100 Brazilian Dishes – Part 1

Don’t ask me which is my favorite Brazilian food. I’m useless at answering that question. I love many. I can’t pick one. Reportedly food from our state of Minas Gerias is reported to be some of the best in Brazil, so maybe it’s because I’m swamped with so many fine choices. In any case, what happens when I try to think of my favorite foods to answer the questions of some culinary enthusiast? That’s right. Crickets and the sounds of silence. My brain seizes up, every time.

Thank god someone else invented this list of 100 Brazilian Dishes on a culinary blog as a Brazilian equivalent to Omnivore’s Hundred. I’ve seen it appear on more than one expat blog.  I guess it’s the Brazilian foodie equivalent of that BBC 100 Top Books list that went around the internet; we just can’t resist finding out how many can we claim! Now it’s also my personal challenge–how many can I find and eat? For now I’ve inserted photos of the ones that I’ve already tried for the foodie-types (click on the photos for links to descriptions/recipes), and I’ll keep you all posted on my culinary adventures. 

100 Brazilian dishes to try
(This was originally in Portuguese, I’ve adapted another blogger’s translation–thank you Cipriana.)

	1. Doce de batata doce	(sweet potato purée/jam/jelly)
	2. Churrasco	(Brazilian-style BBQ.  Known to the uninitiated as “meat on swords.” Eat meat until you pop.)
	3. Bala de banana Oliveira	(Oliveira brand banana candies). I’ve seen these in the stores; have yet to try one.
	4. Tapioca	(made of yucca/cassava starch. Usually cooked like tortillas, these can be bland if served without a filling. I like it best when baked with a drizzle of honey inside.)
	5. Pizza assado no forno à lenha	me in Pizzeria Firenze, the family restaurant (Pizza cooked in a woodfire oven.  Our family owns a pizzeria, so I’ve eaten this many, many times.  Toppings are not like in the States and can include kernel corn, palm hearts, or boiled eggs.)
	6. Feijão tropeiro	(a variation of the feijão or beans.  I love this one and it is commonly served at churrascos.  There are lots of variations, but usually the beans are stirred together with fried pork fat, some herbs, and yucca flour.)
	7. Arroz carreteiro	(Rice mixed with dried meat.  I’m sure that it’s delicious when prepared properly, but the few times I’ve tried it the dried meat sucked all the moisture from my mouth.  I’ll pass.)
	8. Açaí na tijela	(“Açai fruit in a bowl.” Very common in the NE and N, frozen blueberry-like fruit served with granola in the NE or with regular food in the N. Yummy, and healthy as heck.)
	9. Paçoca de amendoim	(peanut sweet, a little like fudge with peanuts)
	10. Pato no tucupi	(a duck dish)
	11. Maniçoba	(?)
	12. Baião de dois	(?)
	13. Acarajé	(amazing street food served in Bahia, mostly. Made of bean paste with all sorts of goodies and shrimp. So spicy that they warn the tourists before serving. Yum!)
	14. Pamonha	sweet corn paste cake. It can be wrapped in corn leaf and boiled, my family bakes it like cake.)
	15. Dobradinha	(tripe stew; uhm, I’m not a fan of tripe. I might just settle for 99/100…)
	16. Rapadura	Raw cane sugar cakes, mostly sold in fairs)
	17. Farofa de içá	(“Flour made from içá,” which is an food completely unknown to me)
	18. Barreado	(?)
	19. Pastel de feira	(they vary depending on the region, but it´s basically a fried pastry with various savory fillings. Best when straight from the fryer, I eat a few every Saturday)
	20. Couve refogada com alho	Kale with garlic, a dinner staple)
	21. Sanduíche de pernil	(a pork sandwich; pernil is the pork leg)
	22. Palmito	(palm hearts)
	23. Umbu em natura	(a fruit, au natural)
	24. Pacu	(a type of fish)
	25. Camarão na moranga	Camarão na moranga – It pays to have an ex-cook for a husband. Yum! (a creamy pumpkin shrimp stew)
	26. Doce de abóbora	(pumpkin jam/sweet)
	27. Feijoada	(the classic Brazilian dish, beans stew with various meats and served with rice.  Usually it’s an event when it’s served due to the many ingredients and stew time.  Delicious & guaranteed to put you in a food coma.)
	28. Galinhada com pequi	(a chicken stew with pequi fruit)
	29. Peixe na telha	(a fish dish)
	30. Biscoito de polvilho	(Crispy puffed flour biscuits. Like cheese puffs minus the cheese. Very typical fare and Brazilians are crazy for them, although I can’t really understand their charm.  Usually eaten with coffee.)
	31. Galinha à cabidela	(a chicken dish)
	32. Pão de mel com doce de leite	(literally honey bread with dulce de leche)
	33. Any fish baked in folha de bananeira (banana tree leaf)
	34. Queijo coalho na brasa	Roasted farmer’s cheese, usually sold at beaches in the NE and served on a skewer)
	35. Curau	(?)
	36. Torta de liquidicador	(Blender cake. Cipriana says “Any Brazilian housewife should know how to make it.” Hmm. Guess I’m slacking.)
	37. Café coado no filtro de pano	(coffee passed through a cloth filter. This is the way most coffee is made–yum.)
	38. Caldo de cana	(sugar-cane juice usually served by street vendors with ice and lemon. Be careful with hygiene, and absolutely dee-lish-ous)
	39. Arroz, feijão, bife e batata frita	(rice, beans, steak and fries. Ciprana says this is a typical PF, prato feito, although I’ve never seen it served up in exactly this combination.  Maybe a regional thing?)
	40. Buchada de bode	(a mutton dish)
	41. Bolo de rolo	(jelly roll cake typical of the NE. Made with guava jelly and lots of layers.)
	42. Furrundum	(?)
	43. Chá mate gelado	(chilled mate tea)
	44. Rabada	(oxtail stew, can’t say I’m a fan of oxtail so…)
	45. Vaca atolada	(literally, “stuck cow.” A type of beef soup)
	46. Pitanga	(a fruit native to Brazil. The fruit is tart and very high in vitamin C; the leaves have medicinal properties)
	47. Quibebe	(pumpkin dish)
	48. Pintando na brasa	(BBQ fish)
	49. Cuscuz paulista	(a corn-based dish, “São Paolo couscous”)
	50. Quebra queixo	(“jawbreaker,” a hard sugar-based sweet)

Whew! Tracking down images for those items I’ve tried is hard work! I’m finding that many I have tried, but had no idea what they were called. 51-100 to be continued next week, plus the final count of how many I’ve tried so far!