RECIPE - Grilled Filé-mignon with Herbs (Filé-mignon Grelhado com Ervas)

In Fortaleza, my Brazilian hometown, now's a good time to dine on the best cuts of beef - filé-mignon, tenderloin, sirloins. (See the previous post on Flavors of Brazil for an explanation why). Consequently, my eye has recently been turning to Brazilian recipes for this lean, tender and flavorful morsel of beef. The following recipe, from Brazilian food-and-wine magazine, Prazeres da Mesa, grabbed my attention for two reasons - first, because its simplicity ensures that the taste of the beef isn't lost in heavy-handed or overly-rich sauces, and second, because the recipe was developed by Chef Cézar Cassiano, of Grupo Noah in São Paulo, not for a restaurant but rather to be served in a hospital. From my limited experience of hospital food, I've never seen a dish like this on the food cart! But if I'm ever in hospital, let's hope it's in Hospital São Luiz in São Paulo, and let's hope this dish is on the menu.
___________________________________________________
RECIPE - Grilled Filé-mignon with Herbs (Filé-mignon Grelhado com Ervas)
serves 4

4 individual filés-mignon, about 1/2 lb (250 gr) each
salt to taste
8 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 Tbsp fresh sage
1 Tbsp fresh basil, torn into smaller pieces if the leaves are large
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
10 cloves garlic
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peel the garlic cloves, and lightly smash them with the side of a knife or cleaver, making sure they stay whole. Season the steaks with salt. Reserve.

Heat a deep, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 6 Tbsp olive oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Add the steaks and fry for about 4 minutes per side, depending on desired degree of doneness. When done, remove the steaks from pan and reserve, keeping warm.

Add the remaining two Tbsp oil to the same pan. Turn the heat to medium, then add the garlic and rosemary. Cook until the garlic is just browned, but not burnt. Remove the pan from the heat - then remove the garlic, reserving the pan with flavored oil.

In another small frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over high heat. When hot but not smoking, add the fresh parsley, sage and basil and fry briefly - until the herbs are crispy. Remove the herbs, and drain them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Return the larger frying pan to the heat. When hot, add the reserved steaks, plus the vinegar and soy sauce. Heat, turning the steaks over once, for a short time, until the meat is hot and the sauce has thickened a bit.

Place one steak on each of four plates, and mound some of the crispy fresh herbs on top. Serve immediately.

The Cost of Meat in Brazil - Some Interesting Changes

Compared to the cost in North America or Europe, the price charged for animal protein in supermarkets and butcher shops in Brazil is very cheap - both in actual cost and in percentage of the cost of all food purchases. As Brazil's export market for meat, particularly beef, grows the trend has been over the past few years for a gradual increase in the cost of meat.

In an article in today's O Povo, one of Fortaleza's daily newspapers, the increasing cost of meat has had an unanticipated and interesting twist added to it. The article is primarily concerned with beef prices in Fortaleza, and indicates that while the cost of what are called "secondary cuts" - cuts similar to chuck, brisket, round - continues to rise, there has been a dramatic fall in the cost of "noble cuts" such as filé-mignon, sirloin, and tenderloin.

What has happened, apparently, is that the price for noble cuts rose dramatically in the second half of 2010, sometimes by close to 100%. As a result, consumers turned their attention to the lower-priced secondary cuts. Sales of noble cuts dropped, and sales of secondary cuts rose. As a result of this change in consumer behavior, there is currently an excess quantity noble cut meat on the market, and a deficit of secondary cut meat. So, as will happen according to the law of supply and demand, prices have gone down for noble cuts, and up for secondary cuts.

For example, consider the case of filé-mignon. According to the article, in December of 2010, this cut of beef was retailing for between R$45 and R$50 per kilo (equivalent to USD $12 - $14 per pound). This past week, it has been selling for half of that - R$22 to R$25 (equivalent to USD $6 - $7 per pound). Conversely, the cost for patinho (similar to bottom round steak) during the same period of time has increased from R$12 to R$14 per kilo. In other words, in December filé-mignon was twice as expensive as patinho and today they are equally priced.

Whether the Brazilian consumer will now reverse their pattern of consumption once again and start buying more filé-mignon and less patinho remains to be seen. That would, naturally, increase the cost of the more noble cuts again to what they were historically. But in the meantime, I'm planning to visit my neighborhood butcher and stock up on bargain-basement-priced filé-mignon while it lasts.

If this post has you dreaming of a tender, lean filé-mignon, the next here on Flavors of Brazil will provide you with a perfect recipe for that marvelous cut of beef.

Brazil's Oscar-Nominated Documentary - Waste Land

On Sunday, when the 83rd annual Academy Awards are given out in Hollywood, California, Brazilians will be watching the Feature Documentary Category with particularly close attention. One of the nominated films in that category, Waste Land by directors Lucy Walker, Karen Harley and João Jardim, is about one of Brazil's best-known artists, Vik Muniz, and his work with the garbage pickers of Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill, located just outside Rio de Janeiro.

Muniz, who currently lives in New York, is known primarily for his works of art fashioned from scraps and garbage, made on a huge scale, and then photographed to complete the work. The film is about Muniz and his work, but primarily about the lives of some of the pickers who live and survive at and on the landfill. There are approximately 2500 of these catadores, as they're referred to in Portuguese, but the film focuses on just a few of then and their relationship with Muniz. One of these garbage-pickers, Tião Santos, posed as Marat in Muniz' best-known work, Marat/Sebastião, seen in the film poster at the top of this post. Waste Land is emotionally involving, and the it illuminates a way of life far removed from most of our imaginings. It also shows the dignity that the catadores find in their work amidst the refuse and garbage of Jardim Gramacho. I, for one, am rooting for it to win an Oscar, and highly recommend it to readers of this blog.

Tião Santos as Marat

Besides garbage, Muniz has worked with many other unusual material in creation of his work. Including food. Which is why this post that seems to have nothing to do with food is doing here at Flavors of Brazil. Here are some works that Muniz created using food as a medium. He is a highly inventive artist, with a wicked sense of humor and a keen eye for irony. His work here is a visual bon appetit. Delicious and thought provoking.

Medusa (medium: pasta)

Mao Tse-Tung (medium: chocolate)

Kark Marx (medium: caviar)

Mona Lisa (medium: peanut butter & jelly)

Che Guevara (medium: beans)

INGREDIENTS - Creme de Leite (cream)

In the last post on Flavors of Brazil, which included a recipe for the Brazilian version of Beef Strogonoff (estrogonofe), among the ingredients called for was a product called creme de leite (which simply means milk cream). In the estrogonofe recipe it substitutes for the sour cream found in many more traditional versions of Strogonoff, as sour cream is not generally available in Brazil.

Many, many Brazilian recipes call for creme de leite, and if the recipe forums and culinary FAQ websites are to be believed, there is a lot of confusion as to what creme de leite is and is not. Cooks from other countries who are trying to use a Brazilian recipe are often stumped when trying to find an acceptable substitute for creme de leite. Equally so, Brazilian cooks who try to cook their favorite recipes with creme de leite when outside Brazil don't know what to use.

Basically, creme de leite is nothing more than what we generally know in English as cream. It is the fatty portion of milk (the part that rises to the top in unhomogenized milk) containing about 30-40% milk fat. In Brazil, it can generally be bought in two forms - fresh, which is purchased refrigerated and which must be kept refrigerated, and UHT-treated, which is purchased unrefrigerated and can be stored at room temperature until the container is opened. At that point, any unused portion must be kept in the fridge. Fresh creme de leite is normally sold in plastic bags, and the UHT version is sold either in small cans or in Tetra-brik boxes.

The UHT-treated creme de leite is heat-treated to ensure long shelf life, and it is also churned slightly so that it has a significantly thicker consistency than the fresh. Because of this thicker consistency, when substituting other ingredients for creme de leite, it's best to use something like sour cream or creme fraiche. Plain North American or European fresh cream will not have the same consistency and the result will be different. Obviously sour cream will change the taste of the final dish, though creme fraiche will less so.

Just as expat Aussies carry Vegemite with them when migrating or travelling and Americans go to great lengths to find peanut butter overseas, Brazilians living outside Brazil often express "saudade" (nostalgia) for creme de leite and beg visiting relatives to bring some along with them. Or, on their visits home to Brazil, they fill any empty space in their suitcases with creme de leite for use across the seas.

None of the substitutes are perfect reproductions of Brazilian creme de leite, but for most purposes, other dairy products can successfully be swapped. But if you're making a Brazilian dish with creme de leite for Brazilian guests, don't expect them to say it tastes just like Mama made - because she used creme de leite and you didn't

RECIPE - Brazilian Stroganoff (Estrogonofe)

Originating in the Czarist Russia of the 19th century, the recipe for the beef and cream dish called Stoganoff became known worldwide in the 1950s. Brazil was part of that international expansion, and from its first appearances on the menus of the sophisticated São Paulo restaurants of that decade it has grown to become an iconic Brazilian dish.

As mentioned in the previous post on Flavors of Brazil, in finding a new home in Brazil stroganoff became estrogonofe, and the recipe changed to adapt to the Brazilian palate and to the availability of Brazilian products. The sour cream found in the 1950s American version of Stroganoff is replaced in the Brazilian recipe by creme de leite. And the cream sauce is made more assertive by the addition of a number of prepared, bottled sauces.

The Brazilian recipe calls for filé mignon and a lot of it - 2.2 lbs. (1 kg). Beef is relatively less expensive here than in North America or Europe so the quantity is not surprising. The recipe can be made with a smaller amount of beef. Other less expensive cuts of beef can be substituted, though as the dish has a short cooking time, do not choose a cut that requires a long cooking period to become tender.
____________________________________________________
RECIPE - Brazilian Stroganoff (Estrogonofe)
Serves 5

2.2 lb (1 kg) filé mignon or other cut of lean beef, cut into thin 1-2 inch strips.
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. neutral vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium white onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups creme de leite (or sour cream)
1/3 cup ketchup
3 Tbsp. mustard (any creamy style, do not use whole-grain)
2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce (Molho inglês)
2 cups sliced mushrooms (in Brazil, estrogonofe is generally made with canned mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms can be substituted)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season the strips of meat with salt and pepper to taste. In a heavy frying pan add 1 Tbsp. of the oil, and fry the meat until well-browned. Cook in batches to avoid overcrowding. Reserve the meat, keeping warm.

In the same pan, heat the remaining Tbsp. oil, then add the garlic and cook until just beginning to brown. Add the onions and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the onion is transparent but not browned. Return the meat to the pan, then add the creme de leite, the ketchup, the mustard and Worcestershire sauce, stir to mix and then add the mushrooms. Cook for five minutes to allow the flavors to mix and the mushrooms to cook.

Serve immediately, accompanied by white rice and, if desired, packaged shoestring potatoes.


Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brazileira by Abril Editora.

Estrogonofe - Brazil's love affair with Beef Stroganoff

In its Russian homeland the dish of cubed beef cooked in a cream- and mushroom-based sauce called Beef Stroganoff dates back to the middle part of the 19th Century. The first known recipe for the dish can be found in a 1861 Russian cookbook by Elena Molokhovets called "A Gift to the Young Housewife."

It wasn't until the 1950s, though, that Stroganoff found popularity outside Russia. In that postwar decade, the dish became a symbol of international sophistication and gastronomic luxury in restaurants and at fancy dinner tables around the world. It enjoyed huge popularity in the USA, in Europe and Asia, and also in Brazil, where it became established as part of the national cuisine.

Although Stroganoff can still be found occasionally in North American and Europe, it no longer has the cachet it once enjoyed, and is sometimes treated almost ironically. Not in Brazil, though. Here the dish has become Brazilianized and is still served with pride by dinner-party hostesses and found at almost every buffet table in the land. The name has been adapted to Brazilian tongues, becoming Estrononofe, and the dish has been adapted to Brazilian palates, principally by adding additional ingredients to the sauce.

The original Stroganoff (the 19th century version) consisted of beef strips sauced with prepared mustard and bouillon, finished with a touch of sour cream. There were no mushrooms or onions involved. In its 1950s worldwide breakout, mushrooms and onions were generally added, the mustard was dropped, and the sauce became primarily a cream sauce made with sour cream. Today's Brazilian estroganofe is likely to contain, in addition, ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire Sauce (called English Sauce "molho inglês" in Portuguese). As sour cream is generally not available in Brazil, creme de leite, as similar product, is used in its place.

In Brazil the traditional side dishes for estroganofe are white rice and packaged shoestring potatoes. It is generally not served with egg noodles as it might be in the USA or in Europe.

I'll post a traditional Brazilian recipe for estroganofe in the next post here on Flavors of Brazil.

RECIPE - Açorda

This utterly simple and wonderfully delectable dish is one of many that made its way relatively unchanged from Portugal to Brazil. In its home country it is associated with the mountainous Alentejo region which stretches southward from Lisbon in the direction of the Algarve. Here in Brazil, it's most well known in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where the Portuguese culinary influence remains strong, and in the mountainous interior state of Minas Gerais, whose climate of warm days and cold nights closely mirrors that of the Alentejo.

Açorda is true comfort food, warming and simple. Try it on a rainy evening, or if you're in a region where there are nights of snow, try it then. It needs be served only with a green salad and a simple dessert. If you want to make the meal authentically Portuguese/Brazilian, that dessert could be pudim (flan or creme caramel).

There are many variations of açorda - some with seafood, some with salt cod, some with meat. But this is the basic and most likely the original version.

____________________________________________________
RECIPE - Açorda 
Serves 4

1 round loaf European-style peasant bread (Italian, Portuguese, etc.) - one or two days old is best
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup loosely-packed chopped cilantro
salt to taste
extravirgin olive oil to taste
boiling water
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cut a slice off the top of the bread, and pull out the soft bread from inside in chunks, leaving a hollow shell. Put the garlic cloves in a mortar, add a bit of salt, and using a pestle make a paste. (Alternatively, use a small bowl and wooden spoon).

In a large heavy frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, then add the garlic paste and cook just until it begins to brown. Do not let overcook. Add the bread crumbs, and cook for a minute or so, mixing so that all the bread is coated with oil.

Stir in half of the cilantro, and then begin to add the boiling water, about a half cup at a time. Stir and mix continuously, breaking up the bread as you go. Continue adding water in small quantities until the bread has broken down and forms a pap, or very loose paste. (See photo above for correct consistency). Be careful not to add to much water.

Add salt to taste, then add the beaten eggs, mixing and stirring thoroughly until the eggs are totally absorbed and cooked through. Remove from heat, then stir in the remaining cilanto.

Return the cooked açorda to the shell from the loaf of bread and serve immediately.