RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Version 3

Sofia Mota

Unlike the previous two recipes posted here on Flavors of Brazil, this version of Brazil's pé-de-moleque has nothing to do with traditional cooking, other than in inspiration. Created by chef Sofia Mota of Recife's Jalan Jalan restaurant, and featured at the Prazeres da Mesa Ao Vivo trade show and exhibition, this is a very up-to-date, deconstructed pé-de-moleque. Although the list of ingredients resembles the northestern version of traditional pé-de-moleque, the cooking techniques and the presentation make it very 21st Century.

(As in the northeastern version of pé-de-moleque, this recipe requires manioc-flour dough, unobtainable outside Brazil. For most readers of this blog, therefore, this is a recipe to fantasize about, not to make at home.)

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RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque Graças ao Açúcar
15 portions

500 gr manioc dough
400 gr roasted, unsalted cashew nuts, broken into chunky pieces
200 gr salted butter, at room temperature
200 gr mascavo sugar
150 gr grated, unsweetened coconut
100 gr good-quality instant coffee
100 gr roasted, unsalted cashew nuts, whole
2 gr baking powder
5 gr ground fennel
5 gr ground cloves
250 ml honey
200 ml coconut milk
150 ml water
50 ml molasses
4 small cinnamon sticks
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
butter and all-purpose flour
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Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the mascavo sugar and butter until homogenous. Add the manioc dough, the salt and baking powder and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the whole eggs and the yolks, blending them into the batter until completely incorporated. Add the coconut milk and the ground fennel and cloves, stirring and mixing constantly and completely. Reserve.

Make a strong cup of coffee with the instant coffee and the water. Add to the reserved batter, along with the honey and the broken cashew nuts. Blend in completely.

Grease a tube cake pan, or muffin tin, with butter then dust with flour. Decorate the bottom with whole cashews, then sprinkle on the grated coconut and pour over ribbons of molasses. Carefully pour in the batter. Place in the oven and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. (Individual cupcakes will take less time than a large single cake.)

Remove from oven, let partially cool in pan, then turn out onto cake rack and let cool completely.

Serve with cachaça ice cream decorated with spun sugar and mel-de-engenho (concentrated sugar cane juice).

Recipe translated and adapted from Prazeres da Mesa, September 2010.

RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Version 2

Yesterday Flavors of Brazil published a recipe for a peanut brittle-type candy from Brazil called pé-de-moleque. In that post, and in this post all about pé-de-moleque, it was specified that the recipe was for the "southern version" of pé-de-moleque, and that in the north and northeast of Brazil, the name pé-de-moleque was applied to something quite different.

In the more northerly regions of Brazil, locals apply the name pé-de-moleque to a rich and dense spice and nut cake. It's served with afternoon tea throughout the year, and is particularly associated with the Festas Juninas, the season of June festivals. During those festivals, homemade-style pé-de-moleque cake is served at fairs and dances throughout the region.

This cake is made not with wheat flour, as North American and European cooks are used to using, but with manioc flour - available for purchase ready-to-go as a dough in northern Brazil, similar to the ready-to-go pizza dough often available at Italian bakeries. As this dough is an essential ingredient, and it's unlikely that it can be found in North America, Europe or elsewhere, I'm including this recipe only for pure interest - don't try to make this substituting any other type of dough or flour as Flavors of Brazil won't be responsible for the results!
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RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Northeastern Version

3 cups ground, roasted cashew nuts
2 1/2 cups boiling water
2 cups canned coconut milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 Tbsp. good-quality instant coffee
1/2 Tbsp. powdered cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. salt
2.2 lbs (1 kg) premixed manioc (macaxeira) dough
1 lb (500 gr)  rapadura, cut into small pieces
4 eggs
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Put the pieces of rapadura into a blender, pour the boiling water over, then blend at low speed until the sugar is completely dissolved. Be careful when blending hot liquids. Pour the mixture into a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the butter, the coffee, cinnamon, cloves and fennel. Stir to dissolve the butter, then reserve, letting cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).

With a cake mixer, whip the eggs and salt together in a large mixing bowl until light and frothy. Add the manioc flour and blend with the beaten eggs using a wooden spoon. Using the cake mixer, on low speed, add the coconut milk gradually. Continue to mix until you have a homogenous batter. Turn off the cake mixer, add the dissolved rapadura, and stir in with the wooden spoon. Again using the mixer on low speed, beat the batter, gradually adding the ground cashew nuts.

Generously grease a tube-style cake pan with unsalted butter. Pour in the batter, then cook on a center rack for approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Remove from heat, let cool partially in pan, then turn out onto a cake rack to cool completely. If desired, decorate with whole roasted cashew nuts.


Recipe translated and adapted from NordesteWeb.

RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Version 1

Although it's not known as such in Brazil, let's call this version of the traditional sweet pé-de-moleque the "southern version". In this post on Flavors of Brazil, I mentioned that the name pé-de-moleque was applied to different things in different regions in Brazil. What the word means in Rio de Janeiro or Belo Horizonte is not the same thing as what it means in Recife or Fortaleza. What it means in all southern and central regions of Brazil is a sticky, chewy candy that is very similar to North American peanut brittle - intensely sweet and full of caramel flavors and packed full of roasted, unsalted peanuts.

Whether to use peanuts with or without skins is entirely up to the cook - I've seen it offered both ways, and a quick search of online recipe shows just about equal numbers called for peanuts with skins and for those without. I think that the version with skins is more visually in the end, but it's really a minor detail. Have it your way.
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RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque, Southern Version

2 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts (with or without skins)
1 cup water
600 gr rapadura (3 cups dark brown sugar may be substituted)
unsalted butter to grease cookie sheet

Generously grease a cookie sheet with softened butter. Reserve.

If using rapadura, cut it into small cubes. Place the rapadura or sugar in a deep, heavy saucepan, and add the water. Stir to mix, and heat over high heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid begins to boil. Stop stirring at that point and continue cooking until the syrup reaches the hard ball stage - 250-265F or 120-130C (click here for an explanation of cold water test for sugar syrups).  Add the peanuts, remove the syrup from heat, and stir briefly with a wooden spoon to coat the peanuts with syrup. Continue stirring the mixture slowly until the syrup begins to thicken and become opaque.

Pour the thickening mixture onto the cookie sheet, and spread it with a rubber spatula. Let it continue to cool, and when it is beginning to harden, cut it into pieces of whatever size you desire with a sharp knife dipped in boiling water. Let it harden completely, then break it into the pieces you have cut. Let them cool completely, then put them in a wax-paper lined cookie tin or plastic container.

Keeps for up to one week.

Recipe translated and adapted from Mdemulher Culinaria.

Ragamuffin's Foot - Pé-de-moleque

One of the most interesting words in common usage in Brazilian Portuguese, to my mind, is moleque. It's pronounced mo-LEH-key, and the word originally came from the African language Kimbundu where it meant simply "boy." In colonial Brazil it took on the meaning of "black boy" or "slave boy", and was used to designate child-slaves who worked in the kitchens and laundries of the owner's mansions on sugar cane plantations. In time, it lost its connotations of race and slave status, and today it generally means a young boy, often a street kid, who is playful, impish, knavish and often dirty - a ragamuffin.

Interesting etymological discussion, you might say, but what does it have to do with Brazilian food culture? Well, one of the most traditional and common sweets in Brazil is called "pé-de-moleque" which when translated into English becomes Ragamuffin's Foot, or Street-urchin's Foot. Legend has it that the name was first applied to the treat in the northeastern State of Pernambuco in the 18th Century. As the story goes, a woman who often made a treat out of rapadura (raw brown sugar) and peanuts was in the habit of leaving it on her kitchen windowsill to harden and cool. There was a street kid who lived in her neighborhood who loved sweets, and who sometimes would run up to the windowsill, grab a piece, and run away. One fine day, the woman happened to see the thief in action, and as he ran barefoot down the street, she leaned out the window and shouted: "Pede, moleque!", which means "Ask for it, kid!". The name stuck, and over time "pede" (ask for) become corrupted and confused with "Pé de" which means "foot of." Thus, "Ask for it, kid!" became "Ragamuffin's foot." Or so the story goes. True or not, it's a charming story and has given a memorable name to this delectable treat.

pé-de-moleque southern-stye

Actually, I should say that it has given it's name to these delectable treats, because today the name pé-de-moleque refers to one of two entirely different sweets, depending on in which region of Brazil one is speaking. In most of Brazil, the south, southeast and center, pé-de-moleque is a mixture of melted rapadura or brown sugar with peanuts - kind of like peanut brittle. Hard, chewy, sticky and very sweet. In the northeastern region of Brazil, however, pé-de-moleque is a dense cake made with rapadura, manioc flour and nuts, similar to a molasses cake. What both versions have in common is the dark, rich raw sugar and the presence of nuts. They differ in whether flour is added to make a cake or not.

pé-de-moleque northeastern-stye

Shortly, I'll post recipes for both styles of pé-de-moleque, as well as a chef's contemporary take on a deconstructed one. Get out your sweet-tooth, as pé-de-moleque is always achingly sweet - just as sweet as that 18th Century street kid who gained immortality by stealing candy from the old lady up the road.