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A Nasty Food Surprise

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Yesterday I told you about the Sanduichão (better known as Torta Salgada Fria), an enormous, savoury, sandwich cake, often decorated with large amounts of mayonnaise and tomatoes that have been cut into pretty rose shapes. Looking at the comments I think it’s fair to say that the non-Brazilians who have tried it (been subjected to it?) did not like it. Too much mayonnaise was a common complaint. But of all the comments, the one that made me laugh the hardest (in a mean way) was Brasilicana’s:

I am permanently prejudiced against the Sanduichão because my first experience with one was traumatic. It was covered in mayo (without all the veggies on top) and it was dark at the party. I cut a big slice for myself, thinking it was cake, and imagine my surprise when I tasted corn, chicken, and lettuce. BLARGH!

 

Ahhhh, I know it’s not nice to laugh, but I can’t help it – I’m a bad person I guess. As well as making me laugh, Brasilicana’s story brought to mind all kinds of food-surprise memories.

It does look like cake doesn’t it? With the lighting low, I’m sure we’d all make the same mistake… (Thanks to Rebecca for the link).

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Churrasco

I Heart Churrasco

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Back in September I told you a little about the Churrasco, the Brazilian Barbecue. I was writing it coming off the back of our first ever churrasco held on our roof and I was still marvelling at the different way that they do it over here. The things that I was most struck by were the way the food was cooked so high above the coals, that the meat was so amazing, and the way that most of the meat was cut into small portions and shared amongst the group, enabling every to keep eating for hours…

Vegetarians look away now.

Well since that first barbecue, winter has turned into spring, and I’ve been to quite a few more churrascos. And recently I got to try something I had heard about but never tasted…

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Tasty Little Thighs

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Title got your attention didn’t it? Well sorry to disappoint, but the thighs I’m referring to belong to chickens. The word Coxinha [co-SHEEN-ya] means little thigh and this is the name of one of Brazil’s tastiest and most popular snacks.

The Portuguese word for snack, lanche [lansh], originated from the English ‘lunch’ but at some point lost the original meaning and came to mean any quick bite.  Dotted all over the city are lanchonetes [lan-shon-ETCHES] or snack bars and these are great places to grab something quick, tasty and satisfying.

The much-loved coxinha, found in almost every lanchonete in Rio.

 

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Coming up next on Dog TV – Chicken!

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About three months ago my wife and I moved into the top floor of a lovely house near the top of a steep hill in Santa Teresa, an artsy neighbourhood near downtown Rio. To be honest, it’s a little more than we can afford and walking up the hill is exhausting, but the beautiful view makes up for cutting back on a few luxuries and the achy legs.

A sight for sore legs – the view from our new house, situated where the neighbourhoods of Santa Teresa and Glória meet. You can see Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) and Guanabara Bay in the background.

 

Santa Teresa (or simply Santa as the locals say) is quite unlike most other Rio neighbourhoods, being a hilltop district with steep, windy roads lined with beautiful old buildings. In English we would describe the streets of Santa as “cobbled”, but here in Brazil they have a far more interesting word for the rough, rectangular stones: paralelepípedos. Try saying those seven syllables after a caipirinha or two!

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