about eating the same, you'll find it's a wonderfully delicious and nourishing soup - and a perfect warm-me-up in cold weather.

RECIPE - Steam-roasted Back Ribs (Costela no Bafo)

Beef ribs, and specifically the larger ribs known as back ribs, are surrounded by some of the most flavorful meat on the the entire butchered cattle carcass. And though they are wonderfull grilled with a smoky or sweet barbeque sauce, or braised in red wine or other liquid, Brazilians know that sometimes they're bestsuited to being served unadorned at table, without the presence of other flavors to complicate the picture. With just a  little seasoning and nothing more, the meaty and succulent flavor of the ribs shines through in full simplicity.

This recipe for oven-roasted back ribs, which comes from the tiny northeastern Brazilian state of Paraíba, results in very tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat that separates easily from the bone. It's a useful recipe to have when you want to showcase the meat itself or if you don't have access to an outdoor barbeque - the other way Brazilians like to cook their back ribs (costela).

Because back ribs are very rich - the meat has high fat and connective tissue content - keep the trimmings to a minimum when serving them. Boiled potatoes and a simple salad make the perfect accompaniment. Brazilians often serve french fries with back ribs , so if you prefer you can substitute fries for the boiled potatoes. We think that boiled potatoes are better suited in this case, but the choice is yours.
___________________________________________________
RECIPE - Steam-roasted Back Ribs (Costela no Bafo)
3 portions

3-rib section of beef back ribs
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
salt to taste
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a small bowl combine the chopped garlic and onions, the Worchestershire sauce and salt. Mix together to make a paste. Rub this paste into the meaty side of the rack of ribs and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

Put the seasoned ribs into a dutch oven with a top, or in a deep roasting pan. Cover the dutch oven or pan with aluminum foil, making sure to make a tight seal. If using a dutch oven, you can put the top on over the aluminum foil. Place in the preheated oven and roast for 1 1/4 hours.

Remove the aluminum foil and return the pan to the oven for about 10-15 minutes to allow the surface of the meat to become browned.

Remove the ribs from the pan, place on a platter, and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Let stand for 15 minutes, then cut into three pieces, each one with a rib, and serve immediately.

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

BEEF CUTS - Costela (Back Ribs)

barbequed back ribs

One of the most flavorful cuts of beef, large meaty back ribs (known as costela in Portuguese) are a favorite cut of meat in a traditional Brazilian churrasco. Churrasco can mean simply "grilled meat" but it more commonly means a prolonged weekend meal for family and friends consisting of a number of meats grilled over wood or charcoal, outdoors, accompanied by numerous appetizers and canapes, side dishes, relishes and pickles, and lots and lots of icy Brazilian lager-style beer.

Technically, a butcher will tell you that back ribs are cut from the carcass' 6th through 13th ribs (the largest ones). The smaller ribs that are closer to the animal's frontquarters are the short ribs. Normally back ribs are available only in specialty butcher shops and even there might have to be be pre-ordered. One can purchase an entire rack of back ribs, but that's a serious quantity of meat - some of the ribs are 18 inches (45 cm) long and a whole rack contains 6 or 7 ribs. The sheer size of a rack of beef ribs means that it's quite complicated to cook, whether in an oven or on a grill. Most people order a portion of a rack only - 2 or 3 ribs.

In Brazil, back ribs are a highly desired cut of beef, and are consequently one of the more expensive cuts. In North America the ribs are valued less and because they surround the ribeye they are often "leftovers" in the butchering process, and can be picked up relatively inexpensively.

If being grilled, back ribs must be allowed to cook until well done, since rare or medium-cooked ribs are not tender at all and, though flavorful, can be too chewy to enjoy. It's the long cooking that tenderizes the meat.

Alternatively, back ribs can be cooked in the oven and there benefit from the presence of moisture to help them become tender. Back ribs, like their cousins the short ribs, take marvelously to the braising process, in which meat is cooked with liquid at a relatively low temperature, for a long time. Or the ribs can be roasted covered, which allows the trapped steam to aid in the tenderizing process. Either technique will result in tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs.

Coming up on Flavors of Brazil - some ideas on how to cook back ribs Brazilian style. Stay tuned.

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.
_________________________________________________
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

BEEF CUTS - Fraldinha (Flank Steak)

#15 - Fraldinha (Flank Steak)

One of the things that we try to do from time to time here on Flavors of Brazil is sort out the different cuts of beef that one finds in Brazilian butcher shops and supermarkets when one is used to beef cut the way the do in North America or Europe. One the beef has been slaughtered, it's normally cut into a variety of cuts before it's sold to the consumer - cuts with different characteristics, different quality and different price points - whether in Brazil or elsewhere. But there are many ways to divide a side of beef, so the traditional cuts in one culture don't always correspond to the cuts in another. Brazilian butchers might make a cut just "here" while their colleagues in the Northern Hemisphere might prefer to make a cut just "there." The result? Confusion for the trans-border shopper, confusion for diners reading restaurant menus, and problems for recipe translators.

One cut that is very simple to translate, though, is the one known in North America as flank steak. This piece of beef, cut from abdominal muscles along the side of the animal behind the ribs - from the flank as it were-  is cut just the same way in Brazil as it is elsewhere. In Brazil the cut is known as fraldinha. Fraldinha is the diminuitive for fralda, a word that means flap, lappet or (unfortunately) diaper in Portuguese. A fraldinha, therefore, is a small flap or a small diaper. Because  Flavors of Brazil is a culinary blog, let's go with small flap, please.

Whether it's a flank steak or a fraldinha, this cut is a very useful piece of beef, indeed. It is long and thin and because it comes from a very muscular part of the animal is full of connective tissue. Because of this tissue it is usually cut across the grain when it is cooked quickly, as in grilling or in frying. This is piece known on restaurant menus as London Broil. It can also be successfully braised or cooked slowly in liquid and in those cases cutting across the grain is not so essential, as the meat becomes tender during the long cooking process.

Flank steak is used extensively in Chinese cooking, where it is the beef normally used in stir-fries and in Mexican cooking. A true fajita is made with flank steak and nothing else. Because of it's long and thin shape it can be stuffed and rolled, as is done with the Argentinian matambre.

Next up on Flavors of Brazil, a traditional recipe for this delicious and economical cut of beef.

RECIPE - Filet Mignon with Clove-scented Sauce (Filé Mignon ao Molho de Cravo-da-Índia)

Untangling the differences, both in cuts and language, between the way a Brazilian butcher disassembles a beef carcass and the way an American or European butcher would deal with an indentical carcass has become a familiar topic here on Flavors of Brazil. The animal's muscles are not cut the same way in Brazil as they are elsewhere, resulting in cuts of meat in one country that can't be found in another. The traditional names used to describe the cuts are also contradictory and confusing.

No confusion though when it comes to a cut a beef called the filet mignon. It's cut identically in Brazil, Europe and North America - from the center section of the tenderloin - and with very small variations in spelling, it's universally called filet mignon, a French word meaning dainty filet. In Brazil, it's spelled filé mignon.

One of the most expensive cuts of beef, or as Brazilians say, one of the "noble cuts", filet mignon is tender and lean, and since it's usually cut into quite thick slices, normally served rare and juicy. It's a symbol of luxury everywhere it is served.

Filet mignon can be served simply, with no seasoning other than salt. Grilled or pan-fried. However, since the cut is lean, it takes well to saucing, something that cuts with a higher percentage of fat do not. Bearnaise sauce, green peppercorn sauce and other treatments are classic ways to serve a filet mignon.

One interesting Brazilian saucing technique for filet mignon seems to be restricted to Brazil alone. At least,Flavors of Brazil has not been able to track down similar recipes from other countries. The sauce is known in Brazil as molho de cravo-da-Índia, meaning clove sauce. In yesterday's post on this blog we detailed the importance of cloves in Brazilian cuisine, and this recipe for an elegant cut of beef topped with a red-wine and clove sauce is a perfect example of how the highly aromatic spice is creatively used in non-dessert cooking in Brazil.
_________________________________________________
RECIPE - Filet Mignon with Clove-scented Sauce (Filé Mignon ao Molho de Cravo-da-Índia)
Serves 4

4 filet mignon steaks, about 6 oz (200 gr) each
salt and black pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup (125 ml) dry red wine
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cloves

In a deep plate, combine the filets, the minced garlic salt and pepper to taste and half of the red wine. Turn the filets over several times in the wineand then let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, turning the filets over once or twice more.

In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the corn starch in the the remaining red wine. Stir in the ground cloves. Reserve. 

Remove the filets from the marinade and dry them with a paper towel. Reserve the marinade.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the filets and cook to the desired point of doneness - turning the steaks over once, about half-way through the cooking process. Remove the steaks from the pan and reserve, keeping warm.

Pour the reserved marinade and the corstarch/red wine mixture into the frying pan and bring quickly to a boil, stirring constantly and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the frying pan. When the sauce thickens, lower heat and continue to cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce has lost it's starchy taste and is transparent. Remove from heat.

Place one filet on each of four dinner plates, and pour one quarter of the sauce over each. Serve immediately. Best accompanied by one or two steamed vegetables, or with french fries, if desired.


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

What Do Brazilians Eat Most?

Recently, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Portuguese acronym - IBGE) published the results of a survey on the daily eating habits of Brazilians. Completely unsurprisingly, the survey revealed that the three most commonly consumed foodstuffs of Brazil are rice, beans and coffee. Anyone who has any knowledge of Brazilian eating habits would be likely to name the same three foods if asked to guess what Brazilians eat most.

Nonetheless, there were some interesting statistics in the publication many of which indicate wide variations in daily diet from region to region within the country. Because of huge distances, different climates and environments and varying agricultural practices, what a northern Brazilian from the Amazon eats is not the same as what a southerner from Santa Catarina or Rio Grande do Sul finds on their plate. The "big three", however - rice, beans and coffee - are consumed everywhere.

The average daily consumption of rice in Brazil is 182 grams (about .40 pounds). The consumption of beans is slightly less at 160 grams (about .35 pounds). These are washed down with nearly 220 ml (just under a cup) of coffee. Considering that Brazilian coffee is normally drunk in very small cups called cafezinhos, this works out to nearly seven cups of coffee per person per day. Brazil truly does run on caffeine.

Next in line in terms of favorite foods in Brazil are bread and beef.The most common type of bread in Brazil is a small French-style roll, and 63% of the population eats bread on any given day. The percentage who eat beef is just under half of the population (48%). The beef number seems astonishingly high, but Brazil is only 6th in the world in per capita beef consumption and Brazilians eat less than half as much beef as their neighbors the Argentinians and Uruguayans.

Some regional patterns that emerged from the survey show that inhabitants of Brazil's Central West region consume the most rice, beef and whole milk, while those who live in the populous Southeast (which includes the two largest cities in Brazil, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, eat more beans, more yogurt, and more potatoes than anywhere else in the country). It's not a surprise that those who live in the north, home of the gigantic Amazon River system, eat more fresh water fish than their compatriots elsewhere in Brazil as well as more açaí, one of the region's native fruits.

A native starch, manioc, in its many forms is much more consumed in the north and north-east than elsewhere. In those regions 40% of the population consumes manioc in some form daily, while in the south the equivalent number is less than 5%.

The overall picture drawn by the IBGE's survey shows a country that is united by its eating habits, but one that is also regionally divided by those same habits. Just as the foods of New England and California display varying regional preferences yet share some typical American eating habits, the pattern in Brazil shows the same unity and diversity. And the foods that link all Brazilians as they sit down to a meal are the bid three - rice, beans and coffee.

Lebanon's Kibbeh Cru Becomes Brazilianized

Along with their work ethic and business acumen, another thing that Lebanese immigrants carried with them when they immigrated to Brazil in great numbers in the first half of the twentieth-century was their culinary memories of their homeland. Lebanese immigrants settled primarily in Brazil's populous southeast, and it's in the big cities of that region, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and especially São Paulo, that one finds the greatest gastronomic influence of Middle Eastern foods on Brazilian cuisine. But the foods of the Levant have now moved beyond these metropolises and can be found everywhere in Brazil these days.

This is particularly true of the snack foods and appetizers known in Arabic as meze. A series of small dishes of food, similar to Spanish tapas, meze are served in bars and restaurants for lunch or a light dinner, with or without drinks, but almost always with plenty of pita bread for picking up dips and soaking up juices. The classic meze dishes of Beirut or Tripoli have become classic bar treats everywhere in Brazil.

A while back, Flavors of Brazil featured the most well-known of these meze, a ball of ground meat (lamb or beef) and bulgar wheat, stuffed with spiced ground meat. It's called kibbe, kibbeh or quibe depending on how you want to transliterate the Arabic word ن كبة ية. Kibbeh can be found in botecos and bars in Brazil, at lunch counters and stand-up juice bars, in fancy Lebanese restaurants, and at the beach where they are sold by ambulant vendors.

There is a second type of kibbeh served in Brazil that's quite different from the ubiquitous deep-fried meatball kibbeh. It's called kibbeh cru, meaning raw kibbeh in English, and it's a Lebanese take on the classic French dish steak tartare. In Brazil you are likely to find this version only in more upmarket Lebanese and Middle Eastern restaurants and it's not found at juice bars or at the beach. Considering that the primary ingredient in kibbeh cru is raw ground meat, that's probably a good thing in term of food safety!

Kibbeh cru is basically a mixture of finely ground meat (lamb or beef) mixed with bulgar wheat, spiced and seasoned with mint, drizzled with olive oil then served with pita bread. Diners spread a small amount of the mixture on a piece of pita before popping it into their mouth. It's usually served family-style, and one plate of kibbeh cru serves the whole table.

This dish is surprisingly mild in taste, with the flavor of the seasoning ingredients, normally including onions and fresh mint, predominant. Before serving, the plate of kibbeh cru is drizzled with olive oil or with a garlic/tahini sauce, and these also add character to the flavor.

Because kibbeh cru is made from raw meat it's important that one only eats it in establishments where one trusts quality and hygiene standards. Since almost all Brazilian cattle and sheep are grass-fed, or at least are not fed animal protein, some of the risks of eating raw meat in other countries are absent or reduced in Brazil.

The next post here on the blog will highlight a recipe for homemade kibbeh cru. If your next dinner party includes adventuresome eaters, serve them kibbeh cru Brazilian-style. Those that partake are likely to thank you for your efforts.

BEEF CUTS - Lagarto (Eye Round)

#10 - Lagarto

As part of Flavors of Brazil's continuing series of posts on Brazilian cuts of beef today's offering is a cut of beef with a rather strange name in Portuguese - largarto. The word lagarto in fact has at least two entirely different meanings in Portuguese. It can refer to a cut of beef, or alternatively it means "lizard." What a relatively lean cut of meat from the posterior portion of a cow has to do with a saurian reptile is hard to say - maybe nothing except that they share a name.

Context is usually a clue to the correct meaning of a word when more than one meaning exists. When a butcher shop in Rio de Janeiro or Salvador posts a sign saying "LAGARTO - $R10/KG" there are very few if any potential customers that imagine they'll be receiving lizard meat! Especially at that price...

In any case, this cut is very easy to translate into English as the same cut is produced by American and European butchers. In English it's called eye round or eye of round.  Round steak cuts come from part of the animal's hip muscle and in the American system of butchering, round steak is subdivided into top round, eye (of) round and bottom round.

Lagarto (eye of round) is a very lean cut of meat and measures must be taken when cooking it to assure that it doesn't become dried out. One option is to braise it for a very long time in some sort of liquid. Another is to cook it at very high temperature, but for a very short time only, which allows time for the meat to cook but not enough time for it to lose its juices.

Brazilians use both techniques to cook lagarto. They often marinated it in red wine and then cook it in the wine to make a dish similar to a pot roast. Or it's put on a very hot grill and removed before it can dry out.

Lagarto is also the one cut of beef that Brazilians from all regions of the country are likely to eat cold. Cold sliced roast beef is usually made from lagarto in Brazil, and the cut is also used to make raw-beef carpaccio, an Italian import that has become hugely popular in Brazil.

Lagarto is quite an inexpensive cut of beef here in Brazil, and when properly handled it can be delicious. It's leanness means that it has fewer calories and less cholesterol than many other cuts of beef. Cooks who know how to treat it can take advantage of its relatively low price to produce an outstanding beef dish without an outstanding bill at the butcher shop!

Tomorrow, Flavors of Brazil will post a typically Brazilian recipe for lagarto. And we promise it will be for beefsteak, not for lizard!

RECIPE - Grilled Filé-mignon with Herbs (Filé-mignon Grelhado com Ervas)

In Fortaleza, my Brazilian hometown, now's a good time to dine on the best cuts of beef - filé-mignon, tenderloin, sirloins. (See the previous post on Flavors of Brazil for an explanation why). Consequently, my eye has recently been turning to Brazilian recipes for this lean, tender and flavorful morsel of beef. The following recipe, from Brazilian food-and-wine magazine, Prazeres da Mesa, grabbed my attention for two reasons - first, because its simplicity ensures that the taste of the beef isn't lost in heavy-handed or overly-rich sauces, and second, because the recipe was developed by Chef Cézar Cassiano, of Grupo Noah in São Paulo, not for a restaurant but rather to be served in a hospital. From my limited experience of hospital food, I've never seen a dish like this on the food cart! But if I'm ever in hospital, let's hope it's in Hospital São Luiz in São Paulo, and let's hope this dish is on the menu.
___________________________________________________
RECIPE - Grilled Filé-mignon with Herbs (Filé-mignon Grelhado com Ervas)
serves 4

4 individual filés-mignon, about 1/2 lb (250 gr) each
salt to taste
8 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 Tbsp fresh sage
1 Tbsp fresh basil, torn into smaller pieces if the leaves are large
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
10 cloves garlic
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peel the garlic cloves, and lightly smash them with the side of a knife or cleaver, making sure they stay whole. Season the steaks with salt. Reserve.

Heat a deep, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 6 Tbsp olive oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Add the steaks and fry for about 4 minutes per side, depending on desired degree of doneness. When done, remove the steaks from pan and reserve, keeping warm.

Add the remaining two Tbsp oil to the same pan. Turn the heat to medium, then add the garlic and rosemary. Cook until the garlic is just browned, but not burnt. Remove the pan from the heat - then remove the garlic, reserving the pan with flavored oil.

In another small frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over high heat. When hot but not smoking, add the fresh parsley, sage and basil and fry briefly - until the herbs are crispy. Remove the herbs, and drain them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Return the larger frying pan to the heat. When hot, add the reserved steaks, plus the vinegar and soy sauce. Heat, turning the steaks over once, for a short time, until the meat is hot and the sauce has thickened a bit.

Place one steak on each of four plates, and mound some of the crispy fresh herbs on top. Serve immediately.

The Cost of Meat in Brazil - Some Interesting Changes

Compared to the cost in North America or Europe, the price charged for animal protein in supermarkets and butcher shops in Brazil is very cheap - both in actual cost and in percentage of the cost of all food purchases. As Brazil's export market for meat, particularly beef, grows the trend has been over the past few years for a gradual increase in the cost of meat.

In an article in today's O Povo, one of Fortaleza's daily newspapers, the increasing cost of meat has had an unanticipated and interesting twist added to it. The article is primarily concerned with beef prices in Fortaleza, and indicates that while the cost of what are called "secondary cuts" - cuts similar to chuck, brisket, round - continues to rise, there has been a dramatic fall in the cost of "noble cuts" such as filé-mignon, sirloin, and tenderloin.

What has happened, apparently, is that the price for noble cuts rose dramatically in the second half of 2010, sometimes by close to 100%. As a result, consumers turned their attention to the lower-priced secondary cuts. Sales of noble cuts dropped, and sales of secondary cuts rose. As a result of this change in consumer behavior, there is currently an excess quantity noble cut meat on the market, and a deficit of secondary cut meat. So, as will happen according to the law of supply and demand, prices have gone down for noble cuts, and up for secondary cuts.

For example, consider the case of filé-mignon. According to the article, in December of 2010, this cut of beef was retailing for between R$45 and R$50 per kilo (equivalent to USD $12 - $14 per pound). This past week, it has been selling for half of that - R$22 to R$25 (equivalent to USD $6 - $7 per pound). Conversely, the cost for patinho (similar to bottom round steak) during the same period of time has increased from R$12 to R$14 per kilo. In other words, in December filé-mignon was twice as expensive as patinho and today they are equally priced.

Whether the Brazilian consumer will now reverse their pattern of consumption once again and start buying more filé-mignon and less patinho remains to be seen. That would, naturally, increase the cost of the more noble cuts again to what they were historically. But in the meantime, I'm planning to visit my neighborhood butcher and stock up on bargain-basement-priced filé-mignon while it lasts.

If this post has you dreaming of a tender, lean filé-mignon, the next here on Flavors of Brazil will provide you with a perfect recipe for that marvelous cut of beef.