Brazilian Feijoada

A national comfort food

Feijoada is often called Brazil's national dish. Its name comes from feijão, bean, and at heart it is black beans slowly simmered with an assortment of pork and beef until the broth turns thick, dark and smoky. In Rio de Janeiro, feijoada is a Saturday institution: long, lazy lunches with family and friends, often with live samba, that stretch well into the afternoon.

Restaurants in Rio and São Paulo traditionally serve feijoada on Wednesdays and Saturdays, often as a buffet where diners pick their favorite cuts from separate pots. It is a slow meal by design. The beans and meats are rich and filling, so many Brazilians plan for a long rest afterward. The dish is also a fixture at parties and family gatherings, where a huge pot can feed a crowd for a whole afternoon.

Where it really comes from

A popular story says feijoada was invented by enslaved Africans using cuts discarded by their masters. Many food historians now doubt this. They point to the stews of Portugal, such as cozido and the bean stews of the north of the country, as the model, and note that cuts like ears and trotters were valued in Portuguese cooking. African and Indigenous influences clearly shaped Brazilian food, but feijoada as we know it took form in nineteenth-century Brazilian homes and restaurants, especially in Rio.

Light and full versions

A full feijoada completa can include salted pork ribs, smoked sausage, bacon, carne seca (salted dried beef), pork loin, and traditional extras like ears, tails and feet. Simpler home versions keep to sausage, ribs and bacon. In Bahia, a related dish uses red or brown beans, and Portugal has its own feijoada with white or red beans. Vegetarian feijoadas with smoked tofu or mushrooms are increasingly common.

How to serve it

Serve the beans and meats with white rice, finely shredded collard greens sautéed in garlic, farofa (manioc flour toasted in butter with onion and bacon), and slices of orange, which brighten the rich stew. A caipirinha is the classic drink.

Many cooks prepare the beans a day ahead, because like most stews feijoada improves overnight. Leftovers often become tutu, a thick bean purée mixed with manioc flour, or a hearty soup the next day.

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