Category Archives: BLOG

Learn to recognise a perfect Picanha

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This guy posted a comment on my video about proper Brazilian BBQ today saying my clip ‘sucked’. He offered by way of comparison the videos produced by this very charming Paulista. You know what? He’s totally right. This guy – Marcos Bassi – definitely knows what he’s talking about.

Picanha - Brazil's favourite beef cutI particularly recommend this clip below, where Marcos shows how to recognise a perfect ‘Picanha’ – the rump cut Brazilians love. Starting from a piece his chosen as his ‘template’ he shows other cuts which are either too thin or that were poorly butchered.

His main points when buying Picanha are:

  1. A properly butchered Picanha cut should be no heavier than 1.1kg.
  2. The cut should be small and have around 2.5-3″ height on the thicker end.
  3. There should be a nice thick blanket of fat on one side. Even if you do not want to eat the fat when the cut comes to your plate, a thick blanket of fat on the cut shows the cattle was well fed and well taken care off.
  4. The cut should be clean of all membrane and nerves before you cook it.
  5. In Churrasco houses, Picanha are often ‘matured’ for 21 days in a special maturation chamber to soften its consistency and add more flavour.

I’m afraid his stuff is only in Portuguese but he explains stuff so clearly you’ll be able to pick up the gist of it no problem.

Really edible flowers

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My friend Stela posted a link to this wonderful idea and I thought I’d share it with you. I had never seen it before but I can see from a quick Google search quite a few people around the world do it. It’s such a wonderful idea. And in Brazil, where there is such a variety of delicious tropical fruit, this makes every sense. So next time you go see a friends or you want to say thanks, why not do it with a healthy Edible Buquet?

It’s a wonderful way of making kids eat fruit at parties, etc. I must try to make my own.

Check out this lady’s site in Rio >>
A few others around the world:
www.ediblebouquets.co.uk
www.ediblearrangements.com

Seleção Brasileira

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I need to come up with a list of 65 typical Brazilian Dishes for a book proposal till the end of June 2010. I’m only looking for suggestions of dishes for now. But if you have a good, tried and tested recipe I’d love that too.

Please leave any suggestion as a comment.

My list so far:

The basics

Plain black beans Rice, the Brazilian way
Deep fried straw potatoes
Tutu – Black Beans mash
Pirão – Fish stock sauce
Farofa – Fried cassava flour
Couve Mineira – Fried Collard Greens

Starters

Casquinha de Siri – Crab meat in its shell
Escondidinho de Carne Seca – Shepherds pie with Cassava Purée and shredded beef jerky
Sopa Leão Veloso – Seafood soup

Main dishes

Feijoada – Black Beans and pork stew
Moqueca de Peixe – Fish stew
Pork Chops Minas Style – Pork Chops with rice, beans and greens
Bobó de Camarão – Prawns on Cassava Sauce
Camarão na Moranga – Prawns served in a squash
Picadinho a carioca – Beef stew, Carioca style
Grilled octopus with broccoli rice

Desserts

Quindim – Coconut and egg flan
Pudim de Leite – Milk flanManjar – Coconut and prunes fan
Mousse de Maracujá – Passion fruit mousse
Torta de Banana – Banana Meringue Pie
Creme de Abacate – Avocado creamCreme de Papaya – Papaya Cream
Cocada – Coconut sweetGuava Soufflé
Brigadeiro – Chocolate truffles

Snacks and bar food

Pastel – Flaky pastry pockets
Kibeh – Brazil’s nod to the Middle East
Bolinho de Bacalhau – Salt Cod frittersAcarajé – Bean fritters
Bolinho de Aipim – Cassava fritters
Pé de moleque – Peanut brittle
Cucus doce – Sweet tapioca cake Breakfast with a difference / Baking
Mugunza – Homely maze porridge
Tapioca – Cassava starch pancakes
Pão de Queijo – Cheesy dough balls
Pão de Batata – Potato buns
Broa – Cornmeal cake

Juices and cocktails

Caipirinha – Cachaça, lime and sugar
Batida de Côco – Coconut, condensed milk and cachaça
Pineapple and mint juice
Passion Fruit Juice
Açaí in a bowl Swiss lemonade

Food Blogger Connect

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Spent the weekend with a bunch of very nice fellow food bloggers on this year’s edition of the Food Blogger Connect. Such a well organised event, with lots of great tips for all on how to write, photograph, monetise and even get yourself published in the offline world (is there an offline world??).

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Fellow FBC’er, if you want to past the list on your site click to download the HTML code.

Katavento Pastelaria e Mercearia

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Pastel - the delicious flacky Brazilian deep fried pastry.

While most Londoners were cozy under the duvets I was on my way to the bike shop – the small but ever so efficient Russel Motors in Clapham Junction – to pick up my bike after they gave it a new front tire. I had not ridden it for a whole week (riding bikes in the snow is no fun) and it really needed a longer ride to get some juice into its battery. A friend had told me of a new Brazilian snack bar in Merton Abbey Mews which sells Pasteis and for some reason I thought the cold cold perilous ride to the backwaters of Wimbledon would be a good idea as long as I could wrap my fingers around a hot blistery Pastel at the end of it.

Luciana and FlavioSo it was with near fronzen fingers that I opened the door at Luciana Chaves’ and Flavio Favero’s small Brazilian caf in the quaint hippy-like market. The Katavento Pastelaria has only be there for 2 months and the pair combine the duties of chef, waiters and culinary detectives. There are loads of recipes for the Pastel pastry but most specialist houses keep their secret recipe very close to their chest, so Luciana and Flavio had to start from scratch and experiment with quite a few combinations before arriving at the present formula. They also had to come up with their own formula for ‘Catupiry’ – the rich cream cheese only available in Brazil.

The shop sells 15 flavours of savoury pockets, with prices from £2 to £2.70 and 1 sweet version with a Goava and Cheese (Romeo and Juliet) filling. The pastry is a real masterpiece, light and crispy and each pastel is more than enough to fill an hungry grown up like me (although I have to admit I had 2!). And while you’re there filling up on delicious pasteis you can also stock up on some Brazilian supplies, like sour starch (for your cheesy doughballs), black beans, cassava flour and some Guarana Soda.

Opening times are Wed-Sunday 10am till 5pm (7pm on Friday) and you can also have your pastel wrapped to take away.

Just so you know… Pastel is the kind of word that is spelt and pronounced different in the plural. So it’s one Pastel (‘Past-hell’) but two Pasteis (‘Past-air-is’). So now you know…

A tip for BBQ’ing at a friend’s house

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kebabs_inside

Tip for BBQ’ing at a friend’s house:

When summertime hits London the supermarkets start stacking their shelves with BBQ tat and all manner of self-lighting lumpwood charcoal. Almost immediately after invitations for little impromptu BBQ parties start to pour into my email inbox.

Most Brits would just happily turn up sporting a Tesco bag with the odd pack of sausages or burgers, but not me – no! no! Given half a chance I’d turn up with a huge chuck of Brazilian rump steak (Picanha) and roasted it on a spit in proper Brazilian Churrasco fashion, but when going to a friend’s house I have to live with the fact they might not be as well equipped in the grill department as I am. So I have learned to adjust my expectations.

My tip is: buy regular supermarket rump steaks (with as big a layer of fat as you can find), chop them up into rectangles and make little kebab-style skewers with some green and red peppers and some red onions.

The skewers will grill really well on even the most modest of grills; they will be easy to eat (just bite the chunks straight off the skewer) and the combined price tag is fairly low. But oh so much better than burgers or cheap sausages!

A few points to look out for:

  • Spiced with the basic Brazilian condiments: a rub made with black pepper, salt and garlic.
  • Make sure you cut all the parts to the same height so the vegetables aren’t taller than the meat or they will scorch the edges rather than cooking in the meat juices.
  • Try to ensure every skewer has a few fatty pieces of rump to keep the whole thing nice and moist.

And by the way: if you really want to be remembered by one and all, take some Brazilian Cheesy Dough Balls!

Brazilians want for less, not more

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What a great concept! Don’t ask for more, ask for less! Less clothes, less time at work, less solving everything through email, less worries, less distance… “I want less for me, and I wish the same to you!” And if you’re a Seu Jorge fan, you’ll recognize the riff on the sound track as the delightful ‘Corolina’.

Havaianas should get as many prizes as you can throw at it for being such an innovative brand. They have managed to improve their brand image God knows how many fold and still keep the product as simple as cam be – some well decorated pieces of rubber!

They are a testament of the Brazilian creativity and spirit and, if you don’t have a pair, go out and buy one NOW!