Feijoada: it takes 3 days and all you do is cut

It's hard for Brazil to make a bad meal. If you are following a recipe and getting the right ingredients you will quickly fall in love with Brazilian cuisine. Growing up I knew with certainty that Brazil had the best food. I could see my classmates' mouths water when I opened my lunch box in school. I can see it now too, when my friends reminisce about having their first Brigadeiros or friends attempting to make lemon/condensed milk popsicles.

Brazilian food is not a sandwich just for yourself, it is a meal meant to be shared. Today, I bring to you the ultimate Brazilian meal, Feijoada. A black bean stew with many types of meat served over rice, with couve (kale and bacon) and oranges.

The story of feijoada is straightforward, on par with the Brazilian cuisine culture of making everything just taste better. Feijoada comes from the word ‘Feijão’ which means beans. Beans are one of main ingredients of the Brazilian diet. With the addition of scrap meats thrown away by the Portuguese Colonizers, slaves would cook together the beans and meat. This heavy meal would give them the energy to keep working on the fields. Now we eat it and need hours to digest it.

Feijoada is not particularly my favourite. The atmosphere it creates is what signs me up to the days worth of prep. It’s impossible to make Feijoada for one. You can only eat it surrounded by my friends and family.

After moving to Canada, my mom has kept the tradition of bringing people together and having feijoada for lunch. She made the key mistake of making it during New Year's the first time my boyfriend visited. Months afterwards, the only thing I could hear was how much he wished he could have it again. Even more months went by and I caved and we hosted a Feijoada for our friends. The nagging didn't stop but again I caved and spent hours by the stove.

My first attempt at making feijoada. Pretty beautiful plate if I say so myself.

Last month, we officially started the yearly tradition of making Feijoada during Victoria Day weekend. Did I ever expect I would be making a yearly feijoada? No. Do I love hosting? Yes. Is it in my blood? Yes. So it was just meant to happen.

Second attempt looked more like a pile of mush

As I set up to make my first feijoada last year, I asked my mom for the recipe. This is probably the easiest recipe on paper and the most deceiving one. I will leave below the image my mom sent me.

Simple as just cutting

I saw this and I went easy! And then my mom added: “remember to soak the beans overnight, you need to let it boil all morning, you put this, this and this in this order.” That is when I realized I had been deceived! The instructions were not only to “cut”.

Based on my second attempt this year, I have learned that I need to start following the secret directions. Calling my mom to ask for the steps is part of the process and should be added to the recipe. This time around I overcooked my beans, and the chimichurri for seasoning was not great. The instructions might say just “cut” but in reality, it is more like “call your Mom to give you the right steps”.

Next year I am determined to make my best one yet! It's all about bringing our friends together, sharing a meal they enjoy and I can put on my Brazilian jersey with love and pride.

If you would like to try it, send me a message and I’ll put you on the list next year!

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