Feijoada extravaganza!

When a recipe says it serves 8-10, usually I don't actually believe them but hte recipe I used to make my feijoada really did serve that many! (or would have had there been that many people. As it is, I have a fridge full of leftovers. Yum!)


First, I had to cut up a bunch of onion. I used whit instead of yellow because I already had some white lying around from other endeavors. Then I cut up a few strips of bacon and a ton of garlic. I sauteed these in a large pot for 10 minutes and then added cayenne pepper. The recipe called for an actual pepper to be ground, but I just used the bottled powder stuff.



Next, I chopped up all of the meat for my dish. I used pork loins and packaged corned beef lunch meat for my meat, even though the recipe calls for much more meat and more expensive meat. I feel that, even though I'm not following the recipe directly, I still have the spirit of feijoada since the dish was a combination of all of the cheap stuff that was available to the poor people of Brazil.



I then added all of the meat, beans and water to the sauteed mix and let it simmer.



And about three hours later.... ta-da! Feijoada.

I can see how this meal came to be. Poor Brazilians and the African slaves took everything they could get, including the cuts of meat others wouldn't eat and beans and rice, already a staple in their diet, and threw it together into something they could eat. This meal cooks without much supervision and feeds a lot of people!It makes sense that it has become a dish served all over the country. When people make this dish, they pay homage to those who created it out of necessity and carry on the tradition of using what is available.

My new plan

Alright, so, originally I was going to take this one day cooking class through the town of Bloomington. This class was supposed to be tonight. Unfortunately, when I tried to sign up for the class a few weeks ago, it was already full.

We were supposed to learn how to make feijoada, farofa and a few other smaller dishes.
Since I can't take this class, I've decided to teach myself how to make feijoada. This might be a problem, since I've never even tasted feijoada much less tried to cook it.

According to cookbrazil.com feijoada was created by the slaves who cooked the pork meats that Farmland owners discarded such as ear, tails, feet in a big pot with black beans.

Now, this dish has been changed to include different parts of the pig, depending on how the cook likes it, but is one of Brasil's most famous dishes.

The recipe in my new cook book would be way to expensive to make and it takes 5 hours! So, I've decided to use a different recipe.

The recipe I've decided to use if from the site Brazzil.com. It claims to be "news from Brazil" and the page this recipe came from is labeled "1001 Feijoada recipes" I've copied the recipe here, in case anyone would like to try it.

Feijoada à Nordestina (Northeastern feijoada)

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 large yellow onions, chopped

5 cloves garlic, crushed

4 slices bacon, chopped

1 cup Italian parsley, chopped

5 large tomatoes, chopped

1 red cayenne pepper, chopped

4 cups dried beans (any kind of small brown bean), soaked overnight, drained

1 lb. salt pork, boiled for 5 minutes, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 lb. Italian sausage

2 lbs. corned beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 lb. smoked lean ham hocks

1 whole chicken breast, boned, skinned, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 lb. round steak, cut into 2-inch cubes

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

4 bay leaves

2 1/2 quarts water

1 lb. pumpkin, peeled, cut into 2-inch cubes

2 chayote squash, peeled, cores removed, cut into 2-inch cubes

1/2 lb. green cabbage, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 bunch collard greens, washed, shredded

1/2 lb. fresh string beans, ends removed, cut into 2-inch lengths

1 large potato, peeled, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 small sweet potato, peeled, cut into 2-inch cubes

3 ripe plantain bananas, peeled, cut into 2-inch lengths

Heat the oil in a large, heavy, deep pot and stir-fry the onion, garlic, and bacon for 2 minutes or until light golden brown. Add the Italian parsley , tomatoes, and cayenne and sauté for 1 minute. Add the beans, salt pork, Italian sausage, corned beef, ham hocks, chicken, round steak, salt, black pepper, bay leaves, and water. Cover and simmer for 2 hours or until the beans are tender, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed to ensure that the beans are completely covered while cooking. Add the pumpkin, chayote squash, green cabbage, collard greens, string beans, potato, sweet potato, and plantain bananas. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Do not overcook the vegetables. Serve immediately. Serves 8-10.

I would feel more comfortable with this recipe and it's authenticity as an actual recipe from Brasil if I knew exactly who was giving me the recipe. I was hoping that by using the recipe from "The Art of Brazilian Cookery," I would feel more comfortable because a bunch of Brasilian language websites came up when I searched for her name. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find much information about her or any pictures of her. But seeing as I am a poor college student, I'm not able to afford all that her recipe calls for. I think I'm even going to be creative with the ingredients for the recipe above.

Oh well. Wish me luck!

Hardships

So... this is my new blog. My last one was deemed SPAM by the wonderful people here at blogger.com.

This is the post I was going to post last week, but couldn't because my blog had been dismantled. After trying to find a way to get it back together for the past week, I've just created a new one.

I've been having some difficulties finding the time to make the recipes I've been finding online. Most require a fair amount of time in order to be made, also they take quite a bit of money-- two things I seem to be running a bit short on. Oh well.

Last week I took some time to explore what Brasilian food is. I talked to my friend Chelsea who lived in Brasil for two years. She said that when she thinks of Brasilian food, she thinks of steak, fish, feijoada, and pao de cajo.

I also picked up a book about Brasilian cooking titled 'The Art of Brazilian Cookery' by Dolores Botafogo. Botafogo makes a point in her book to explain how Brasilian cuisine is heavily influenced by the many immigrants from all over the world who have come to Brasil. She says there are many from Portugal, America, Ireland, England, Italy, Germany and many Eastern European countries. There are also many from East Asia and Africa. All of these people come to Brasil and mix their cultures with the indigenous peoples of Brasil and those who are descended from the slaves and Portuguese settlers.

Each culture has put a twist on cooking from their home or cooking that they learned in Brasil. These twists are what make Brasilian food so unique.

In Belem, in the north on the Amazon, many dishes come from native origins. Fish in many forms is a popular dish as well as many items using the fruit that grows plentiful in the area including many using the para nut (or Brasil nut). On the coast, one would expect to find many dishes made with shrimp and other sea faring animals. Vegetables are often used, and, as well as everywhere in Brasil, you will always see black beans and rice at every lunch and dinner.

In the south of Brasil, meet is the main staple for this is cattle country. Manioc flour (locally called farofa) is a big part of the cuisine of the gauchos (cowboys). But it can be found everywhere in the country. Many types of breads and cereals are found in the area because the grains needed are more easily grown here. As you go farther south, there is a heavy German influence shown in the cuisine. Many dinners consist of pumpernickel bread an cold cuts.

There is much more to say about the Brasilian food scene, but not enough space to write it all. It is safe to say that there are a lot of dishes that are universal to all of Brasil, but there are also dishes special to each area.