Brazilian Cocktail Party, Part 2 Quick! What's the most common ingredient in the tasty appetizers we'll be serving at our Thursday, December 3rd festa, first event in our series exploring immigrant food traditions? -Caipirinha or tropical juice spritzer -Farofa de carne seca, sautéed manioc flour with Brazilian cured beef -Pão de queijo, cheese and manioc rolls -Canjiquinha, creamy corn soup with pork -Mandioca frita com lingüiça calabresa, deep-fried manioc with Brazilian sausage -Bolinho de bacalhau, codfish balls -Empadinha de palmito, heart of palm turnover -Empadinha de camarão, shrimp turnover -Orange slices and vegetable sticks -Molho and piri piri, hot sauces -Brazilian pastries Gold star if you said manioc, also called yuca or cassava. The starchy tuber is Brazil's major contribution to the world food basket—it originated in the Amazon—and one of its most important staples. Our party menu pays homage to manioc three ways: as crunchy, toasted farofa, as the silky-textured base for bread and as a crisp-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside home fry. Here, Nazare and Washington, two of our volunteer cooks, show me how to make pão de queijo with sour starch, fermented manioc starch.
Please join us for a culinary trip to Brazil this Thursday, December 3rd at the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS), our host and partner for the event. Proceeds will be donated to their AIDS/HIV Prevention & Education Program.
Brazilian Cocktail Party, Part 1 This December Slow Food Boston is kicking off a series exploring the food traditions of local immigrant groups. First stop: Brazil! Nazare and Washington—two of the volunteer cooks for our upcoming festa—and I are here at Casa de Carnes Solução, a Brazilian butcher shop on Bow St. in Somerville. We're shopping for the ingredients for pão de queijo, rolls made from manioc and cheese from Minas Gerais, region of origin for most of Massachusetts' estimated 75,000 to 230,000 Brazilians. Let's take a look inside!
