Brigadeiro

I promise this isn’t a food blog. But when I had so much fun making the caipirinha shots, I got in a cooking mood and made brigadeiros for a friend’s get-together and wanted to share the results.

Brigadeiro is Brazil’s national homemade candy. I guarantee that you will never go to a Brazilian kid’s birthday party where brigadeiro isn’t served. It’s an easy-to-make, single-serve, affordable dessert. The name of this treat, according to a Nestle historian, comes from Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, a 1940’s political candidate, whose female supporters sold the treat to raise money for his campaign. Hmmm, será? Gomes didn’t win but the brigadeiro’s legacy endures.

In Brazil, brigadeiro is undergoing a renaissance much like the cupcake did in the U.S. in the late 90’s when the Magnolia Bakery opened in 1996. A cupcake was something you made for school bake sales until Magnolia elevated the simple baked good with flavors like crème brûlée and mocha. Similarly, Chef Luciana Godoy runs SugarLu, an online gourmet brigadeiro business, offering flavors like Kit Kat and Stout Beer to the lucky denizens of Curitiba in the southern state of Paraná.

Closer to home, there’s Chica Bom Bom in Washington D.C., offering flavors like Nutella and Pistachio. Inspired by their menu, I decided to see what would happen if I added peanut butter to the traditional home brigadeiro recipe.

Peanut Butter Brigadeiro

1 can condensed milk (I used Brazilian Nestle brand Moça but any Eagle, La Lechera or store brand will do)
1 tablespoon margarine or spreadable butter
4 tablespoons chocolate powder like Nesquik (I used Mexican brand Carlos V. Cocoa works, too but it will be less sweet -- not a bad thing at all)
Chocolate jimmies
¼ cup peanut butter chips (I would tell you what kind but my sister's dog kindly ate the remaining chips and destroyed the bag/evidence in the process. They were organic from Whole Foods.)

Step one: Put condensed milk, margarine, chocolate powder and peanut butter chips into a heavy-bottom sauce pan. Stir constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to come off of the sides and you can see the bottom of the pan as you stir. I’m not a chef and I’m sure this cooking point has a name. But you’ll know what I mean when you see it. And when I say stir constantly, I mean stir constantly. Take a break to Instagram your pan and you may have to start again. Trust me on this one. Set aside to cool.

Step two: Once it’s cool enough to handle, take some margarine and rub it on your hands. Take a spoonful of the mixture, roll into a little ball and roll in the jimmies. Put in candy cups. I chose gold ones from Wilton.

Suggested listening for eating brigadeiro: Mania de Você by Rita Lee.

My recipe was light on the peanut butter flavor but rolling in finely chopped peanuts instead of jimmies would probably change that for the better. I’m thinking I might make some with cherry extract for Valentine’s Day. I can imagine making peppermint ones as gifts for Christmas. The possibilities are endless!

Beijo, amores!

Caipirinha

It was 1999. I had just graduated from graduate school and was celebrating in Miami, which at the time was the most Brazilian city in the U.S. My obsession with Brazil was in full force by this time and my beach tunes (played on a CD walkman, by the way) included Eliane Elias Sings Jobim.

Miami in 1999 was a Brazilophile’s paradise. It was my first visit to a Brazilian restaurant since this was before churrascarias appeared on the Chicago food scene. I can still remember my heart flutter as I tested my then-elementary Portuguese on the waiter/owner at Via Brasil in North Miami Beach. As we were leaving, I asked him if he knew where I could buy cachaça, the national spirit of Brazil made from sugar cane. He replied “Não! And if you find out where, please let me know!”

Fast forward to 2013 and cachaça is everywhere. Brands like Leblon and Sagatiba actively court American consumers. There are even brands that are distilled in Brazil for export only. And cachaça’s signature drink, the caipirinha, can be found at most upscale bars in bigger American cities.

Thankfully, you don’t have to go to an upscale bar to have a caipirinha. In fact, the best caipirinhas I’ve had have been made for barbecues or parties at home. You may think you know how to make a caipirinha -- just sugar, lime, cachaça and ice then muddle, right? Wrong. According to my friend João, an expert caipirinha-maker in Rio de Janeiro (and by expert, I mean he makes a lot of these for his friends), there is a secret, a segredo, to a delicious caipirinha that most outside Brazil don’t know.

João’s Caipirinha (makes one caipirinha)

1 lime
2 teaspoons of sugar (superfine if you want the sugar to dissolve completely)
1 jigger of cachaça (approximately 50 ml or 1.5 fl. oz.)
Ice

Step one:
Cut the lime into four wedges. And this is where the segredo comes in. Remove the center pith! Yes, that white stuff in the middle of each wedge? Get rid of it! João swears that with it, your caipirinha will have a bitter flavor. I tested the theory and can verify that it’s true. I find that cutting the pith out is easiest after cutting the lime in half.

Step two:
Put lime, sugar and cachaça in your glass or cocktail shaker and muddle using a muddler or wooden spoon. Personally, I like using regular sugar because I like the leftover crystals at the bottom of the glass once I’m done with my drink.

Step three:
Put in a handful of crushed ice. I learned from João that the best crushed ice comes from putting ice cubes in a clean dish towel then whacking them on the floor. Stir or shake.

Step four:
Put on some samba. For example, “Olho por Olho” by Beth Carvalho. Drink.

Here's me, João and his lovely wife Regina at the Centro Cultural Carioca in Rio, 2007:

If caipirinhas are standard at your parties and you want to take your cachaça connoisseurship to the next level, behold the Caipirinha Jello Shot.

Silvinha’s Caipirinha Jello Shot (makes 12 shots)

2 envelopes Knox gelatin (sorry vegans!)
1 ½ cups of Santa Cruz Organic Limeade
3 limes
Juice from the limes (about ¼ cup of juice)
¼ cup of chilled cachaça (I used Ypióca and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes)
1 tablespoon sugar

Step one:
Take limes and cut in half. Then cut the ends so the limes can stand upright like little cups (be careful not to cut too far into to the white part since you're putting liquid in these babies). Juice, then scoop out all the pulp and pith. Set lime cups aside.

Step two:
Bring the limeade to a boil with the added juice from the limes. Pour hot liquid over the gelatin and sugar and stir until dissolved, about 2 minutes of stirring. DO NOT add the cachaça to the boiling liquid or you’ll cook the magic out.

Step three:
Add the chilled cachaça and stir. You can add more cachaça and less limeade but stick to the overall liquid measurements so your gelatin sets. One cup of liquid per gelatin envelope. Pour into the lime cups and refrigerate.

Step four:
Cut the halves into two wedges. You can cut some of the rind so it’s not sticking out if you didn’t pour enough liquid into the cup.

Step five (optional):
I garnished my shots with green sugar from Wilton. As I mentioned above, I love the leftover sugar at the bottom of a caipirinha and the added garnish gives the shot that same texture.

You can also substitute the Santa Cruz Limeade for another juice, like passion fruit or strawberry nectar and pour into clear shot glasses. In Brazil, there are caipirinha menus with varieties like pitanga and tamarindo. Experiment and you’ll find your favorite.

Beijo, amores!

The First Post - Meu Lugar

Though the title of this post is the name of a famous song by Arlindo Cruz wherein he sings about his neighborhood in the Zona Norte of Rio de Janeiro, it also represents what Brazil means to me. ‘Meu lugar’ means ‘my place.’ Brazil is my place. It’s not where I was born, nor is it where I was raised. In fact, I was already 28 the first time I set foot on Brazilian soil. Without getting too dramatic, it’s the place where I feel the most musical and thus, the happiest, the most comfortable and the most myself.

I often think of my life in two parts. There’s the part before Brazil and the part after Brazil. Eight years ago, I made what would be a life-changing trip to Rio de Janeiro. But my love of Brasa started way before my first visit. In fact, I can’t pinpoint exactly when or where it started because I honestly can’t remember a time when Brazil didn't influence some aspect of my life.

In addition to Jorge Negrete and Javier Solis, my parents played Walter Wanderley records when I was a kid. I still have an Olodum CD that my dad gave me in the early 1990's. My first Portuguese class was in 1996. I sang my first bossa nova in Portuguese in 1997. My first planned trip to Brazil in June of 1999 ended up being cancelled because I had to start a grad school summer program. Maybe destiny knew I wasn't ready to commit so much to one country just yet.

They say all travel changes you, even in minuscule or fleeting ways. I know I drink more coffee when I come back from Mexico or Italy but that influence usually fades as I settle back into my American ways. But Brazil is different.

In the eight years since I visited Brazil for the first time, I became a working samba musician. I became a student of Brazilian percussion. I developed a love of cooking. I have made many interesting friends, some of whom will make it into the pages of this blog. And this year with a little luck, I’ll be releasing my first CD of Brazilian music. Brazil has given me so much. This blog is my attempt to capture it all.

And I'm not alone. I've met so many people who have been put under the Brasa spell, too -- non-Brazilian friends who get regular shipments of Brazilian CDs, who have Café Pilão in their cupboards and who know more Portuguese slang than the average Brazilian expat. This blog is for them, too.

Te Amo, Brasa!

Photo: June, 2005. The view from the plane as I descended over Rio for the first time.