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.
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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.

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.

Wild Boars, Peccaries and Javaporcos

In contrast to their domesticated cousins, the common pig, wild members of the group of animals known as swine have only recently been making their way to the fashionable dining table in Brazil. Or, it should be said, returning to the fashionable dining table, as historically hunting wild pigs for human consumption was common throughout Brazil. For a very long time, however, the meat of wild pig was considered to strong tasting, too "wild" in fact, to be used as an ingredient in sophisticated cuisine. No more, however. Leading-edge contemporary chefs in Brazil's major cities are tripping over themselves trying to create new dishes and recipes featuring the meat of wild pigs. Recently, a major gastronomic website in Brazil highlighted a new recipe for confit of wild boar, and terrine of wild boar is showing up in contemporary-cuisine restaurants in Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasília and other urban centers.

Peccary (queixada)

Behind this new-found popularity, however, lurks an environmental battle between an invasive Eurasian species of wild pig and a native American species. The Eurasian species, with the unappealing scientific name Sus scrofa, was brought to southern South America by Spanish and Portuguese explorers, and is called javali in Portuguese, and in English is normally referred to as wild boar. The only-distantly-related native American species (Tayassu pecari) is called queixada in Portuguese and peccary in English.

Wild Boar (javali)

The original range of the wild boar (javali) was extensive in Eurasia, and there are still wild populations there. This animal was carried across the Atlantic to what is now Argentina and Uruguay, where it returned to its feral ways. Having no natural predators in the New World and reproducing rapidly, the wild boar spread from Uruguay into Southern Brazil. The native species, the peccary (queixada), is native to most of the Americas south of the Rio Grande river, the border between the USA and Mexico, but has found its range threatened by the wild boar. The Brazilian Environmental Protection Agency (IBAMA) considers the wild boar an invasive species, and has created a number of programs to limit or stop the growth of its range. To date they haven't had much success, and the situation is made worse by the close genetic relationship between the wild boar and the common pig. They can crossbreed, and have done so, creating a hybrid animal called the javaporco.

There are commercial producers of both wild boars and peccaries in Brazil, and the product that ends up on restaurant tables is from one of these producers, as health-standard legislation prevents the commercial use of wild meats. IBAMA, naturally, has a preference for queixada, but most chefs prefer to work with javali. The exception is found among those chefs who value local and native food sources - their preference is to serve queixada.

Here at Flavors of Brazil, we've eaten javali, and properly prepared to eliminate its gaminess, it's a delicious meat. Queixada remains to be tried, but we're on the lookout for it. Once we've sampled it, we'll return to this subject with a comparison.

RECIPE - Spicy New Year's Sausage (Virada Picante)

New Year's parties in Brazil tend to be buffets, with food available for snacking throughout the evening. Early on, the table might be filled with salty snacks, savory dishes and finger foods. As the evening progresses, sweeter foods and desserts take the place of the snacks and appetizers. This recipe for spicy sausage is a traditional New Year's dish from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and livens up any buffet or cocktail platter on which is is served. The quantity of peppers can be modified to suit one's taste and capacity for spicy food.
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RECIPE - Spicy New Year's Sausage (Virada Picante)

1 lb. (450 gr.) homestyle linguiça (other artesanal sausages with garlic may be substituted)
1 Tbsp. neutral vegetable oil
2 cups red onion, coarsely chopped into cube shapes
1 Tbsp. dried, flaked red pepper (or fresh Thai red peppers)
2 Tbsp. finely chopped Italian parsley
2 Tbsp. finely chopped green onions (green and white parts)
4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 loaf baguette or other French or Italian bread, warmed briefly
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Prepare the sauce: If using fresh Thai peppers, crush into a paste with mortar and pestle. If using dried peppers, place in mortar. Add olive oil, then parsley and green onion. Crush lightly with pestle, but do not over-mix. Let sit at least four hours for flavors to blend.

Slice the sausage into bite-sized pieces. Fry in the vegetable until thoroughly cooked and browned. Add the red onion, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion is transparent, but still slightly crunchy.

Place the sausage slices and red onion on a serving platter, Drizzle the sauce over. Serve with slices of wam bread.

(Translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora)