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.

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.

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.

PORK CUTS - Pernil (Fresh Ham)

A big social event in Brazil, be it a wedding reception, Christmas Eve dinner for the entire family including Great-Aunt Joana, or a young girl's 15th-birthday coming-out party, the main course for the meal might be turkey, but it's much more likely that it will be type of roast pork eminently suitable for serving a crowd. Something called pernil. This pork roast is cut from the animal's rear haunches and in the English-speaking world, it's known as fresh ham.

It's called fresh ham because the same cut of meat, smoked or cured, already has the "rights" to the word ham. When people think of ham the first thing that comes to mind is not a fresh cut of meat but rather a cured, aged or smoked one that goes into a ham 'n' cheese sandwich, or is roasted on Easter sunday decorated with canned pineapple rings and maraschino cherries. It's odd, actually. One would think that the generic term ham would refer to the natural, untreated cut, and that we'd say something like cured ham, or smoked ham when talking about the processed variety. But it's the other way around in English. The processed variety gets the generic name, and the natural product has to be described in detail to differentiate it.

Portuguese doesn't have this problem at all. The fresh cut of meat is called pernil, and the smoked or cured presunto. Clean, simple and straightforward.

Depending on the size of the pig that is slaughtered, a fresh ham can be a very large piece of meat - part of the reason why it works so well in serving a multitude. A full ham averages about 10-12 lbs (4.5-5 kg) boneless, and up to 20 lbs (9 kg) with the bone in. As the main course for a substantial meal, or as part of a buffet, a single ham can serve up to 30 people.

Pernil is a very popular cut of meat in Brazil. Part of its popularity is due to the fact that it's a very tasty cut of meat, but I'm sure that it's very low price point bumps up its popularity by a notch or two. Meat is normally much cheaper in Brazil than in North America or Europe, and this is especially true with almost any cut of pork. A check this week at a local butcher shop here in Fortaleza indicated a per-pound price for whole pernil of R$3.00 or USD$1.80.

Brazilians eat a lot of cured ham too, but mostly in the form of processed deli meats - sliced for sandwiches or cold-cut plates. A baked ham is rarely spotted at the dining table. It's pernil that shows up there, though it's often marinaded for a day or so before cooking to season it a bit and to firm up the meat. Next time round on Flavors of Brazil, we'll detail how to marinade and roast an entire fresh ham Brazilian-style. It's a spectacular cut of meat for a banquet, a real crowd-pleaser. And it needn't break the bank.

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!