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.
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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
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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 .

RECIPE - Pressure Cooker Beans (Feijão na Panela de Pressão)

There's no reliable statistics on how many tons of beans are cooked everyday in Brazilian homes for the family mid-day meal, though it's absolutely clear that the quantity IS in the tons. Brazilian mid-day meals almost always include beans and rice in addition to whatever else is being served that day.

Making beans is part of a Brazilian home kitchen's everyday morning schedule, whether that kitchen is run by a housewife/mother herself, or by a domestic servant. Another day, another pot of beans. If these beans were cooked the way most North American and European cooks make beans - soaking the dried beans overnight, then cooking them on the stove for an hour or two until the are fully cooked and ready to eat - these cooks would spend a good portion of their waking hours cooking beans.

That doesn't happen though, thanks to the continued use of pressure cookers in Brazil, even though they have almost disappeared in other parts of the world. Again, there nor no reliable statistics, but anecdotal evidence would indicate that by far the largest portion of those tons of beans were cooked in a pressure cooker. If you ask a Brazilian cook if they make beans in a pressure cooker, you're likely to get a stunned expression and a quick "of course" as a response. Brazilians just can't imagine why anyone would cook beans any other way. Presoaking isn't required, the cooking time is a mere 15 minutes, and even if you take into account the half an hour that you need to let the pressure cooker cool, the whole process can be done in under an hour. With all the other tasks needed to get the family meal on the table, that's a blessing. At least that's how Brazilian cooks seem to take it.

Flavors of Brazil published a non-pressure cooker recipe for basic Brazilian beans some time back. You can find it by clicking here. However, if you have a pressure cooker lying around somewhere, unused, why not get it out and try making beans the Brazilian way. Here's how:
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RECIPE - Pressure Cooker Beans (Feijão na Panela de Pressão)

2 cups dried beans (any kind - Pinto, black, etc.)
4 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs cilantro, whole
2 green onions, whole
salt and black pepper to taste
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Wash and pick over the beans. Put them in a 4 quart or larger pressure cooker. Add four cups water, the cilantro, green onions and the bay leaf. Cover the pressure cooker and heat on stove according to directions. When the pressure takes (the cooker begins to whistle and steam) reduce heat slightly and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve. Do NOT open the pressure cooker.

After about 30 minutes, check the pressure in the cooker. If there is no pressure remaining you can open the pan. Remove the cilantro, green onion and bay leaf and discard them. Let the beans and their liquid sit in the pressure cooker.

In a cast iron frying pan heat the vegetable oil. When hot but not smoking add the onion and garlic. Cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and transparent but not brown. Reduce heat. With a ladle, remove about one ladleful of beans from the pressure cooker and about one ladleful of their liquid. Add to the frying pan and coarsely mash the beans with the back of the ladle. Cook for a few minutes, then return contents of the frying pan to the pressure cooker. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately, or let cool completely. Can be stored in the refrigerator for two days or in the freezer for up to a month.

UTENSILS - The Pressure Cooker (Panela de Pressão)

Although pressure cookers - pans with airtight lids that allow steam pressure to build up inside the pan and consequently allow cooking at temperatures higher than the normal boiling point - we invented back in the 19th Century and had their heyday in the decades following the Second World War, in most parts of North America and Europe they have fallen by the wayside. Children born in the 1970s and 1980s are now reaching adulthood without ever having seen a pressure cooker. In modern American kitchens, pressure cookers are as scarce as the proverbial hens' teeth.

In Brazilian kitchens, however, pressure cookers, once they became popular never disappeared. A pressure cooker (called panela de pressão in Portuguese) can be found in most Brazilian kitchen cupboards or pantries and Brazilian home cooks often use a pressure cooker on an almost-daily basis. Brazilian cooks use pressure cookers to make the beans without which a Brazilian meat isn't complete. They also use them to make meat and poultry stews, relying on the pan's high temperature to tenderize tough meats. And they use them to cook the salted, dried meats, like carne de sol and charque, which are an integral part of Brazilian cuisine.

The ability to tendersize tough cuts of meat is just one of the virtues of the pressure cooker that make it a valuable part of a Brazilian cook's batterie de cuisine. Because it generates such high temperatures, pressure cookers allow for a much shorter cooking time for things like dried beans, which can take hours when cooked in a normal pan. This shorter cooking time benefits Brazilian cooks in two ways - first, because it allows them to do the daily cooking faster, saving time for other chores, and second, because the shorter cooking time means significantly less energy is required, whether the cook is using a wood stove, a gas stove or an electric one. This last reason is probably the most important reason why the pressure cooker has stayed popular in Brazil, as many houses rely on their own resources of wood or on bottled butane gas for cooking purposes. Only in the large cities, and then only in the better neighborhoods, can centralized gas be found. When fuel is limited, and for many Brazilians, expensive, a pressure cooker makes a lot of sense.

Brazilian cookbooks are full of recipes that require pressue cookers. To date, Flavors of Brazil hasn't published any, as most readers of this blog aren't likely to have one at home. But as we here at Flavors of Brazil have taken the plunge and bought a pressure cooker, we'll publish such recipes from time to time in the future. Pressure cookers are still available in North America and Europe and they do make good economic sense, as well as providing an excellent method of cooking. Newer models have many safety features, too, which eliminates some people's worries about cooking with potentially explosive steam. Who knows, in this world of increasing energy costs, maybe the pressure cooker is due for a comeback.