Preparation / Directions:
The day before, wash and pick over the beans. Cover with cold water and soak for 1 hour. Soak the dried beef, Canadian bacon, and spareribs for 12 hours, each separately. The next day, put the beans in a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients. A stockpot or lobster pot works well. Cover them with fresh water and cook them over low heat for about 1 1/2 hours. Add water as needed to keep the beans covered and stir occasionally so that they do not stick or burn. When the beans are tender, set aside 1/4 cup to add to the chili and lemon sauce just before serving. Drain the dried beef. Cover it with cold water and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the meat is fork-tender, about 1 hour. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1 inch strips and set aside. Cover the tongue with cold water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Add water as necessary to keep the meat covered. When it is tender, remove the tongue from the water and allow to cool. Then remove the skin, fat and gristle and set aside.
Drain the Canadian bacon and the spareribs, cover with fresh water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes. Drain the meats and set aside. Place all the meats, except the fresh pork sausage, in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the meats are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Add water as necessary. Drain all the meats. Add them to the beans. Add the fresh sausage. Simmer until the meats are very tender and the beans are mushy. Season with salt and pepper as desired but be sure to taste first as cured meats add a lot of salt to the pot. Feijoada may be made up to this point the day before and refrigerated. On the day it is to be served, bring it to room temperature and re-heat it slowly, allowing enough time for the meats to heat all the way through. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Sauté the onions, garlic, tomatoes and the crushed chili pepper in the oil until the onions are soft. Remove about 2 cups of beans from the pot and mash them with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. Mix them with the sautéed vegetables and the chopped parsley and then add the combined mixture back to the bean pot. Stir well. Simmer the entire feijoada for 30 minutes. Correct the seasoning.
To serve, separate the meats from the beans. Slice each type of meat, so that every guest can taste a piece, however small. On a large platter, arrange the slices of fresh meats on one side, the cured meats on the other, and the tongue down the middle. Ladle a small quantity of the bean liquid over the meats, just enough to moisten them slightly. The beans, because they are rather soupy, should be served from a tureen or deep casserole dish. Arrange the side dishes separately around the meat platter and the dish of beans.
This recipe calls for all the traditional meats except the pig's tail and four ears. I do not believe the dish will suffer from their omission. (however, if you choose to include pig's ears and tail, treat them as follows. Soak four pig's ears and one tail in slightly salted water for two days. Keep refrigerated. Then add the ears and tail to a large pan of fresh water and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for ten minutes. Remove the ears and tail and add them to the bean pot after the beans have cooked for one and a half hours. There should be a selection of both fresh and smoked meats, but substitutions and subtractions are acceptable.
Even in Brazil, the cooks make choices. Ingredients also vary in different parts of the country. The smoked tongue is essential and so is the dried beef. The tongue is important to the ritual presentation that varies a little from recipe to recipe, from time to time, or from place to placed. Although feijoada is first mentioned as late as the nineteenth century and is said to have originated in Rio, most culinary scholars agree that its roots are African. The name, however, comes from the word feijao, Portuguese for bean. BY the day before, wash and pick over the beans. Cover with cold water and soak for 1 hour. Soak the dried beef, Canadian bacon, and spareribs for 12 hours, each separately. The next day, put the beans in a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients. A stockpot or lobster pot works well. Cover them with fresh water and cook them over low heat for about 1 1/2 hours. Add water as needed to keep the beans covered and stir occasionally so that they do not stick or burn. When the beans are tender, set aside 1/4 cup to add to the chili and lemon sauce just before serving. Drain the dried beef. Cover it with cold water and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the meat is fork-tender, about 1 hour. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1 inch strips and set aside. Cover the tongue with cold water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Add water as necessary to keep the meat covered. When it is tender, remove the tongue from the water and allow to cool. Then remove the skin, fat and gristle and set aside.
Drain the Canadian bacon and the spareribs, cover with fresh water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes. Drain the meats and set aside. Place all the meats, except the fresh pork sausage, in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the meats are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Add water as necessary. Drain all the meats. Add them to the beans. Add the fresh sausage. Simmer until the meats are very tender and the beans are mushy. Season with salt and pepper as desired but be sure to taste first as cured meats add a lot of salt to the pot. Feijoada may be made up to this point the day before and refrigerated. On the day it is to be served, bring it to room temperature and re-heat it slowly, allowing enough time for the meats to heat all the way through. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Sauté the onions, garlic, tomatoes and the crushed chili pepper in the oil until the onions are soft. Remove about 2 cups of beans from the pot and mash them with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. Mix them with the side dishes: sliced oranges. Chili and lemon sauced fresh onion rings Latin American white rice kale greens mineira style, spinach or chard may be substituted toasted manioc (yucca, tapioca) with butt
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