Cupim Goes Upmarket - Alex Atala's Cupim with Pequi-flavored Potato Puree

The last couple of posts here at Flavors of Brazil have dealt with a cut of beef known as cupim in Portuguese - the cut which, in fact, comes from the hump of the humped Brazilian cattle known as zebu. Long considered one of the least desirable cuts of beef, due primarily to its high concentration of fat, cupim has been rediscovered by some of the most talented, and more adventurous, chefs of the Brazilian culinary world and is now sometimes to be found listed not only on the blackboard of neighborhood lunch spots, but in the multi-page menus of some of the most chic restaurants in the country.

Probably the brightest star today in contemporary Brazilian cuisine is Alex Atala, chef-owner of D.O.M.  Restaurant in São Paulo. The restaurant itself was named the 18th best restaurant in the world in this year's World Restaurant Awards. One of his signature dishes is an unusual and controversial treatment of cupim, which he serves with a potato puree flavored with oil of pequi, a Brazilian fruit with a strong love-it-or-hate-it flavor. (Click here to read more about the pequi.) He transforms cupim by his unusual cooking technique in this dish. The meat is cut into small perfect cubes, then cooked in a pressure cooker over very low heat for a long period of time. The end result are caramelized cubes of meat that are lean and so tender that the dish is served without a knife. All that is needed to cut the meat is a spoon. The cubes are served in just a bit of the broth which results from the cooking process with the pequi-enhanced potato puree alongside.

Recently the food section of the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper asked a number of food critics and other assorted foodies to taste and rate this unusual dish. This is what some of them had to say (my translation from the original Portuguese):


Anna Angotti and Damien Takahashi (journalists): We were apprehensive. This would be the third time we had eaten the cupim dish that was already a classic of Alex Atala's. We feared apathy, the palate already accustomed to to the dish, unable to be surprised. After all, we were veterans, we knew all the details, all the tricks of the dish. First would come the aroma of pequi, invading our olfactory senses without asking permission. Only later would it be tamed by the cupim broth, poured onto the plate at the last minute. We could repeat, along with the maitre d', the reason for the absence of a knife (the meat is so tender it can be eaten with a spoon). We were already expecting the contrast between the fresh, lightly acidic puree and the unctuous and intense cupim. The clear, light broth. We knew all that. What we didn't know is that we'd again be enraptured, just like the first time.

Braulio Pasmanik (businessman and gourmet): I hate pequi! I put that phrase in the Google search window and found that along with me, 3200 other people share that opinion.Taking into consideration that pequi isn't fundamental to gastronomy, that's an impressive number! The closest taste that pequi, brings to mind, for me, is bubble gum. And if cupim is already a greasy and tasteless meat, imagine it served with bubble gum!

You can see that this dish is one people tend not to be neutral about. But I guess that's what makes it such an exciting dish - it evokes all kinds of strong reactions, positive and negative. I've not tried it, but if and when I do, Flavors of Brazil will get the first review, I promise.

(after the jump there is a sampling of more critiques of Atala's dish that appeared in the Estado de S.Paulo article)

Luiz Horta (Assistant Editor, Paladar): A contemporary classic. A re-invention of foie gras without the foie. A magnificent texture, delicate intervention of pequi (a very dangerous flavor, one I normally detest). To reach a balance in all this is complicated. To succeed, and - on top of all - enchant, is something notable.

Neide Rigo (Nutritionist and author of the blog Come-Se): D.O.M. Restaurant's cupim cooked at low temperature resulted in an incredible texture for such a fibrous cut of meat. The fibers were tender, to the point that they could be cut with a spoon. The reduction that caramelized the exterior of the cubes has a strong meaty flavor, overly toasted, that fights with the pequi puree, also very strong-flavored. I adore pequi but both it and the cupim have a lot of fat and a strong presence. It was an ugly fight, and it wasn't my fault.

Luiz Americo Camargo, Supplements Editor, Estado de S. Paulo): Cupim is, for me, the Kobe beef of Brazil, the best cut from zebu cattle, even though doctors and nutritionists demonize it. Here is has a modern presentation, cutable with a spoon and with a exceptional reduction - potent without being indelicate. The accompaniment was not so felicitous. The pequi overpowered to such a degree that the equilibrium with the potato puree was lost. Could it be that the chef wasn't in the house?

RECIPE - Home Style Cupim (Cupim Caseiro)

The cut of beef which is called cupim in Portuguese, and which comes from the hump of the zebu cattle, is a humble cut of meat. It is not one of what are known in Brazil as carnes nobres or "noble cuts." That title is reserved for the prestige cuts from the loin and the tenderloin. Cupim is a workaday cut and requires special care to ensure that it doesn't end up tough and stringy or fat and greasy.

This simply home style recipe for marinated and roasted cupim fits the bill, and results in a delicious plate of meat perfect for a family supper, or for a buffet table. Since cupim is not regularly available in North America or Europe, you can substitute any of the stewing cuts of beef, like chuck roast.
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RECIPE - Home Style Cupim (Cupim Caseiro)
Serves 8


For the marinade:
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into thin 1" (2 cm) strips
1/4 cup neutral vegetable oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small japaleno or serrano chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh oregano
4 medium onions, cut into eighths
1 piece cupim or chuck roast, approximately 4 lbs (2 kg)

To cook the marinated meat:
1/2 cup brandy or cognac
salt to taste
6 cups (1.5l) light beef stock
1 Tbsp. cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water


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In a large-sized Ziploc or other sealable plastic bag combine all the marinade ingredients plus the meat. If very large, the meat may be cut into two equal-sized pieces to fit in the bag. Place the bag in the refrigerator and refrigerate for 24 hours, or overnight, turning the bag over occasionally.

The next day, remove the meat from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Drain the meat and pat dry with paper towels. In a large heavy pan or Dutch oven, brown the meat in a little oil until well browned on all sides. Heat the brandy or cognac in a small saucepan, remove from heat, then flame it. Pour the liquor over the meat in the pan. Let the flames die out.

Remove all the solid ingredients from the marinade, and add to the meat in the pan. Reserve the liquid marinade. Continue to cook over medium high heat until the onion is golden. Then add the reserved marinading liquid and the beef stock to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cover the pan.

Continue to cook the meat over low heat, maintaining the liquid at a simmer, for 3 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Place the covered pan in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Skim as much of the fat off the surface of the liquid as possible, then slowly reheat the meat and liquid. When the meat is thoroughly heated through, remove it and keep it warm on a heated platter. Add the dissolved cornstarch to the liquid in the pan, and cook for 5 minutes, or until the cornstarch has thickened the sauce.

Slice the meat on the platter, and pour some sauce over each slice. Serve with additional sauce in a gravy boat, accompanied by boiled potatoes and a green vegetable or salad.

Recipe translated and adapted from Mais Você Culinária, TV Globo.

BEEF CUTS - Cupim

As I've previously discussed, trying to untangle the linguistic and culinary nightmare of the taxonomy of beef cuts in Brazil and in North America is no simple matter. To start with, butchers here in Brazil and those in the Northern Hemisphere don't cut beef the same way, so a cut hat's popular in one region, like picanha in Brazil or Porterhouse in North America, might not exist in the other. Further, there are regional and local naming variations on both sides of the Equator. However, Flavors of Brazil doesn't intend to let this complexity deter it in its attempt to untangle and clarify this gastronomic bagunça ("messy situation" in Portuguese). In due course, we hope to work our way through the entire animal from head to tail to compile a list of correspondences in beef cuts that is accurate and usable for readers of Flavors of Brazil.

One cut of beef that I have frequently come across in supermarkets and butcher shops here in Fortaleza, and which I have enjoyed on a number of occasions, is called cupim. My curiosity was piqued the first time I spotted it in a butcher shop, as I knew that the word cupim meant "termite" in Portuguese. The red, boneless, fat-marbled piece of beef I saw on display seemed to have nothing to do with wood-eating insects (fortunately!). Research among recipes for cupim revealed that the cut is roasted or stewed, and is also sometimes featured in the menu of Brazilian churrascos, or barbeques. I actually tasted cupim for the first time in a churrascaria, a Brazilian meat-orgy style of restaurant where waiters circle the tables with cuts of meat on large swords, offering slices to diners. I found it very rich, quite fatty, and with a tender, stringy texture. For me, cupim is more a cut for pot-roast or stew and less for the grill. Cooking it in liquid disperses the fat (which can be skimmed off) and makes cupim less greasy.

Questions posed to Brazilian friends about what part of the body cupim comes from didn't yield too much information at first, though one friend used the unfamiliar word corcova  and pointed to his back. It was time to hit the internet to figure this one out. Corcova turned out to mean "hunchback" or "hump" and from there it required only a small bit of internet research to nail down exactly what cupim is. A large portion of the cattle raised for beef in Brazil are in fact zebus and not the same species as European and North American beef cattle. Zebus came originally from India and are the primary beef animal throughout the tropical world, as they are exceptionally tolerant to heat and drought. In fact, they constitute 80% of all the beef cattle raised in Brazil. The primary physical characteristics of zebus that distinguish them from taurine beef cattle are drop ears and a large hump atop the spine just behind the head. Bingo - there's the cupim! It's nothing more or less then the hump of a zebu.

Since most North American and European beef comes from taurine cattle, it turns out that you're unlikely to encounter cupim in those regions under any name. Because Brazil is a major exporter of beef to those regions, it's likely that you might have eaten zebu at some time without realizing it, but because cuts of beef tend to be culturally determined, cupim doesn't share in that export market. It stays home in Brazil, for the delectation of Brazilians and tourists who are adventurous enough to try it when the passing waiter in a churrascaria offers it.