Barbecued
meat
Brazil and Argentina both claim to be South America’s barbecue champion. And while each have a
different approach – from the cuts to the accompaniments – some things remain
the same; the ogre-sized quantities of meat, best appreciated at a leisurely
pace, and with an elasticated waistband.
In Brazil, premium cuts (the most
popular being picanha, rump cap)
are seasoned with no more than a liberal shake of coarse salt, before being
grilled to pink perfection over charcoal (or wood, if you’re doing it the
old-fashioned Southern way). Home barbecues will see sausages, queijo coalho
(squeaky cheese-on-a-stick) and chicken hearts sharing space on the grill,
while in churrascarías (barbecue-style steakhouses) all manner of meats on
skewers, from pork to lamb and wild boar, will be sliced by waiters straight
onto your plate.
Moqueca
(pronounced moo-kek-a)
More than a mere fish stew, moqueca is
served with theatrical flourish as the piping hot clay pot is uncovered at the
table amidst clouds of fragrant steam. Baianos (residents of Bahia, in the
North-East) and Capixabas (from the neighbouring state of Espírito Santo) both
lay claim to the origins of the dish, and both serve up equally tasty
variations. At its simplest, fish and/or seafood are stewed in diced tomatoes,
onions and coriander. The Capixabas add a natural red food colouring urucum
(annatto seeds), while the Baianos serve a heavier version, with dendê (palm
oil), peppers and coconut milk. It’s teamed with rice, farofa (fried manioc
flour – ideal for mopping up juices) and pirão (a spicy, manioc flour fish
porridge, that’s far tastier than it sounds). south america tours
Cachaça
Dating back to the 1500s, cachaça is
made from fermented sugarcane juice, and is best known as the fiery kick in
caipirinhas – Brazil’s national cocktail. While caipirinhas are often made
with uncoloured, unaged cachaças, there are thousands of better-quality golden
varieties, aged in wood barrels, and sipped straight up by aficionados.
For the morning after, clear your head
with a Guaraná (a sweet, fizzy energy drink), an água de coco (coconut water,
best sipped straight from the coconut) or caldo de cana (freshly pressed sugar
cane juice). south america travel
Brigadeiros
Brazil’s answer to the chocolate
truffle, brigadeiros are so simple to make that
they quite literally get rolled out for kids’ parties nationwide. The sweet
balls are made by simmering condensed milk with cocoa powder, then whisking in
butter and shaping the mix into balls before rolling in chocolate sprinkles.
Guaranteed to give an instant sugar high, they’re cloyingly sweet for some
palates. Brazilians won’t hear a word against them though.
Pão
de queijo
Cheese and bread, two staple favourites
the world over, are brought together in glorious union in Brazil’s pão de queijo (cheese
bread). This moreish snack is enjoyed as much at breakfast as it is at any time
of the day or night. Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, the
gluten-free breads are made with tapioca flour, eggs and grated queijo Minas (a
cow’s milk cheese from the state of Minas Gerais), rolled into small balls. For
a naughty twist, you sometimes find pão de queijo in fist-sized rolls – or even
the size of a cake – stuffed with anything from yet more cheese or cream cheese
to various meaty. south america tours
Acarajé
(pronounced a-ka-ra-zjeh)
One of the most calorie-laden street
snacks I’ve ever had the good fortune to try, acarajé is a deep-fried patty of
crushed black-eyed peas, palm oil and pureed onions, deep fried in yet more
palm oil and then sliced open and stuffed with dried shrimp and vatapá – a rich
and spicy puree of prawns, bread, cashew nuts and other ingredients.
Originating in Bahia, in Brazil’s North-East, where the flavours have strong
roots in African cooking, acarajé is at its best when made on the spot, served
piping hot from the vat of oil, with a liberal dash of chilli sauce.
Quindim
Another favourite from Bahia, quindim is
a glossy yellow sweet made with nothing more than eggs, sugar and coconut (with
butter a common addition). Baked in cupcake-sized moulds, the bottom is toasted
and golden, dense with grated coconut, while the top is a smooth, firm custard
that sticks pleasingly to the roof of the mouth. A classic example of Brazil’s
miscegenation, quindim is said to derive from the word kintiti meaning
‘delicacy’ in kikongo language (spoken in the Congo and Angola), while the
recipe itself was inspired by the Portuguese love affair with egg yolks in
sweets and pastries. south america travel
Açaí (pronouned a-sa-ee)
Of all the thousands of fruits from the
Amazon, açaí is the best known, thanks to its super-food status.
Traditionally eaten by indigenous tribes for energy, the hard purple berry is
also used in Amazonian cooking, as a sauce with fish. A clever marketing
campaign in the ’80s thrust it into the spotlight as the energy snack of choice
for surfers in glamorous Rio de Janeiro. Served as a sweet, gloopy, frozen
sorbet, sometimes topped with granola and slices of banana, or whizzed up in
juices, it can found in every café, bakery, juice bar and supermarket across the
country. You can even buy açaí vodka, and açaí beer.
Feijoada
One of the few dishes eaten the length
and breadth of Brazil, feijoada is a hearty stew of black beans, sausages and
cuts of pork of varying quality – traditionally veering towards the lower
end, with trotters, and ears all going into the mix. A labour of love, feijoada
done the old fashioned way takes up to 24 hours to make, between soaking beans
and desalting pork. Which is why most Brazilians go out to restaurants and bars
to eat it – and only ever on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Rice, kale, orange
slices, farofa (toasted manioc flour) and pork scratchings are served on the
side, with a tipple of cachaça to ease digestion. south america tours
Fried
bar snacks
Beer, served so cold that chunks of ice
stick to the bottle, is the drink of choice in Brazil. And an assortment of
fried foods makes the perfect pairing, be it pastéis – deep-fried parcels of
crisp pastry filled with melting cheese, or minced beef, or creamy palm heart
–, or crunchy batons of manioc, bolinhos (‘little balls’) most often made with
salt cod. Or perhaps coxinha (‘little thigh’), with shredded chicken and potato
pureed, shaped like a (very voluptuous) thigh and covered in golden
breadcrumbs.
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