Brazilian Barbecue

If you spend any time in Brazil or even meet a Brazilian, you will soon learn that Brazil has a strong tradition of barbecue, or churrasco in Portuguese.  People outside of Brazil can experience this in a Brazilian barbecue restaurant/ steak house, called a churrascaria.  These restaurants are very popular in Brazil and are become very popular in other countries as well. 

A churrascaria is essentially an all you can eat restaurant where you get salad, rice and beans from a buffet and the meat is brought to your table on skewers.  The quality and price varies hugely across types of churrascarias.  At the budget end of the market, the meat will usually be cheaper cuts of meat, maybe with the better cuts appearing occasionally, but not too often.  The buffet will be more basic as well, consisting of salad, farofa (fried cassava flour with bacon, egg, onion, garlic, olives (and other variations) – tastes much better than it sounds!), rice and beans.  The quality of the meat at these budget churrascarias is usually reasonable and represents good value for money.  More upmarket restaurants will offer a much more varied buffet, adding fine cheeses, extra salad options and various side dishes.  I have been to a few restaurants where I have been almost tempted to fill up my plate at the buffet, before remembering the star attraction.  The meat at these upscale churrascarias is obviously of a better quality.  You will see the nicer cuts of meat appearing much more frequently as well as more options, such as lamb marinated in garlic, pork wrapped in bacon to name but two examples I’ve seen.  One place I’ve been in Curitiba even brings round pasta dishes as well as having a sushi bar.  Most churrascarias I’ve been to in the UK and USA are more towards the high end, although they never quite measure up to the best in Brazil.  If you are in an area with several churrascarias, find out where the Brazilians go – probably more authentic, less flashy and better value for money.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, there are loads, but they generally go for style over substance, most Brazilians go to Cleo’s in San Bruno which is very good quality at a reasonable price (note – Cleo’s is not paying me to say this!)

A typical churrascaria

The first time you visit a churrascaria, it is tempted to get over-excited and accept every piece of meat that is brought round, leave you with a pile of food going cold on your plate – I’ve been there!  Unless you are in a very poor quality place (I can think of one in Oxford which has (surprise surprise) now closed down) then they will soon be back with more of the same meat, so take your time and enjoy it while it’s hot!  You can always request your favourite cut as well!  A good way to finish off the meal is with a slice of pineapple, grilled with sugar and cinnamon.  Not only is it tasty, but it is also a good aid to digestion and you may well need all the help you can get!

This style of barbecue is the style known as churrasco gaúcho, which originated in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and is popular throughout the South of Brazil.  Cooking individual steaks on a barbecue grill is generally referred to as churrasco Paulista – São Paulo-style barbecue.  Sunday lunchtime is the most popular time for a barbecue, although any time or occasion can become an excuse for a churrasco!  Depending on the amount of guests, one or two large cuts of meat will be slowly roasted for several hours, before eating with salad, farofa, maionese (potato salad) and rice.  Appetisers are usually sausages, chicken hearts or bits of meat that can cooked quicker on the barbecue and passed around on a plate with farinha de mandioca (cassava flour).

Brazil still has quite a macho culture and barbecues are typically the responsibility of the men, with the women being left to prepare the rice, salad and other accompaniments.  More often than not, the men will gather around the fire, passing around a large caipirinha glass (none of your delicate little cocktails here…) or drinking beer and talking about football.

Churrasco Meat

The names for cuts of beef vary by country so most of the cuts used in Brazilian barbecue don’t have a direct equivalent in other countries, although you can usually get close enough.  The Wikipedia page on cuts of beef provides a good description of the different cuts in several countries.  Here are some of the more common meats:

Picanha

Picanha

Picanha is one of the most popular cuts of meat for barbecues, indeed I have heard people say (mostly in São Paulo) that without picanha, it isn’t barbecue.  I know plenty people in the South that would disagree with that sentiment, but most agree that picanha is among the best cuts.  The picanha is a triangular cut of meat that could be translated as the rump cap.  The closest equivalent British cut would probably be the top of the topside and US churrascarias usually call it top sirloin.  (According to various diagrams for US cuts, the top sirloin is not actually where the picanha is, so either they misname it, or use a different cut and call it picanha.)

In a churrascaria, picanha is usually cut into wide strips and then folded on the skewer such that the layer of fat sits on the outside forming a ‘C’ shape.  The meat is then carved off from the flat sides.  When doing a barbecue at home, most people either cut the picanha into steaks and grill them, or skewer the entire piece and roast it.

Costela

Fogo de chão with costela

The Costela (rib) is particularly popular in the South.  It needs to be roasted very slowly and high above the fire for best results.  Costela is the cut most often associated with fogo de chão: literally translated as fire on the ground, this consists of a fire with meat on large skewers driven into the ground. 

Alcatra

This could also be called top and bottom sirloin, but the closest British equivalent would probably be the rump.  Alcatra is another very popular cut, almost as much as picanha.

Costelinha de Porco

Costelinha (literally little ribs, as the word ‘costela’ on its own typically refers to beef ribs) of pork is a popular barbecue meat, although I haven’t see it so often at churrascarias – probably as it does not easily lend itself to carving off a skewer.  Some more high end churrascarias may bring round costelinha de porco (or even costela) in serving dishes and then carve it at the table, but this isn’t very common.  The usual way to cook costelinha is to skewer it and slowly roast it over a high heat.

Coração de Frango

Coração de frango, pork medallions and linguiça 

Chicken hearts are a common part of a Brazilian barbecue and rather tasty.  In a churrascaria, they tend to come round on skewers with all the other meats, although for barbecues at home, they tend to be served as an appetiser on a plate with some farinha de mandioca.

Linguiça

Linguiça is a type of thick, pork sausage, popular in barbecues.  Much like coração de frango, it is a common addition to a churrascaria or as an appetiser at home; sliced with farinha de mandioca.

Spending Winter in Brazil

Take just about everything you think you know about Brazil and put it to one side – save it for summer.  Winter in Brazil – or at least in the south – takes on a completely different style.  Gone are the trips to the beach, nights spent trying to keep cool, walking around in shorts and t-shirt, now we have Festa Junina, nights spent under half a dozen blankets and wearing jumpers and jackets to sit around the house.  You don’t need to spend much time in the South of Brazil to see some cultural differences with the rest of Brazil, but when June arrives, these cultural differences come through even more.

I’ve already written about how bloody cold it gets here, so I won’t dwell on it, although the weather is far from predictable.  At the beginning of June, the overnight temperatures were reaching 0°C, although it has since become somewhat milder with daytime highs around 24°C and night-time lows around 10°C.  All well and good, but I’m waiting for temperatures to plummet again, this winter has been too easy so far!

A pinha, full of pinhões

One of the first signs of the approaching winter is the availability of pinhões in the supermarkets and by the side of the roads.  Even before the start of the season, a pinhão hysteria takes over Paraná and people start counting down, licking their lips in anticipation.  You may recall me writing about these seeds and how I wasn’t altogether very impressed.  Well, as I suspected, they are an acquired taste and after a month or so, I appear to have acquired that taste, to the point where I am now a firm believer in selecting the best pinhões, as opposed to simply scooping a load into a bag!

Once winter arrives, there is another culinary shift.  The customary light evening meal (usually breads, salami, cheese, maybe some salad) is replaced by more warming fare, typically soups. One popular soup is sopa de agnoline.  This is a soup that was brought to Brazil by Italian immigrants and consists of stuffed pasta (agnoline or cappelletti) – a bit like dumplings – in a thin, watery broth with pieces of chicken.  I might not be selling this very well, but it is very tasty and just what you need on a cold winter evening!  Again, this is a dish that the locals take very seriously, I’ve lost count of the number of people who have asked me whether I’ve tried sopa de agnoline!

Quentão with gemada

So you’ve munched on a pinhão or three (probably accompanied by chimarrão), had a filling dinner of sopa de agnoline and now you’re hiding under a blanket in the living room, trying to get warm.  What you need is a good, warming drink.  Forget coffee at this time of night, you’re looking for quentão.  Quentão (literally translated, means big warm) is essentially mulled wine (or glühwein or vin chaud if you prefer.)  The preparation is slightly different to European varieties of the drink, and usually consists of red wine (the cheap and nasty stuff you would never normally drink), sugar, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  It is sometimes served with gemada – raw egg yolks beaten with sugar – making it thick and sweet.  In São Paulo, quentão is made using cachaça (and no gemada), but I have not yet tried this, and the quentão I previously described is called vinho quente (literally, hot wine.)

A popcorn cake at the
church hall in Pato Branco

All of this comes together in Festa Junina, a popular party held throughout June and continuing into July.  Sometimes known as Festa de São João, this is a celebration that is held all over Brazil and involves people dressing up in countryside fancy dress (men as farm boys, boys often with a painted moustache and women and girls wearing pigtails, freckles and red-checked dresses) with winter food and drink (pinhão, popcorn, cornbread and quentão (with a non-alcoholic version made with grape juice for the children), country music and dancing.  The most common type of dance similar to square dancing, called quadrilha, which is performed to country music and is centred around a mock wedding.  During the daytime, these quadrilha are mostly performed by children, although adults also participate in the evenings.  There are several festas juninhas held throught the cities, often organised by schools and churches, throught June and July.

On 26^th June (Sunday) in Pato Branco, a large Italian lunch was organised by the church, in the massive hall across the road from the church – part of two weeks of festivities for Festa de São Pedro, St Peter’s Feastival, the patron saint of Pato Branco.  As well as the triangular flags of festa junina, the hall was decorated in red, white and green and filled with long tables.  The food was typical of Italian food at the time of mass emigration to Brazil (North Americans call it family-style), but with a Brazilian twist.  The tables were called to the hot buffet stations one at a time to load up with pasta, salad, polenta, chicken and pork, although there were warnings not to take too much, you can always go back for more!  The lunch was finished off by a selection of cakes and sweets for purchase.

Italian lunch, showing one of the queues for food
and the rows of tables

Choosing meat for the barbecue

The conclusion of festivities for the Festa de São Pedro was the barbecue.  St Pedro’s day is on 29^th June (Wednesday this year) and a local holiday (unless you happen to be a home-based employee of a company in São Paulo, when you get their holidays…) and this is marked by a massive barbecue for the entire city.  The day before, you go to an enclosure full of row after row of barbecues and join the long queue to choose and buy the cut of meat you want, skewered with a card tag to identify it. 

On the day of the barbecue, the fires are lit in the rows of barbecues and the hundreds of skewers are lined up to roast.  The numbers on the car tags identify which barbecue they will go to and aid you in finding it.  Dozens of people attending the barbecues, keeping the fires going and ensuring the meat is well cooked.  At midday, the enclosure is packed with people as half of the city turns out to collect their meat and take it home for lunch. 

After the Festa de São Pedro, the festivities start to die down in Pato Branco, with the occasional Festa Junina and Julina (Festa Junina in July – Julho in Portuguese) popping up here and there, but very infrequently.  The city settles back into its normal rhythms and people wait for the winter holidays.  Of course this typically refers to schools, where the last two weeks of July are holidays (also a welcome break for teachers!)  During this time, people either head north to escape the cold, or venture further south to get colder!  There are two cities in particular that are very popular at this time of year; Gramado and Canela, in Rio Grande do Sul.  These two cities lie in the Serra Gaúcha mountains and are only 9km (6 miles) apart.  In winter, temperatures can drop below 0°C leading to hard frost and snow is not uncommon.  In addition to getting a taste of winter, these cities are popular for the beautiful countryside in which they sit, the Bavarian inspired architecture, chocolatiers and artisan shops.  Gramado is next on my list to visit, more on that later!