Feijoada - National Dish of Brazil - Recipe For Feijoada

Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil, and interestingly enough , there are 2 primary schools of thought regarding the origin of the dish.

 

      

The most common belief is that it was concocted by Brazilian slaves, who gathered and used the scraps from the mansion and literally transformed them into a slave-quarter delicacy.

The second school say adamantly, that feijoada;the black bean stew, is a Brazilian variation of the Portuguese dish, caldeirada and possibly the Spanish (French); cassoulet.

           

Feijoada ¨facts¨

As you will see from the ingredients and method, feijoada is basically, a kind of stew. Although essentially Brazilian, you will also find it on the menu in Portugal and former portuguese colonies, for instance Angola.

Its name is derived form the portuguese word ¨feijão¨ which is portuguese for beans. Specifically, the Brazilian dish is traditionally made with black turtle beans.

In many cities of Brazil , restaurants will serve feijoada a couple of times a week (as a special), very often on Wednesday and Saturday lunchtime. It is a very heavy meal, and is rarely eaten at night.   

          

Brazilians are very proud of their unique culture, and frown upon variations of the dish elsewhere in the world. Especially, the portuguese version , which in north-west Portugal is made with white beans, whereas in the north-east it is made with red kidney beans,

Angola and mozambique also have variations, but all share the common base of having beans and salted meats as the basis of the stew. 

 

Feijoada

Serves 4 people
Preparation time:  about 45 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours and 40 minutes
Suggested beverages: lime batida or beer

Ingredients

800 grams of black beans
250 grams of dried beef
250 grams of salted pork ribs
1 pigs trotter
1 pig tail or ear
100 grams of smoked loin of pork
80 grams of smoked bacon
2 thick pork sausages
1 Portuguese sausage
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 soup spoon of olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 orange

Preparation and Method

The day before you plan to have the feijoada, clean the pigs trotter and ear or tail, soak them in cold water with the pork ribs.Also soak the dried beef (cut into pieces), dont forget to change the water of both bowls a few times.

Boil the salted meats in a saucepan, for about 12 minutes - drain, change water and cook...

Boil, drain and cook the dried beef, using the same method as above.

When the meats are tender, drain off the water, cut the pork ribs into smaller pieces and set aside. Cut the bacon into small pieces and slice the sausages.

Time to get serious now!

Put the beans in a large saucepan - add water, bay leaves and the orange cut into 2 halves (remove the outer peel only). Cook for about 45 minutes, then add all of the meats and cook for a further 25 minutes.

Remove a couple of ladles of beans from the saucepan. Chop the onion and garlic and saute in olive oil,  without browning them. Add the beans and cook for a couple of minutes, then return all ingredients to the main saucepan. Give a damn good stir, taste and add salt if required.

Cook the whole lot again for about 20 minutes...

Serve with white rice, kale, manioc, and some fresh orange slices.

Special notes:

The meats you use can vary - for instance, you dont have to use the pigs ear, if you dont want to (yikes).

Whilst cooking, skim off all of the oily scum which will gather on the surface - you will need to do this quite a few times.