Feijoada

Translation: Black Bean Stew

Pronunciation: fei-jo-a-duh

Most of the world knows feijoada as Brazil's national dish. This rich stew gets its name from the main ingredient, feijao, beans in Portuguese. The other ingredients consist of fresh pork or beef, sausage, bacon, and seasonings.

For years, historians believed feijoada was an African slave’s creation while working on the sugar cane and coffee plantations in northeastern Brazil. However, this has been revisited and it is now believed that feijoada has similarities with other European culinary dishes such as Punchero from Spain and Cassoulet from France.

As a Brazilian, I grew up eating all types of beans almost every day. My mom, who was born and raised in Brazil, made sure to carry out the tradition of rice and beans, a staple of Brazilian Cuisine. Feijoada was present on weekends since it takes a bit longer to make. This recipe belongs to my grandmother. In truth, the original recipe is made with pork trimmings such as ears, feet, tail, ribs, and some smoked meats.

When my grandma came to visit, she could not find all of the ingredients and decided to come up with a “lighter” version of ingredients we could find in a normal grocery store. This way, we could have a little bit of the Brazilian taste with our own style. Talking to her, I learned that my great-great grandmother used to live in northeast Brazil in a state called Bahia. Bahia like the the rest of the country had slaves. This is likely how it became such a family staple.

Recipe

Prep Time: 30-40 minutes (15 minutes if cans are used)

Cook Time: approximately 2 hours

10-12 servings

Difficulty: 2/5 (Not very hard just takes time)

Ingredients:

16 oz bag of black beans or 3 cans of black beans (if cans are used skip the first two steps)

5 slices of bacon (diced)

16 oz pork loin (diced)

½ link/about 7 oz pork or beef sausage (diced)

½ tbs minced garlic

2 bay leaves

Salt*

Black Pepper*

Onion Powder*

Cumin*

1/2 cup of water

*to taste

Instructions:

1. Pour beans into a pressure cooker. Let boil on medium-low heat. When the water boils, strain out the beans and replace the water. Repeat this process twice and then put the lid on.

2. When the pressure cooker starts to hiss, let the beans cook for 15 minutes under pressure. After 15 minutes turn off the heat and let the pressure go down before taking off the lid.

3. While the beans are cooking, start frying the bacon in a large pot on medium-low heat.

4. When bacon is fried add pork and let cook until pork is golden brown, stirring occasionally.

5. Add sausage and let fry.

6. Fry garlic and add bay leaves

7. Add beans

8. Add water and stir

9. Add salt, black pepper, onion powder, and cumin to tase. Stir in seasoning.

10. Put on the lid and turn the heat to low. Let cook for 30 minutes.

Tips and tricks:

• Feijoada is not a black and white recipe. There are lots of other meats you can use such as corned beef, smoked chorizo, short ribs, etc.

• Feijoada is typically served with rice. My family members and I also add hot sauce for some extra spice. My all-time favorite hot sauce is Tapatio

• It is best to cut the pork and sausages into very small, equal pieces. This will make the meat cook faster and evenly.