What to order at a Brazilian restaurant?!
What to order at a Brazilian restaurant?
Hey, I'm dragging my mom out to try new kinds of food...she needs to get out more :) and my first stop is a nearby town with a large Brazilian population...any recommendations for entradas?
Answers:
What a wonderful daughter you are! Brazilian food is great, lots of variety. Definitely try the grilled meats, seafood & chicken.
The national dish is FEIJOADA:
The Brazilian feijoada is prepared with black turtle beans, with a variety of salted pork and beef products such as salted pork trimmings (ears, tail, feet), bacon, smoked pork ribs, at least two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef (loin and tongue).
This stew is best prepared over slow fire in a thick clay pot. The final dish has the beans and meat pieces barely covered by a dark purplish-brown broth. The taste is strong, moderately salty but not spicy, dominated by the flavors of black bean and meat stew. Served with manioc (ground cassava root).
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Try some specialities from BAHIAN (Salvador area)
cuisine:
Thrives in the mid-north along the east coast. This Brazilian Cuisine style was highly influenced by the African slaves who were imported to work the plantations. Flavors are robust. Most ingredients are West African in origin or spirit, which is not surprising considering that Bahia resembles West Africa in geography and climate. The classic Bahian dish is:
Vatapa de Camarao & Peixe - Fresh shrimp and fish in a thick sauce made with dried shrimp, coconut milk, nuts, and dende (a palm-nut cooking oil).
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Paulista Cuisine
From the city of Sao Paulo situated some 200 miles south of Rio. It is the most subtle and delicate of the three major Brazilian Cuisine styles. Besides owing some of its character to the Portuguese, West Africans and Aborigines, it has been influenced by the Italians, Germans, and other Europeans who settled in Brazil in great numbers. An interesting local specialty is:
Cuscuz Paulista - Cornmeal steamed and molded with meats and vegetables, somewhat like the famous cracked wheat Couscous of North Africa.
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