SEAFOOD OF BRAZIL - Spiny Lobster (Lagosta)

Brazilians love lobster - who doesn't? But in the relationship between Brazilians and the tasty crustaceans, there's a problem: too much love. Lobster stocks are threated by overfishing, and although regulations to protect the fishery are in place, they are often flouted. Flavors of Brazil will feature this issue in upcoming posts, but first we thought it would be good to focus on exactly what is (and what isn't) a Brazilian lobster.

Unlike the true lobster (zoological family Nephropidae), which dwells in icy waters, Brazilian lobsters are warm-water inhabitants and belong to a separate family the Palinuridae. The Palinuridae are commonly known as spiny lobsters, and can be found in warm-waters seas around the world - places like the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and, of course, Brazil.

Besides their habitat, spiny lobsters are distinguished from true lobsters by the lack of claws on their front legs and by the presence of of two long, thick and spiny antennae. They are an ancient group of animals, and there are spiny lobster fossils that are more than 110 million years old which don't differ significantly from current species.

Spiny lobsters prefer to live in crevices in rocks and coral reefs, darting out of their shelter to eat, and then retreating to safety. This habitat has caused them to also be called rock lobsters (thanks, B52s!). Recently scientists have discovered that spiny lobsters have the ability to navigate via the earth's magnetic field - i.e. they carry their own internalized compass when they move about.

Brazil is a significant producer of spiny lobster, ranking third in the world in production, coming behind the world's largest producer, the USA, and Australia. It is this important commercial fishery that is threatening Brazil's lobster population. We'll provide more details on this issue in our next post.

What the Duck? Untangling Patos and Marrecos

Although chickens are by far the most-commonly consumed poultry species in Brazil, just like everywhere else, they aren't the only birds that end up gracing the Brazilian dinner table. In certain regions of Brazil, for example, guinea fowl (capote or galinha d'Angola in Portuguese) are highly valued for their it's-chicken-but-it's-not flavor and are an important ingredient in traditional cooking. In fancy restaurants in Brazil's metropolises you can sometimes find squab (pombo) on the menu. Goose doesn't really have a place in Brazilian kitchens, perhaps because it's fatty richness is a bit overwhelming in tropical heat.

One bird that bridges the gap between traditional, countryside cooking and contemporary gastronomy in Brazil is the duck. Ducks can be found waddling around the simplest homestead in the backland - easy and cheap to raise - and end up roasted or stewed without fuss or muss. At the other end of the spectrum, magret de canard is considered the ne plus ultra of haute cuisine in Brazil, just as in France or the USA.

The Portuguese word for duck is pato (as in Pato Donald, the Brazilian name for Donald Duck). However, in supermarket freezers, in the pato section, one will often find something that looks an awful lot like duck but which isn't labelled pato. Instead, it's called marreco. If you ask the clerk or the market's butcher what the difference is, he or she is likely to say there isn't any - that pato and marreco are the same thing. Asking Brazilian friends the same question will get you the same response.

But, as Flavors of Brazil has found out, patos and marrecos aren't the same thing, though they are very similar. Since Brazilians are as confused as anyone about what distinguishes these two species, there are numerous attempts at disambiguation (that favorite Wikipedia word) of these two birds on Brazilian food and wine websites, in blogs and in Portuguese dictionaries. The majority opinion, which isn't a 100% consensus, is that, in the culinary sense, pato refers to the larger, white farmyard duck, the one known as a Peking Duck, and marreco is a smaller, more compact, brightly colored bird, often identified as the bird English speakers call teal.

Pato

Marreco

In the kitchen, pato is considered to be fattier than marreco, and with a milder flavor. Marreco has a slightly gamier, wilder flavor and appeals to those who want a leaner bird. But Brazilians tend to use both meats interchangeably and Brazilian cookbooks will tell you that you can substitute one for the other in almost any recipe. We'll publish a couple of traditional Brazilian recipes for duck (or teal if you can find it) in upcoming posts on Flavors of Brazil.

Sururu - Brazil's Homegrown Aphrodiasiac

What foods do you consider aphrodisiacs? The way you answer this question probably depends on your native culture. We all belong to one (or more) cultures, the most common of which are regional and/or ethnic but which can be national, religious or political too. The dictionary defines culture as "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively" and food and cooking are one of the most important components of any culture.

Almost every culture assigns aphrodisiac quality to certain foods; that is, cultures ascribe the power to increase sexual desire or potency to some foods. Human nature being what it is, foods that are considered to be aphrodisiac are eagerly sought out by those who wish to increase their sexual drive and power (or those of their sexual object.) Such varied foods as arugula, avocado, chocolate, deer penis or antlers, doce de leite, ginseng, oysters, saffron and watermelon are considered to be aphrodisiacs by one or more cultures.

Although Western medical science ascribes no proven aphrodisiac powers to any food, the notion that, say, oysters or ginseng increase one's sexual desire is strong and even the most sceptical diners may choose to eat these foods in the hopes of feeling their aphrodisiac effect.

Sururu

The folk traditions of northeast Brazil all along the Atlantic coast that stretches thousands of miles from southern Bahia state almost to the mouth of the Amazon, share a belief in the aphrodisiac powers of a small member of the mussel family that bears the scientific name Mytella charruana. This miniature mollusk is called sururu in Brazil, and in northeastern Brazilian culture it is believed to pack a powerful aphrodisiac punch. The small bivalve is native to the lagoons and mangrove swamps of the northeastern coast of Brazil and all along the coast, it's cooked into soups, added to coconut-milk based stews called moquecas, even fried up in omelettes. If the aphrodisiac powers ascribed to the sururu are even a tiny bit true, the people of Brazil's northeast are sure to be among the world's horniest inhabitants as collectively they eat a whole lot of the little mussel.

Another mollusk often considered to be an aphrodisiac, the oyster, does contain high levels of zinc, a chemical which aids in the production of the male hormone testosterone. Our research department here at Flavors of Brazil has been unable to determine if sururu also contains zinc, but if it does, that might be a clue as to why it's considered an aphrodisiac in Brazil.

One note of caution - eaten in large quantities, sururu have been shown to have a powerful laxative effect. So if you're looking to increase sexual desire by eating sururu exercise caution, as the effect of an "overdose" might just minimize your sexual desirability at the same time that it increases your desire.You have been warned!

Coming up, we'll publish some traditional northeastern Brazilian recipes for sururu.

On The Road - Belém (Pt. 9) - A Very Big Puppy - Filhote

Probably the biggest puppy we ever saw was a two-month-old St. Bernard - it had to have been at least 100 lbs (50 lbs) and it was still a long way from being fully grown. At least he was the biggest puppy we'd ever seen until Flavors of Brazil's recent road trip to Belém, situated near the mouth of the Amazon River system. There we saw a puppy that was about 6 feet long (2 meters), probably weighed over 600 lbs (500 kgs) and instead of being furry and fluffy and cute was wet, slimy and ugly as hell. But it was delicious!

You see, the word for puppy in Portuguese is filhote (filho means son). But in Belém the word isn't applied just to young canines, it is also the name of a very large member of the catfish family, one of the largest fresh-water fishes in the world. This creature's scientific name is Brachyplathystoma filamentosum, and it also bears the alternative name piraíba.

filhote en route to market

This fish exists only in the rivers of the Amazon rain forest. It lives in the deepest parts of the river system, which are very deep indeed, and when caught on a line it puts up a tremendous battle. Fishing for filhote is a favorite activity for sports fishermen from all around the world who come to the Amazon to fish.

filhote at the market

But filhote is caught primarily not because of its value as a sports fish, it's caught for its delicate and delicious flesh. Filhote is one of the favorite eating fish of the region, if not the absolute favorite. Filhote has a clean, clear taste with none of the "muddy" flavors that often mar the flavors of other members of the catfish family. The flesh is a bright white in color and when cooked properly it flakes but doesn't fall apart.

Because the taste of filhote is subtle, most Belenenses prefer to eat it quite simply - to let the taste of the fish shine through. The most common ways to serve this fish are pan-fried, grilled or roasted, lightly seasoned, and without rich sauces. We'll provide a recipe in the next post.

Porco Caipira - Brazil's Redneck Pig

Porco caipira

The Brazilian Portuguese word caipira is one of those emotionally-charged words which carry a lot of connotations, both positive and negative. Just like it's nearest equivalents in American English, hillbilly or redneck, it can be extremely perjorative, affectionate, or a banner of pride depending on the context and who is speaking. No one knows what the origin of the word is, though the most authoritative Portuguese dictionaries indicate that it derives from Tupi, one of the languages of Brazil's original Amerindian inhabitants.

In the world of politics or community relations, caipira is generally carry negative connotations, but in the culinary world it is overwhelmingly positive. Think of it as meaning homestyle or country-style. A rustic chicken stew called galinha caipira is one of Brazil's most celebrated comfort foods. But not only the stew is named galinha caipira - the same moniker is given to what we'd call a free-range chicken. A redneck hen, in other words.

Not only hens are redneck or hillbilly in Brazil, though. They have a barnyard cousin known as the redneck pig (porco caipira). And this rural porker has become the flavor of the month - showing up in food magazines and Brazilian food blogs, being featured in food festivals and on chefs' menus. And just in time it appears, for the porco caipira was in serious danger of extinction until its culinary value was recognized by the food community and its genetic importance was recognized by Embrapa, The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation.

Pigs are not native to the new world. Ancestral pigs lived in almost all regions of Europe, Asia and Africa prior to the European colonization of the Americas, and were brought to the new world by European explorers and colonizers. Over time, many pigs escaped and became feral, often interbreeding with their American cousins, the peccary. Even those which remained domesticated interbred without thought of genetic purity, becoming completely naturalized to Brazilian conditions as a result. This is the porco caipira - a true mongrel, perfectly suited to Brazilian climatic conditions and topography.

In the past 50 years or so, the porco caipira had been losing ground to created-in-the-laboratory breeds of pork that grew faster, were leaner and overall more efficient as sources of meat. Brazil's large meat packers required farmers to provide them with the breeds that gave them the most lucrative product possible, and as a result, the pig that had always been Brazil's pig was in danger of extinction.

Coming to the rescue though, combining their efforts for different reasons, Embrapa and the culinary community seem to have snatched the porco caipira from the jaws of extinction. The agriculture department has recognized that the miscegenated porker is a valuable contribuent to the porcine gene pool, and cooks and diners alike have discovered that porco caipira just plain tastes better than factory pork. For the first time in a long time, the future of the redneck pig is looking quite rosy.

FISH OF BRAZIL - Ray or Skate (Arraia)

There are at least 500 species of fish in the zoological superorder Batoidea, and the vast majority of them are edible, or at least certain parts of them are edible. This family of fish is commonly known as ray or skate in English and arraia (pronounced a-HIGH-a) in Portuguese, and is distinguished by its cartilaginous skeleton, flattened body and enlarged pectoral fins, commonly called "wings". The rays are close relatives of the sharks, and one of the oldest surviving families of fish.

Rays are an under-appeciated food fish in many parts of the world, although much use is made of them in Asian and African cultures. Sophisticated diners in Europe and North America know that skate is a wonderfully delicious fish, but the commercial market for the fish is not large. Some food historians posit the fact that some rays are poisonous (sting-rays) for reluctance of many in the USA and other parts of the world to eat ray, even though the venom of poisonous rays is restricted to the tail, which is not edible.

Uncooked skate wing

The part of the fish that is commonly considered edible is the large pectoral fin, the wing. In fish markets which sell ray or skate, it is often labeled skate wings. In the wings, the white, fibrous flesh lies between parallel rows of cartilage, and can easily be separated from the cartilage once the fish is cooked.

In some parts of the world, the wings are cooked and served whole and the flesh is separated from the cartilage by the diner. In Brazil, though, most recipes for arraia are soups or stews, and the fibrous flesh is separated and flaked during the cooking process, leaving the final dish without any cartilaginous bones to be removed.

Pastel de arraia

Arraia, flaked and seasoned, is also a favorite filling for the savory deep-fried pastries Brazilians call pastel. It also pops up on bar-snack menus in the form of a bolinho, a small round ball of arraia mixed with mashed potato or mashed manioc which is deep-fried and served hot. Because the flavor and texture of arraia in a bolinho closely resembles the popular bolinho de bacalhau, made with much more expensive salt cod, arraia is sometimes called "poor man's bacalhau."

FISH OF BRAZIL - Tucunaré (Peacock Bass)

You can call the tucunaré, a Brazilian fish native to the fresh waters of the Amazon basin, a peacock bass if you wish, but according to Wikipedia, although the fish IS known in English as the peacock bass, it isn't a bass at all, rather it's a chiclid. Since the first humans to baptize the fish and give it a name were the native indian tribes of the Amazon, the fish's original name is clearly tucunaré, which means "friend of the trees" in Tupi-Guarani. Only at some later date was the fish given a name in English, and then it was given the wrong one, though admittedly the name peacock bass has a nicer ring to it than peacock chiclid, which sounds more like the name for a baby peacock.

Looking at a photo of a tucunaré it's easy to see where the peacock part of the English name comes from. It's not from the color, for the fish isn't blue or green. It's from a large eye-like circle on the tail of the fish which looks rather like the similar forms on a peacock tail.

In Brazil, the tucunaré is known in both the culinary and sports-fishing worlds. The fish is a predatory carnivorous hunter in its native waters, and a fierce fighter when caught on a hook. Sports fisherman travel miles up the tributaries of the Amazon to reach tucunaré fishing grounds, and there are luxurious fishing lodges in some remote backwaters of the region catering to wealthy fishing enthusiasts from all around the world. (Click here for one lodge's website).

Because of their value as a sport-fishing species, tucunaré have been introduced into other tropical waters in Brazil, in the Caribbean and in Florida. Because, they don't have their own predators in these new waters, however, and because of their agressive behavior, the introduction of tucunaré has sometimes resulted in the decimation of local species. And once they've killed off all the native species in new waters, tucunaré have been known to resort to cannibalism, reducing their own stock levels precipitiously.

Fortunately, tucunaré, fierce though they are, are not large enough to dine on humans, and in the human-tucunaré relationship, it's humans who are the predators. Tucunaré are very good eating fish, with firm white flesh and without many bones. They have been an important food source for millennia in the Amazon, and today are served not only in the simple riverside homes of native populations, but in sophisticated restaurants in the large cities of the rain forest, like Manaus or Belém, and further afield in places like Rio de Janeiro or Brasília. The flavor of  has been likened to that of grouper or snapper, and because  grows to somewhere between 1-3 feet (30 - 100 cm) in length, it can be cooked in any way suitable to either of those species.

In upcoming posts, Flavors of Brazil will feature recipes for tucunaré.

Sorting out the Caprinae - Sheeps, Lambs, Goats and Kids

A few weeks ago, a group of friends, Brazilians and non-Brazilians alike, dined together at a well-regarded restaurant in Fortaleza by the name of Carneiro do Ordones. It's famous for the quality and number of its dishes featuring members of the Caprinae family of animals - that's to say in plain English, sheep and goats in all their varieties. Their menu claims more than 60 different dishes including one or another of these meats.

At the table, when presented with the multi-page menu featuring these 60+ dishes there was confusion among the diners as to the terminology used. No one, Brazilian or otherwise, seemed able to decipher exactly what the restaurant meant when one dish was described as including carneiro, another cordeiro, a third borrego, and others including bode, cabrito or capra. Clearly a bit of linguistic and gastronomic research was in order for Flavors of Brazil. (Incidentally, the group ordered a wide variety of dishes, notwithstanding not being sure exactly what the meat was in any particular dish, and the results were more than satisfactory. Carneiro do Ordones clearly knows its way around the Caprinae family and how its members are best served to hungry diners).

Zoologically, the Caprinae family of animals is divided into two sub-families, sheep (Ovis) and goats (Capra). Cularinarily, the same distinction between sheep and goats is maintained, although there are many similarities between the meat from both sub-families. They share a distinctive, strongly-aromatic flavor that people tend to either love or hate (most people aren't neutral about eating goats and sheep), and also share a similar nutritional profile - less fat, and hence fewer calories, than beef or pork, and a lower quantity of cholesterol as well. The strong flavor of their meat increases with age, and consequently, most people prefer to eat meat slaughtered at a young age than more mature and more strongly-flavored meat from older animals.

In English culinary terminology, meat from younger sheep is called lamb and from older animals is referred to as mutton. When goats are slaughtered at an early age, their meat is called kid, leaving the name goat for meat from older animals. After doing some research in Portuguese dictionaries and culinary guides, Flavors of Brazil discovered that Portuguese makes the same age distinction, though the terms tend to be more flexible and interchangeable.

Ovis aries

Carneiro is the proper name for meat from older sheep - mutton in English. It is also the Portuguese equivalent of ram, that is, the male of the sheep family. Carneiro comes generally from animals that were more than one year old at the time they were slaughtered and processed. When the animal is younger than one year, its meat is most commomly called cordeiro, although depending on the region of Brazil the terms borrego or anho might alternatively be used.

Capra aegagrus hircus

On the goat side of the family, the name of the meat depends on the age of the animal when it's slaughtered, just as with cordeiro and carneiro. When the animal is more than a year old, its meat is called bode and when it's younger, optimally around six months, it's cabrito or capra. In some areas of Brazil, particularly the northeast, the term bode is used for all goat meat, whether from a young animal or an older one.

The Turtle Returns to the Brazilian Table

For untold centuries, the millions of turtles that inhabited the fresh waters - rivers, ponds and swamps - of the Amazonian rain forest were an important food source for the natives that inhabited the same territory. Because the turtle population was immense and the human population limited there was never an issue of overhunting of turtles. All was in balance.

This balance ended after the arrival of Europeans on this continent. Turtles were hunted as a food source by early explorers without regard as to the survivability of the species, and especially after the technique of canning meat was developed in the 19th century, turtles were hunted almost to the point of extinction in the Amazon. Turtle was considered a delicacy in North America and Europe, particularly turtle soup, and tons of canned turtle meat was exported from Brazil to meet the demands of the Northern Hemisphere.

Turtle numbers dropped drastically in the middle of the 20th century as overhunting brought Amazonian turtles every closer to extinction. In 1967 the Brazilian government, through its environmental protection agency IBAMA totally prohibited commercial hunting for turtles and began a public-awareness campaign to protect the species at risk. Turtles disappeared from menus and store shelves in the entire country.

Farmed Amazonian turtle

In 1992 IBAMA, on a test basis, allowed a small number of turtle farms to be built in the Amazonian region, and in 1997 issued the first commercial license for farmed turtle meat. The limitations and restrictions imposed on these farms meant that for the first ten years or so they were few in number and produced a very small quantity of turtle meat. One significant reason for the slow start for commercial turtle farming is the fact that turtles have a very long life cycle and are not mature to eat until they are at least five years old and are not sexually mature for reproduction until they are fifteen or more.

During the initial phase of the re-introduction of farmed turtle meat into the market distribution was limited to localities within the Amazon regions, where turtles are part of the traditional market. Outside that region, even with product available, it was difficult to convince chefs and consumers to buy turtle meat. The initial public-awareness campaign had been so successful that there was now a prejudice against eating turtles, and another campaign had to be created to partially reverse the results of the earlier one.

Within the past year, though, as the supply has increased (with a resulting reduction in price) and with ever-growing interest in Brazil in regional foods and traditional food sources, the turtle has finally begun to appear once again on restaurant menus and frozen in gourmet grocery stores. Forward-looking chefs from the big cities of Brazil are exploring old and new ways to deal with this meat and to present it to its best advantage.

Ana Luiza Trajano's turtle appetizer

Chef Ana Luisa Trajano, of São Paulo's Brasil a Gosto restaurant has recently added turtle from the Amazonian state of Acre to her menu. She uses the loin, the most tender part of the turtle, in a cold appetizer which combines marinated and low-temperature-cooked turtle with a nut emulsion, Amazonian basil, chicory and crunchy "shoestring" manioc. Celebrity chef Alex Atala plans to put turtle on the menu soon at his restaurant D.O.M. One of his proposed dishes combines a thick broth made from breast and foot meat of the turtle, a farofa of strongly-flavored tutle liver plus deep-fried turtle rinds (similar to pork rinds).

The Brazilian experience with turtles-as-a-food-source shows that when proper environmental protection and anti-poaching regulations are in place and enforced, commercial use of endangered species doesn't necessarily put a species at risk of extinction. In fact, the reverse is true. It can enhance the long-term survivability of the species by increasing the interest in all segments of the market in ensuring that there will continue to be a viable supply of the meat in question. This seems to be happening with Amazonian turtles.

SEAFOODS OF BRAZIL - Crayfish (Pitu)

Sort of a halfway-step between shrimps and lobsters, with some traits more like the former and others more like the latter, crayfish (or crawfish) are just as delicious as either of their cousins. They have a bit more meat in their tails than do shrimps and have a particularly sweet and intense flavor that the larger lobster often lacks.

There are two words in Brazilian Portuguese for this little creature - langostim and pitu - and the choice of which one to use is largely regional. Langostim is clearly of Romance origin and is related to the French langoustine, while pitu comes from the Native-American indian language tupi. Pitu is used more in the north and northeast of Brazil, while langostim is more common in the south and southeast.

Just as there are two words for crayfish, there are actually two different species which share the name. One of them, Macrobrachium carcinus, is a fresh water species, and the other, Metanephrops rubella, lives in salt water. The fresh-water variety is found in great numbers in the thousands of rivers which lace the Amazonian basin, and the salt-water variety can be found in the seas from the south coast of Brazil to Argentina.

In Brazil, crayfish are cooked in almost all the ways that shrimps and lobsters are - steamed, braised, cooked in soups and stews or even grilled. At simple thatched-hut beach restaurants all along the coast of Brazil, a bowl of whole crayfish simply cooked in a seasoned broth of coconut milk, onions, chili peppers and cilantro is a favorite mid-day snack - eaters pull the crayfish apart with their fingers and pry the meat out of the tail and claws, sucking on the smaller legs to extract the last little bits of goodness.

The tupi word pitu is also the brand name of one of Brazil's most popular brands of cachaça. The classic Pitú label, which has been around since the thirties, prominently features a crayfish. Pitú is cheap and rough - it's not a connoisseur's cachaça. It's the drink of laborers and outdoor workers. Pitú can be found in almost any of the small streetfront bars in working-class neighborhoods in Brazil, and workers on their way to work, or on their way home, pop in for a pinga - a shot - to gear themselves up for a hard day's work or to relax themselves afterwards. Pitú-brand cachaça is exported to North America and Europe where it can be bought in specialty liquor stores for many times its Brazilian price.

Even though crayfish can be substituted in most recipes for shrimp or lobster, we'll publish in upcoming posts a couple of the most popular Brazilian recipes which specifically call for crayfish.

FISH OF BRAZIL - Namorado (The Boyfriend Fish)

One of the most common deep-water fish in Brazil,  a fish called the namorado inhabits the waters off the entire 7500 miles of Brazilian coast from the border with French Guiana to the border with Uruguay. According to Babylon's Portuguese-English online dictionary the name namorado can be translated into English as "boyfriend, lover, sweetheart, sweetie, or honey". Whichever translation you choose, the fish bears a distinctly amorous moniker.

Namorado (the fish)

Namorado (Madonna's Brazilian ex-boyfriend)

We here at Flavors of Brazil have no idea why this fish, known in English by the relatively pedestrian-sounding name of sandperch, should have such a poetic name in Portuguese. In fact, we're a little nervous about making guesses, particularly about lonesome fishermen out at sea. Nonethless, namorado it is and it's a very popular eating fish in Brazil. The commercial namorado fishery is one of Brazil's largest, with the species accounting for just over 18% of Brazil's long-line catch. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the namorado fishery is sustainable at current levels, and the IUCN ranks the namorado fishery among those "of least concern."

The namorado's habitat is the sandy bottom of tropicals seas for there it can find its main sources of food, small crustaceans and fish. The namorado lives at great depths, normally around 500 feet (150 meters) but at times up to 1000 feet (300 meters). In these waters the fish can grow up to a length of 3 feet (1 meter) and weigh up to 30 lbs (15 kgs). This "boyfriend" is a well-built fellow, indeed.

In fish markets and supermarkets namorado is usually sold already filleted, with fillets being cut into smaller serving-size pieces. It can also be purchased as steaks. The flesh is light pink in color and the flavor is mild. Namorado can be oven-baked, pan-fried or deep fried, or cut into cubes and cooked in stews or soups. It can be used in almost any dish that calls for grouper, snapper halibut or dourado.

Because the fish is relatively abundant, it's among the least expensive of the white-fleshed fish, comparably priced to snapper or grouper. Because it's a sustainable fish as well, buying namorado in Brazil is a smart consumer's perfect option, economically, ecologically and gastronomically.

FISH OF BRAZIL - Tambaqui

With the oversized tambaqui as the topic at hand, we're back in the freshwater environment of the Amazonian rain forest, where everything seems to come in only one size - XXXL. The Amazonian basin is Brazil's Texas - everything is bigger there. Good news when you're talking about fresh water or medicinal plants, and distinctly bad news when you're talking about mosquitos (humungous), spiders (humungouser) or cockroaches (humungousest).

The tambaqui must feel very much at home in this habitat. Even its scientific name (Colossoma macropomum) speaks to its dimensions. (As an aside, our Latin here at Flavors of Brazil isn't all that good, but wouldn't macropomum  mean "Big Apple?" Maybe the tambaqui is a exiled New Yorker at heart). The species averages about 3 feet in length (1 meter) and adult specimens can weigh upwards of 65 lbs (30 kgs).

The tambaqui is perfectly suited to its habitat in the Amazon, which alternates between flood season and dry season on a yearly basis. During the flood season, the waters of the rivers overflow their banks and invade the surrounding forests, flooding them for miles around. When this happens, tambaqui literally swim into the forest and gorge themselves on fruits and seeds that fall into the water. When the waters recede, leaving only muddy pools of water, the tambaqui live off the fat that they built up during the time of plenty and calmly await the return of the next flood stage. It is this ability to live for long periods of time in stagnant, low-oxygen water that makes tambaqui an excellent species for aquaculture, and fish-farming tambaqui is a growing industry in the Amazon region.

Culinarily, the tambaqui is highly valued by local dwellers, who love its rich white flesh, full of healthy fish oils. In recent times, however, the tambaqui has also begun to be coveted by inventive chefs in Brazil's metropolitan cities, and a market has developed for tambaqui far from its jungle homeland. One thing that makes tambaqui intriguing for chefs and diners alike is its unique skeletal structure, with large bony ribs, which offers the possibility of creating dishes for racks of tambaqui ribs. Who's ever heard of fish ribs? Well, now, readers of Flavors of Brazil just have. Tambaqui ribs. They're wonderful.

Since the species is suitable for closed-container fish farming, an environmentally sustainable practice, we think that the tambaqui could have a great future in markets outside Brazil. Imagine Buffalo Tambaqui Ribs in place of Buffalo Wings, or BBQ Tambaqui Ribs cooked in a smoker. All it would take is someone with vision and  a knowledge of fish farming (perhaps a catfish farmer) and tambaqui ribs could become the talk of the town. It would be a great future for a species that's been around since the Miocene Era.

Flavors of Brazil will offer up a recipe for tambaqui fish ribs in tomorrow's post.

FISH OF BRAZIL - Cavala (King Mackerel or Cavalla)

Anyone with just a bit of familiarity with the Portuguese language might logically think that the word cavala means mare - you know, a female horse. After all, the word for horse in Portuguese is cavalo, and normally words that end in -o are masculine and those that end in -a are feminine. So if horse (masculine) is cavalo, probably horse (feminine) is cavala. Logical, but wrong.

Cavala isn't a mare at all (égua is the world for mare) but rather one of the most common eating fish in Brazil. In earlier times, under its English names of king mackerel or cavalla, it was also a common eating fish in North America, but today is less commonly consumed there than in the past. Cavala is a very oily fish, with high levels of beneficial omega-3 oils. Only sardines and herring have higher levels of omega-3 oil per gram of flesh. However, it is that oil that has most likely caused mackerel to lose its popularity.

One of the supposed reason for the diminishing popularity of mackerel in North America and Europe is the perception that the fish has a strong, oily, some-would-say-fishy, taste. It's true that mackerel's high levels of omega-3 oils bring with them a stronger flavor, as oil carries taste more than does flesh, but if properly cooked and prepared, mackerel doesn't have to be overly-fishy. One way to eliminate this strong flavor is to buy only the very freshest mackerel, as the fishy flavor develops with age.

Cavala's popularity hasn't diminished in Brazil as it has in other world markets, probably due to the fact that there are still enormous stocks in Brazilian waters, and consequently the price is very low. Cavala is almost always the least expensive fish per kilo in Brazilian fish markets. Also, Brazilians tend not to shy away from strong-tasting fish, and value such fish rather than avoid them.

In an age of global over-fishing, the cavala/mackerel fishery remains one of the few that is sustainable at current rates of harvest. Vancouver Aquarium's internationally-recognized Ocean Wise program includes cavala/king mackerel in its list of sustainable fisheries.

In the next few posts, Flavors of Brazil will feature some typical Brazilian recipes for cooking cavala/king mackerel. If you can find mackerel at your supermarket or fishmongers, do give it a try. It's economical, very healthy, and can be eaten with a clear ecological conscience. And if cooked right, as the Brazilians know very well, it's also delicious.

SEAFOODS OF BRAZIL - Amazonian River Prawn (Camarão Regional)

Amazonian river prawn

Amidst the bounty of strange and unusual fish and shellfish to be found in the stalls and boxes of the Ver-o-Peso Market in the Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil, are woven baskets of minute pink shrimp that come from the waters of the many backwaters of the Amazon River estuary. These small crustaceans are sold peeled or unpeeled; raw, cooked, dried or smoked; or still merrily swimming about in buckets.

They're known to the shoppers who wander the aisles of Ver-o-Peso as camarão regional, which would properly be regional shrimp in English. However, this little creature, with a scientific name (Machrobrachium amazonium) longer than it is, goes by the very accurate name Amazonian river prawn in our language.

Ribeirinho house

These shrimp live in the muddy waters of the thousands of small streams and rivers that feed into the main flow of the Amazon, In these calm waters, they are either caught in traps or farmed in large pens by those who live on the banks of the  river - people known as ribeirinhos. The ribeirinhos live a largely aquatic life, and depending on the rivers for water, food and transportation. The tides near the mouth of the Amazon are among the largest on Earth, with a daily variance of up to 12 feet (4 meters), and consequently the ribeirinhos dwell in small wooden houses on stilts, perched precariously above the high-water mark. Until recently self-sufficient in almost all things, they are only know entering into the economy, and trading in Amazonian river prawns in the only source of income for many of them.

A Brazilian social and educational NGO named Fase has been working with these riverside communities to develop a viable and sustainable shrimp fishery in the region. As the project leader explains in the introduction to the group's report on the project:

"In the estuary of the the Amazon River...the rural communities face a high degree of isolation. Travel from one community to another is only possible by boat or canoe, and travel from one community to another can take upwards of three hours. It is in this region, specifically in the municipality of  Gurupá, PA that the Ilha das Cinzas [site of the project] is located...A trip to the city of Gurupá itself takes 15 to 18 hours. The population of the entire municipality is twenty-six thousand (two thousand families), the majority of whom are ribeirinhos."

Thanks to Fase's project, over the six-year development period of the shrimp fishery among the ribeirinhos their average monthly income per family rose from R$128 (USD $80) to R$310 (USD $196). The fishery is now sustainable, and at least for the time being can meet the demand for Amazonian river prawns at the market of Ver-o-Peso, in the restaurants of Belém and other cities along the Amazon. Thanks to the efforts of some chef-advocates for Amazonian food, the little camarão regional is also beginning to show up in restaurants farther afield, in places like Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, or Belo Horizonte. Either frozen or dried and smoked for transportion, the sweet flesh of these little shrimps is becoming valued throughout Brazil.

There's no export market currently for these shrimp, but with increased cultivation and proper conservation, there's no reason the camarão regional  couldn't move beyond Brazilian shores and become appreciated elsewhere in our increasinly connected world. That wouldn't be a bad thing, economically, for the ribeirinhos of the Amazon estuary. Nor for the gustatory experience of those who learn to appreciate their unique taste.

FISH OF BRAZIL - Manjuba (Broadband Anchovy)

Lagoinha Beach, Ceará

One of the best things about spending a day at on a quiet beach in Brazil is that the menu at the beach bar is very likely to include some sort of small fish served whole. breaded and fried, accompanied by wedges of juicy fresh limes, plenty of salt, and a bottle of hot sauce, preferably homemade. With a glass of icy-cold beer to wash the little critters down there's really no meal more delicious or more suited to the beach.

Sometimes the fish are slightly larger, cleaned and headless, and sometimes they are so small they are served absolutely whole. However, they are always eaten bones, tail and all - those crunchy bits add flavors and textures which are lost in larger fish which are served filleted.

Manjuba

The most common fish served in this manner is a species (or a number of related species, to be specific) called manjuba in Portuguese, or often manjubinha, which is the diminutive form. According to the website fishbase.org the fish bears the name broadband anchovy in English - presumably the word broadband in this case having absolutely nothing to do with internet access. The scientific name is Anchoviella lepidentostole. It's natural range is along the western coast of the South Atlantic in South America from Venezuela to the southern Brazilian state of Paraná.

The manjuba lives in shallow waters near the shore, is very numerous within its range, and is each to catch. The price for a plate of fried manjuba at the beach is therefore likely to be quite low - I've had delicious manjuba for as little as R$3 (about USD$1.80) a plate.

Current thinking about the overfishing of the world's oceans tells us that in the future the world is going to have to look at eating more smaller fish and fewer larger ones - tuna, swordfish, halibut, all the world's large species are highly stressed, yet supplies of smaller fish like anchovies, sardines, or herrings can sustainably be fished. That may be the silver lining in the overfishing cloud - maybe more people will learn to appreciate small fish the way Brazilian appreciate fried manjuba. It's the taste of the Brazilian beach.

The Importance of Fish and Seafood in Brazilian Cooking

With one of the world's longest coastlines, it isn't surprising that Brazil is a country full of fish and seafood eaters. The tropical and sub-tropical waters of the South Atlantic support a large fishing industry, and traditional Brazilian cuisine makes liberal use of the sea's bounty. In fact, Brazil's per capita consumption of fish, which is 26 pounds (12 kgs) annually, corresponds exactly with the World Health Organization's recommended consumption - 12 kgs. By contrast, Americans consume only 16 pounds (7.5 kgs) annually per capita. Of course, Brazil still lags behind world champion fish eaters the Japanese, who annually consume 88 pounds (40 kgs) of fish.

There are some interesting statistics, however, in a recent report from my home state Ceará's Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture that indicate that it's not just the Atlantic ocean supporting the seafood diet of Brazilians. The two states that have the highest levels of fish consumption are Amazonas and Pará. Although Pará does have a stretch of oceanic coastline, the predominant source of fish for the inhabitants of both of these states is the Amazon River system. Consequently, in the region where fish consumption is highest in Brazil, the fish on the table is likely to be a freshwater species.

Harvesting Tilapia

Ceará's consumption of fish is 12 kg per capita, which follows only Amazonas and Pará and gives the state 3rd position in the rank of fish consumption in Brazil. The state's 40,000 registered commercial fishermen annually harvest 88,000 tons of fish and seafood, most of which goes to feed the national population. It's interesting to note in the report that in that harvest of 88,000 tons of fish, 25,000 tons are tilapia - a freshwater fish, originally from Africa, that is sustainably farmed extensively in Ceará. So even in a coastal state like Ceará, about a third of the fish consumed is freshwater and produced by aquaculture.

As the oceans' stock of wild fish continues to be depleted by overfishing, aquaculture will of necessity become increasingly important to the world's food supply in the years to come. Making sure that aquaculture is a sustainable and non-polluting industry will also become equally important. From the report by Ceará's fishing and aquaculture department, it appears that the state has already made significant progress along that route.

FISH OF BRAZIL - Tainha (Mullet)

Tainha is the Brazilian Portuguese name for the fish known in English as the mullet. Fortunately, confusion has been avoided here because the word tainha in Portuguese only refers to a species of fish and not to a haircut as well. The mullet haircut has become the butt of so many jokes in the English-speaking world that I'm sure mullets (the fish) would be quite happy if they were allowed to change their name to something that hasn't become a catchphrase for a hideous hairdo.

Mullets are found in temperate and tropical ocean waters around the world. One of the world's largest populations is in the Atlantic waters off the coast of the southern Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. For most of the year enormous shoals of mullets live off the coast of Rio Grando do Sul, but in the months of May and June they migrate north to Santa Catarina in search of warmer water and suitable spawning grounds. The most important commercial fishery for tainha is during this season, and the ports of Santa Catarina receive the bulk of the fish for processing.

Traditionally there was a large Mediterranean fishery for mullets, in fact since Roman times, particularly in the seas off of Italy where the fish is known as triglia. In recent years this fishery has diminished due to the disappearance of mullet stocks. Overfishing is the suspected cause. Many Italian immigrants to Brazil settled in Santa Catarina in the late 19th and early 20th century, and already being familiar with the fish made the tainha an important part of local cuisine. Today tainha is the fish that is most appreciated in Santa Catarina and the species that is most associated with the cooking of that state, in particular with the cooking of its Italo-Brazilian community.

INGREDIENTS - Cavaquinha, Brazil's Least Attractive Seafood

Brazil has long been famed internationally for the beauty of its inhabitants. The world's top model is the extravagantly beautiful Gisele Bündchen, from the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, and many of her compatriots regularly walk the catwalks of Milan, Paris, and New York. Male model and DJ Jesus Luz had his 15 minutes of fame recently as Madonna's boyfriend, though it appears she has recently moved on. And any tourist who has visited the beaches of this country can tell you that the felicitous racial mixtures that make the Brazilian people have resulted in a large number of very attractive people.

When it comes to comestibles, however, it appears that beauty might be even less than skin deep. There is a crustacean (Scyllarideae), currently in season here in Brazil and which is being fêted in special menus and in festivals all along Brazil's coast, and which must be one of the ugliest animals ever to end up as dinner. It's a cousin (or an ugly step-sister a la Cinderella) of the lobster and it's known in Brazilian Portuguese as either the cavaquinha (meaning ukelele-lady) or lagosta sapata (slipper lobster). A quick look at the photos below will show why this animal has picked up these names - the resemblance is clear, as is the similarity of the cavaquinha to any number of bad-horror-film aliens.

Once the cavaquinha is killed and dressed it's an entirely different story, however, as what the exterior of this lobster lacks in physical beauty is made up for by the sweet, clean flavor of the white flesh. With its flattened tail, the cavaquinha produces a large solid piece of tail meat that can be served in almost any way that suits traditional lobster, from simply boiling or grilling to more complex, sauced presentations. As with all lobsters, it's important not to overcook cavaquinha. If left to cook too long, the soft meat turns rubbery and chewy. According to Chef Geraldo Rodrigues of São Paulo's Restaurante Freddy, when purchasing a cavaquinha it's important to turn the animal over and press on the thinner shell of the animal's tail. If it is firm and resists pressure it's a good specimen. If it's soft, then there isn't enough meat inside. He counsels against purchasing frozen cavaquinha since with a frozen cavaquinha it is impossible to do this "pressure test." And he should know - his restaurant is currently in the midst of its 10th annual cavaquinha festival. In those ten years, I'd think that Chef Rodrigues has tickled a lot of cavaquinha tummies testing them out.

Another Food Mystery Solved - Maçunim

One of the things I find really enjoyable about doing Flavors of Brazil is discovering a new ingredient here in Brazil, and then "tracking it down" - that is, finding out exactly what it is botanically or zoologically, and what's it's name is in English. This is sometimes a more difficult task than one might think. There are various English-Portuguese dictionaries and glossaries, but often the word I'm looking for isn't listed, particularly if the Portuguese word is regional, as is often the case. So then it becomes an internet hunt, using search engines, tags on food sites and blogs, or linguistic search tools.

This weekend, at a simple waterfront restaurant just outside Fortaleza, I ate a seafood dish made from an ingredient that I wasn't familiar with, but which was highly recommended to me by friends. It was called maçunim (pronounced mah-soo-NEEM in Portuguese). The dish consisted of what were obviously bits of meat that had been extracted from an animal that was in the clam/mussel family, having the size, shape and texture of those little creatures. They were cooked in a sauce based on coconut milk, a typical technique from Northeastern Brazil. There were no shells present in the dish, which perhaps could have helped me track down the identity of the maçunim, so my curiosity, if not my appetite, went unsatisfied.

Back home, it took a short while to find out what maçunim is, but I've been able to solve the mystery. There was no Wikipedia listing for it, either in the English or Portuguese versions of that online encyclopedia. There were some recipes in Portuguese, which told me that the animal needed to be removed from the shell after cooking, and there were some photos. I knew through the photos that it was a bi-valve mollusk, as are clams, mussels and oysters. I know the Portuguese words for those three animals, and none of them are called maçunim . Finally, from searching articles on Google, I found an article from 2008 on the site BBC Brasil, an excellent news and information site in Portuguese from "Auntie Beeb."  In an article entitled "O Paraíso Foodie e o Maçunim" author Thomas Pappon wrote about a gastronomic trip he had taken to the Northeastern state of Alagoas, where he discovered a local delicacy called maçunim. Somehow he knew what they were, for in the article he said that this seafood was common England where it was known as "cockles." Bingo! There was the answer I'd been searching for - maçunim are the same little delicacies that Molly Malone sang about all those years ago in Dublin's Fair City. "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

Mark down one more victory for Foods of Brazil in it's eternal quest to solve the food mysteries of Brazil. And one more term for the Foods of Brazil's bi-lingual gastronomic glossary.

In the next post on this blog, I'll provide a recipe for maçunim with coconut milk. I have seen cockles available in fish markets in North America and Europe, and I'm sure the dish could also be made with almost any variety of clam.

POULTRY - Guinea-fowl, from Africa to Brazil

Although human beings have been known to eat almost everything that walks, hops, or squiggles its way across the earth, most animal sources of protein come from three large groups of animals - fish, birds and mammals. Archeological studies show that from earliest days humans have eaten widely from these groups and that our species has always deserved to be called omnivorous.

Among the birds eaten by humans, by any stretch of the imagination the most commonly consumed is the chicken. Today the chicken population of the world outnumbers the human population by about four-to-one, with an estimated 24 billion chickens cohabiting the planet with us humans at any given time. But chickens are not the only birds eaten by humans - ducks, geese, swans, , pheasants, pigeons, even songbirds are all to be found on human dining tables.

In a few very specific places on Earth, a distant cousin of the chicken occupies a place of honor on the human table. It is eaten commonly in Africa, where it originated, in the south of France, in the Caribbean and southern USA, and also in Brazil's Northeastern region. In English, it is usually called guinea-fowl (guinea hen) in reference to its African origins, though other English names abound. In Brazil it is known as galinha d'Angola (Angolan hen), galinha-do-mato (forest hen), capote (caped), guiné (Guinea) or pintada (dotted).

These strange-but-beautiful birds come originally from tropical Africa, and are well-acclimatized to hot weather. They are not a cold-climate bird, though they can be successfully raised anywhere in North America or Europe as long as they have some protection against cold. They are slightly larger than a chicken, weighing up to 1.5 kg (3.5 lbs) at full weight.

In Brazil's northeast, where this bird is called a capote, it is highly valued as an eating bird, and is often used as a centerpiece of a family or holiday celebration, much as a turkey is used in North America. It can be roasted, stewed, or fried, and with an allowance for additional cooking time, it can be substituted for chicken in almost any recipe. It's flavor is richer than a chicken, with a slightly higher fat content, although not nearly so much as in a duck or goose. Some people consider it to have a slightly gamy taste, although others don't notice this at all.

I have seen guinea-fowl for sale at poultry shops and farmers markets in Canada and the USA. It's worth searching out for a different take on the taste of chicken. In the next post on Flavors of Brazil, I'll provide a traditional recipe from northeastern Brazil for guinea-fowl with rice, but one needn't feel restricted to recipes that are specifically for this bird. Just adapt your favorite chicken recipe for guinea-fowl for an exotic and delicious variation.