Make Feijoada

I’ll make another batch in a few months.

Some notes:

1. Use more smoked meats.
2. Make the meat disappear into the stew more. This batch has the feel of a meat stew with beans, and it should be more like a black bean mix that feels meaty, IMHO.
3. More regional flavoring—use linguiça instead of smoked ribs, put a little tongue in it, and use piri-piri instead of chile.

The meat didn’t come out as tender as I would have hoped, though there are two more hours of simmering to account for. Nevertheless, it smells a lot like Feijoada. Mission accomplished!

made a delicious batch of Black Beans with a Ham Hock to get acquainted with how much to cook Black Beans. I’ve also , I think found the ingredients I need.

Intended serving Date: September 9 or 10, 2006.

Number of guests : 15.

From http://www.copacabana.info/feijoada.html

Ingredients:

1 lb. black beans
1 lb. smoked ham hocks
1 of each: pork foot, ear, tail, tongue
(optional)
1 lb. Mexican “chorizo,” “pepperoni” or
Brazilian “linguica”
1/2 lb. Chunk of lean Canadian bacon or
Brazilian “carne seca”
1/2 lb. Smoked pork or beef ribs
3-4 strips of smoked bacon
1/2 lb. lean pork
1/2 lb. lean beef
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
salt to taste
black pepper
hot sauce (optional)

How to prepare feijoada:

Soak beans overnight in large container. Next morning, cook beans for 4-5 hours at low heat. Place ham hocks, chorizo, ribs and Canadian bacon in deep pan with plenty of water and bring to a boil. Change water and bring to a new boil, repeating the procedure at least three times to tenderize cured meats and remove excess fat.

In a large frying pan saut‚ onion and garlic using either vegetable or olive oil (smoked bacon strips optional) for two or three minutes. Toss in cubed pork and beef. Saut‚ an additional two-three minutes.

Mash 5-l0 tablespoons of beans and add to large pot. The resulting paste will thicken sauce. Add two tablespoons of olive oil, three garlic cloves all chopped-up or mashed, along with a tablespoon of white vinegar and a teaspoon of red-hot pepper. Stir, heat over medium fire for two-three minutes, then transfer to contents of frying pan. (You may use two frying pans, if necessary)

Let simmer for l0-l5 minutes. Add contents of frying pan(s) to the beans and let boil at medium heat for 1-2 hours.

Serve over rice, with additional red-hot sauce, if desired.