The brigadeiro has quite the history behind it. What started as a political symbol eventually became the centerpiece of nearly every celebration in Brazilian culture, and from there it made its way into gourmet kitchens all around the world – all from a recipe that started out calling for just three ingredients. The history here […]
Linguiça doesn’t get nearly enough attention in North American grocery stores. Outside of Portuguese and Brazilian communities, it tends to be a name people run into before they’ve ever actually tried it – maybe it was listed on a restaurant menu, or a recipe called for it and a trip to three different stores turned […]
A warm pão de queijo has a way of stopping everyone mid-sentence the first time they eat one. That thin, golden-brown shell gives way to a soft and chewy pull on the inside – and for many, that texture is all it takes to make them want to track down where it came from and […]
Bobó de camarão is a dish that pops up on Brazilian restaurant menus with almost no explanation behind it – and a one-liner just won’t do it justice. The name alone is enough to make plenty of diners stop and think, which is a pretty fair reaction to have. It’s a dish that deserves a […]
Finish a meal in Brazil, and a small cup of coffee arrives almost before the plates are taken away. The cup is small, the coffee is extremely strong, and the whole ritual happens so fast that it almost feels automatic. For first-time visitors, it can take a little while to get used to – especially […]
A Brazilian restaurant menu can make even the most well-traveled diners pause. Words like feijoada, coxinha and pão de queijo look nothing like the way they sound – and with no point of reference to go on, you either point quietly at the page or take a guess at a pronunciation that ends up nowhere […]
Skewers of picanha arrive at the table still sizzling. Coils of sausage follow – then the lamb, then more beef. Brazilian churrasco is less of a meal and more of a procession of meat, rich and salted and charred over an open flame. Most guests show up hungry with their attention fixed on the food, […]
Plenty of drinkers assume cachaça is Brazilian rum with a different label on the bottle, and it’s not an unreasonable place to land. The two spirits are made from sugarcane. They have deep roots in tropical climates, and they like to show up in the same kinds of cocktails. With that much in common, it […]
Brazilian restaurants work very differently from what most of us are used to back home, and it takes a minute to get your bearings the first time around. Walk in, and instead of a host handing you a menu, you’ll probably get a ticket pressed into your hand before you’ve even spotted where the food […]
A Brazilian churrascaria is its own dining experience, and it starts right as you walk in the door. Giant skewers of meat, servers making their way between tables and a general sense that you’d better have some idea of what you want before anyone stops at your seat – there’s plenty to take in all […]
Between a weeknight dinner and a centuries-old tradition sits one of Brazil’s most well-loved dishes – a fragrant seafood stew simmered in a clay pot, loaded with rich aromatics and a deep coastal character that’s nearly impossible to recreate anywhere else. Maybe you’ve come across the name before but couldn’t quite place it or spotted […]
Festa Junina is Brazil’s second biggest traditional festival – right behind Carnival in how much it means culturally. Every June, tens of millions of Brazilians pack the town squares lit up by paper lanterns to celebrate three Catholic saints, with music, dance and tables just loaded with food that has roots that trace back centuries. […]
