I was gonna post this earlier but a huge storm broke out and my internet started to act up and i ended up snoozing waiting the storm to end. Since i'm delivering the recipe two days late, i'll go through the typical accompaniments and how to make and plate them
So as a quick disclaimer, some ingredients might not be readily available for US/EU kiwis, so i did a little bit of google-fu to find suitable substitutions. They might not be the exact flavor profile, but close
Also, good feijoada is a multi layered preparation. I see lots of people, brazillians even, that'll just chuck it all together in the cauldron. Won't be bad, but won't be great. So you'll use a lot of pans doing this, as you'll sear assorted meats (with the dried one being the exception)
The ingredients, in bold are the ones that might be hard to find but i'll include the substitutions. This serves 15 people, as we make feijoada for gatherings (you can scale down the recipe for smaller portions of course but this is not the macaco way)
Ingredients:
1 kg black beans
1 kg pig feet (pork hock / ham hock), cut in smaller pieces for convenience
700 g pork rib
2 paio sausages (smoked kielbasa, andouille, or smoked sausage), quartered slices
1 linguiça calabresa sausage (Spanish chorizo (smoked, not fresh) or smoked kielbasa), quartered slices
500 g smoked pork ribs, cut into smaller pieces
400 g Carne seca (corned beef, salted beef, or soaked beef jerky), cut into smaller pieces
1 garlic head, finely chopped
Bay leaves
Pork lard
Salt (to taste)
You must first soak the beans overnight to remove phytates, so you don't feel bloated after eating. In the same manner, you should desalt carne seca (or its substitutes if needed)
First step (bean base)
You pressure cook the black beans alongside with the carne seca, this is the only protein that'll go with the beans to the pressure cooker. Add bayleaf before cooking
Second step (meats)
Get another pressure cooker, add lard and sauté garlic, then add the pig feet. They're harder, so that's why it's better to pressure cook them too. 15~20 minutes should be enough, this is the only protein you'll need to pressure cook. Reserve
In another pan, add lard and garlic, and sear the pork ribs. Add some water and let it cook for a while. 30 minutes should be enough. Reserve
In yet another pan, sear the sausages, you don't really need to add more fat to the pan, as they're fatty enough. Sauté just for color. Reserve
Still on the meat subjects, historically feijoada is a dish that uses many appendages on it. So it's very common to see recipes that'll use pigs' ears, snout, tail. I didn't include those but if you do, it'll be still a traditional way to make it. Lot's of people include diced bacon at this point, it's good for flavor but i think that makes it too fatty so i didn't include on this recipe
Third step (combining)
Now everything you gotta do is get a big cauldron or pot and combine the ingredients. First you'll get a little lard and you'll sautée more garlic until golden, and with a laddle you'll transfer your cooked beans to the pot so you combine with then. Then lower the heat, and dump all the beans and water into this cauldron, then add all the prepared meats to it
This step is similar to making ragu bolognese as everything is basically ready, you just need to let it simmer for a while to reduce the sauce and meld the flavors together. Your feijoada is at this point watery, so you'll need to let it reduce until it's thick (do not evaporate the liquids)
Accompaniments:
Feijoada is traditionally served with white long rice, collard greens, farofa and vinagrete, and orange slices on the side. I like french fries along with it as well
Rice: our rice is just regular long grain rice, no seasonings. Just sauté garlic and onions, then cook rice.
Collard greens satéed in olive oil and garlic (couve à mineira): thinly cut collards (blanche it first, we want it bright green), then sautée it in olive oil and garlic
Farofa: farofa is just toasted cassava flour. If cassava flour is hard for you to come by,
i've posted an alternative to it on this thread. Just sautée garlic on a little butter, and add cassava flour, mix and combine on low heat until you get a beach sand crunchy texture. Some people add fried bacon to it, if you want, just cut brunnoise and combine to it. If you want to add diced onions and/or green onions it's also a common option, but it must then be refrigerated later as it might spoil
Vinagrete (or molho à campanha): do not mistake for vinaigrette sauce. This is similar to mexican's pico de gallo:
1 tomato, finelly diced
1 onion, ditto
1 green and red bell pepper, ditto
Combine everything in a bowl, add olive oil, vinager, salt and pepper. Finish it with thinly chopped pasley
Bellow is how it should be plated
, though, since 1/3rd cup wasn't enough to hold the 'dillas together as well as I'd like, considering how much filling it wants. Still a great recipe though, and it turned out delicious.
