RECIPE - Skate or Ray Moqueca (Moqueca de Arraia)

One of the dishes that almost everybody who visits Jericoacoara wants to sample is a traditional fish dish called moqueca de arraia. Moquecas are traditional Brazilian fish dishes, whose history goes back to the time before the arrival of Europeans when natives made moquecas out of the bounty of Brazil's seas, rivers, lakes and lagoons. There are as many different recipes for moqueca as there are fish in the sea, but all of them consist of some sort of fish or seafood cooked and served in seasoned coconut milk. There are regional variations and variations in the fish or seafood used, but whatever the variation they're all moquecas and they're all very Brazilian.

Jericoacoara's signature moqueca is made from locally caught skate or ray, which are plentiful in local waters and which exist in both fresh-water and salt-water varieties. To make a moqueca the cartiligenous "wings" of the ray are pre-cooked by boiling and the meat is separated from the cartilege and shredded before being added to the recipe. Unlike the more famous African-influenced moquecas of Bahia, there is no palm oil (dendê oil) used and the shredded fish is served with only a little liquid. Traditional accompaniments to moqueca de arraia in Jericoacoara are white rice and pirão.
____________________________________________________
RECIPE - Skate or Ray Moqueca (Moqueca de Arraia)
Serves 4

1 lb (500 gr) cooked and shredded skate or ray
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green or red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
3/4 cup (200 ml) coconut milk
1 Tbsp annatto powder (sweet paprika can be substituted)
chopped green onion, green parts only, to taste
chopped cilantro, to taste
salt and pepper to taste
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a large, non-stick frying pan heat the olive oil, then add the onion and garlic and fry for a few minutes, or until the onion is transparent but not browned. Then add the chopped bell pepper and tomato, plus the annatto or paprkia and continue to saute, until the tomato begins to break up. Add the shredded fish and the coconut milk, stirr well to blend completely and continue to cook until the fish is heated through - do not let the mixture boil. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Place in a deep serving bowl and sprinkle with the chopped green onion and cilantro. Serve immediately.

Recipe translated and adapted from Brasil Sabor.

Jericoacoara - A Step Back in Time

The small beachfront town of Jericoacoara (or Jeri as it's most commonly known) is located on the north coast of Ceará, about 200 miles (290 km) from Fortaleza. It's not that far as the crow flies, but even by car or express-bus the trip from the capital to Jeri takes a good part of the day. Why? The reason is that the road to Jeri ends about 12 miles (20 km) from Jeri itself in a place called Jijoca. From there to Jeri you can only  travel by dune buggy or by specially modified open-air minibus - from Jijoca to Jeri the road is nothing more than a path in the sand, first on the dunes, then along the beach. Jeri is not accessible by paved road, nor even gravel road. To travel the 12 miles across the sand to Jeri takes well over an hour.

And when you arrive there, the streets of Jeri are not paved, nor even gravelled either. They're sand as well  - the entire village of Jeri perches on the beach. High heels will do you no good here - to walk on the sand streets of Jeri you need tennis shoes, flipflops, or nothing (barefoot works very well). Jeri is casual and laid-back, at times seeming to be in a time-warp. In Jeri it can still seem like the 60s - the hippies that founded the village are still there in force, it's just that they're now third-generation hippies.

Jericoacoara is in an area of environmental protection, and a road to it will hopefully never be built. It's the village's isolation and beauty that draw the tourists that drive the local economy. Jeri is so isolated that it didn't have electricity until 1989, and even today there are no streetlights at night - just the lanterns and lamps of small shops, bars, restaurants and inns to brighten the darkness a bit.

Today Jeri has sophisticated boutique hotels and gourmet restaurants, but it hasn't lost its hippie past - most of the accommodation in the village is in small inns and pousadas, and most of the restaurants serve basic local fare, with emphasis on seafood. At night, many of the bars have live music and all serve cheap and potent cocktails, most of them based on cachaça and local fruit juices. Local "herbal" intoxicants remain popular too - another vestige of Jeri's hippie era.

Because of its location on the northernmost stretches of Ceará coastline, Jeri is one of the very few places in Brazil where it's possible to see the sun set into the sea. A popular ritual, for locals and visitors alike is to climb the 200 foot high sand dune that dominates the village at about 5 pm and watch the sun set in the sea from the dune's windy heights.

Jericoacoara is a popular weekend get-away for residents of Fortaleza, but because of the travel time involved isn't really worth visiting unless you can afford to spend at least two nights there - any shorter amount of time and you'll spend more time traveling to and from Jeri than you will relaxing and enjoying it.

Our next few posts on Flavors of Brazil will feature a couple of local signature dishes from Jericoacoara. A taste of Jeri, as it were.

RECIPE - Crayfish Stew (Pituzada)

The São Francisco river, the longest river in Brazil that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, flows northeasterly from the heights of Minas Gerais through the interior of Bahia and empties into the Atlantic on the border between the states of Sergipe and Alagoas. Residents along its 1800 mile (2900 km) course affectionately refer to the river as Velho Chico (Old Frank or Old Francisco). During colonial times travel along the São Francisco was the only practical transportion link between the Portuguese colonies in what is now southeastern Brazil and the colonies of the northeast.

The river is little used for long-distance travel today, as it has been damned extensively and, for long stretches, is no longer navigable. The territory it travels through is a bit of a backland and one of the most conservative and traditional parts of Brazil, where old ways and customs still hold.

The São Francisco  and water taxi from Dona Gilda's restaurant

Across the river from the small town of Piranhas, Alagoas, perched atop a hillside and accessible only by water taxi from Piranhas sits a small restaurant called Angicos, owned and run by 65-year-old Maria Gilda Correia Nunes, known to all as Dona Gilda. Dona Gilda's restaurant is famous for its crayfish stew (pituzada) which she has been making for 30 years. The crayfish she uses come from the river that she can view from the front door of her restaurant.

For centuries, families that lived on the banks of the São Francisco river caught crayfish in their millions in small wooden traps baited with coconut meat. Dona Gilda's crayfish suppliers still use the same kind of trap, but as Dona Gilda says where they used to regularly trap 22 lbs (10 kgs) of crayfish a day in a single trip, now they're lucky to catch one tenth of that. But there is still enough crayfish being caught to supply the restaurant's needs and the catch is considered sustainable at current volumes.

Her stew, which is traditional in the use of coconut milk and the seasoning combination of green onion and cilantro, can be made with shrimps instead of crayfish if you cannot source crayfish at your local market or fishmongers. But if you do find crayfish, there's not a better way to serve them than Dona Gilda's pituzada.
_____________________________________________________
RECIPE - Crayfish Stew (Pituzada)
Serves 2

1 lb (500 gr) crayfish
2 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 large onion, cut into thick slices
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into thin slices
1 medium boiling potato, peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups (500 ml) coconut milk
2 whole eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
chopped green onion, green parts only, to taste
chopped cilantro, to taste
annatto powder to taste (can substitute sweet paprika)
salt to taste

In a large saucepan heat the olive oil, then add the onion and carrot and fry for about five minutes, or until the onion is softened and transparent but not browned. Add the tomato and cook for about another minute, then add the potato slices, coconut milk and annatto or paprika. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the whole crayfish, cover the pan and cook for another five minutes. Add the whole eggs and heat them through, then remove the pan from the heat.

Pour the contents of the pan into a deep serving dish and serve immediately, accompanied by white rice. Be sure to place another deep serving dish on the table for the crayfish shells.

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.

Gastro-tourism Takes Off in Brazil

Tourism is a enormously important industry in Brazil. Visitors to Brazil from all around the world come in their millions every year to experience the natural beauty of this country and to participate in one of the most welcoming and enchanting cultures on the planet. In 2010 more than 5 million foreign tourists traveled to Brazil and while in the country spent a collective total of US$5.9 billion.

These are big numbers, but they are dwarfed by the size of the domestic tourist market in Brazil. There are a lot of Brazilians, just under 200 million of them, and apparently a good number of them like to visit other parts of their own country. Domestic tourist numbers in 2010 were five times the number of international visitors, totalling 51 million visits. While traveling outside their own state, Brazilians spent approximately US$25 billion in 2010. That's not chump change.

The federal govenment of Brazil and the governments of the 27 states of Brazil realize the economic importance of the Brazilian tourist industry, and there is a very active Brazilian national tourist bureau (EMBRATUR) and many state and municipal tourist bureaus throughout the country.

These tourist bureaus mount publicity campaigns inside and outside Brazil to stimulate tourism to Brazil. Traditionally the focus of these campaigns, which include TV commercials and print advertising, has been the elements of Brazilian that are the most well-known to tourists - the beaches, the natural wonders, the historic cities, the music and Carnaval. However, recently we've noticed that tourist bureaus have begun promoting what one might call gastro-tourism, at least to the domestic sector of the market. There is a large population, well-educated and well-off, in Brazil that wants to experience the culinary culture of regions of Brazil other than their own, and these new campaigns attempt to appeal to this sector.

Everyone knows, for example, that the afro-Brazilian cuisine of the state of Bahia is one of the most important cultural features of that state when it comes to attracting tourists. Every tourist who visits Bahia knows they must try acarajé  when they are there, and often it's the desire to have another acarajé that brings them back.

In the most recent issue of the Brazilian food and wine magazine Prazeres da Mesa, there is a full-page ad from the state tourist bureau of the northeastern state of Pernambuco which illustrates this trend of  promoting gastro-tourism. Instead of photographs of blue seas and deserted palm-lined beaches, or of the follies of Carnaval in Recife, the photos in the ad are of two of the most famous desserts linked to the culinary traditions of Pernambuco - bolo de rolo and bolo Souza Leão. The headline of the ad reads "Along with sugar, the Portuguese brought the sin of gluttony [to Pernambuco]. And so they had to build the [historic, baroque] churches." The text at the bottom of the ad explains - "The passion of Pernambucanos for sweets is, without a doubt, a heritage of Portuguese colonization. Sugar-cane cultivation gave birth to, in the kitchens of our sugar-cane plantations, a tradition of cakes and sweets. Recipes that are part of our history and, even today, a part of our table. Come try them."

This is sophisticated marketing of a destination aimed at a sophisticated audience. An audience that knows how important sweet-cooking is to the culinary traditions of Pernambuco, that recognizes the iconic recipes and one that might be tempted to travel to Pernambuco to sample bolo de rolo and bolo Souza Leão  in the land of their origin.

Here at Flavors of Brazil, we're all in favor of gastro-tourism and are enthusiastic participants ourselves. In the past twelve months, we've taken gastronomically-focused trips to Rio de Janeiro and São Luís, Maranhão, and reported on them on this blog. After seeing the ad pictured above, maybe our first gastronomic expedition for 2012 should be to Pernambuco. Who knows?

RECIPE - Steam-roasted Back Ribs (Costela no Bafo)

Beef ribs, and specifically the larger ribs known as back ribs, are surrounded by some of the most flavorful meat on the the entire butchered cattle carcass. And though they are wonderfull grilled with a smoky or sweet barbeque sauce, or braised in red wine or other liquid, Brazilians know that sometimes they're bestsuited to being served unadorned at table, without the presence of other flavors to complicate the picture. With just a  little seasoning and nothing more, the meaty and succulent flavor of the ribs shines through in full simplicity.

This recipe for oven-roasted back ribs, which comes from the tiny northeastern Brazilian state of Paraíba, results in very tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat that separates easily from the bone. It's a useful recipe to have when you want to showcase the meat itself or if you don't have access to an outdoor barbeque - the other way Brazilians like to cook their back ribs (costela).

Because back ribs are very rich - the meat has high fat and connective tissue content - keep the trimmings to a minimum when serving them. Boiled potatoes and a simple salad make the perfect accompaniment. Brazilians often serve french fries with back ribs , so if you prefer you can substitute fries for the boiled potatoes. We think that boiled potatoes are better suited in this case, but the choice is yours.
___________________________________________________
RECIPE - Steam-roasted Back Ribs (Costela no Bafo)
3 portions

3-rib section of beef back ribs
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
salt to taste
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a small bowl combine the chopped garlic and onions, the Worchestershire sauce and salt. Mix together to make a paste. Rub this paste into the meaty side of the rack of ribs and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

Put the seasoned ribs into a dutch oven with a top, or in a deep roasting pan. Cover the dutch oven or pan with aluminum foil, making sure to make a tight seal. If using a dutch oven, you can put the top on over the aluminum foil. Place in the preheated oven and roast for 1 1/4 hours.

Remove the aluminum foil and return the pan to the oven for about 10-15 minutes to allow the surface of the meat to become browned.

Remove the ribs from the pan, place on a platter, and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Let stand for 15 minutes, then cut into three pieces, each one with a rib, and serve immediately.

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

Happy World Pasta Day 2011 (Feliz Dia Mundial de Macarrão)

We've just learned here at Flavors of Brazil that today, October 25th, the entire planet is celebrating World Pasta Day. This date was chosen because it marks the anniversary of the first World Pasta Congress held in Rome, naturally, on October 25, 1995.

Although the origins of pasta are halfway around the world from Brazil in ancient China, and it was the Italians, not the Portuguese, who spread the love of pasta around the globe, Brazil loves pasta just as much as anyplace else on Earth. Call it massa, macarrão, espaguete, lasanha, or anything else you want it, just be sure to eat one of the most basic, most delicious and most variable foods that has blessed the human race before World Pasta Day ends at midnight.

And if you want to toast your pasta while you eat it, make sure it's with a nice dry red wine!