Brazil: Street Food Bite and Booze of the World Cup

After that horrible loss to Germany, Brazil is competing for third place against the Netherlands at 3pm today. Their people may be hungry for the trophy, but from the looks of their cuisine, they aren't hungry for much else. Today along the street food guide to the FIFA World Cup 2014, we're taking a look at Pão de Queijo and the Caipirinha!

Photo Credit: thekitchn.com

Pão de Queijo is Brazilian cheese bread. They're tiny, buttery bread balls with a hint of cheese inside. If that doesn't sound like game time snack food, I don't know what does! This recipe makes two dozen, which may not be enough once you've realized their greatness. The best part is you can find most of these ingredients already in your pantry except for the special flower. I recommend La Morenita on Florida Boulevard for all of your hard to find Latin-American ingredients. These little bread bites are super easy to make and quick to disappear.

Photo Credit: Food Network

If you've never had a proper Caipirinha, shame on you. They're very simple to make, a fun alternative to the typical mojito, and crazy delicious. Go to Calandro's Supermarket and grab a heap of limes and a couple of bottles of Leblon Cachaça (a sugar cane spirit) and go to town! Simply slice half of a lime up and muddle it with two teaspoons of sugar in the bottom of your glass, throw in some rocks, and fill your glass with cachaça. 

Brazil - The 2010 FIFA World Cup Bites and Boozes

Brazil

Brazil lost yesterday to The Netherlands in the World Cup.  Since they are now eliminated, we'll take a look at them on Bite and Booze!  Brazilian cuisine, like Brazil itself, varies greatly by region. The natural crops available in each region add to their singularity. Root vegetables such as cassava (locally known as mandioca, aipim, or macaxeira), yams, and peanuts[citation needed], and fruits like açaí, cupuaçu, mango, papaya, guava, orange, passionfruit, pineapple, and hog plum are among the local ingredients used in cooking. Brazilianpine nuts called pinhão grow in a tree that is abundant in the southern part of Brazil, and are a popular national snack, as well as a lucrative export. Rice and beans are an extremely common dish, as are fish, beef and pork.

Feijoada is a stew of beans with beef and pork, which is a typical Portuguese dish, also typical in Brazil, Angola and other former Portuguese colonies. In Brazil, feijoada is considered the national dish, which was brought to South America by the Portuguese, based in ancient Feijoada recipes from the Portuguese regions of Beira, Estremadura, and Trás-os-Montes. The name comes from feijão, Portuguese for "beans". The Brazilian feijoada is prepared with black turtle beans, with a variety of salted pork and beef products, such as salted pork trimmings (ears, tail, feet), bacon, smoked pork ribs, at least two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef (loin and tongue). This stew is best prepared over slow fire in a thick clay pot. The final dish has the beans and meat pieces barely covered by a dark purplish-brown broth. The taste is strong, moderately salty but not spicy, dominated by the flavors of black bean and meat stew.

The Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail, made with cachaça, sugar, and lime. Cachaça is Brazil's most common distilled alcoholic beverage. While both rum and cachaça are made from sugarcane-derived products, most rum is made from molasses. Specifically with cachaça, the alcohol results from the fermentation of sugarcane juice that is afterwards distilled.  

For more info on Brazilian beer, check out the BR Beer Scene.

Thanks and Credits:

http://massoterapiabelohorizonte.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/mgtv-ensina-a-preparar-uma-feijoada-light-para-saborear-em-dias-mais-frios/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_cuisine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caipirinha2.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caipirinha