Last weekend Mrs Eat Rio and I were feeling a little too lazy to make lunch, so we decided to seek out somewhere new for sustenance. After some internet research and short bus ride, we found ourselves in a modest little bar called Boteco DOC which just opened in the neighbourhood of Cosme Velho.
The first signs were good – rather than the usual fridges full of BBB (Bad Brazilian Beer, i.e. Skol, Brahma, Antarctica), the walls were stacked with Cidade Imperial, a beer from Petropolis that actually has some flavour. My tentative hopes were further bolstered when I saw the menu: interesting sounding food, prices not too insane and not too much to choose from (unless it’s somewhere seriously good, I find menus with 200 options usually spell trouble).
By the time we left an hour and a half later we were satisfied and chattering madly about one item on the menu in particular. But before I get to that, let me quickly tell you about some of the other nice surprises. First of all, the drinks were good!
https://i0.wp.com/eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/boteco-doc.jpg?fit=595%2C395&ssl=1395595tomlemeshttps://eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/eat-rio-logo.pngtomlemes2013-08-15 13:35:532024-03-06 14:20:45Boteco DOC and a pão de queijo burger?
In Zona Norte, just to the east of Maracanã and just to the south of São Cristóvão lies the unremarkable neighbourhood of Praça da Bandeira. In the middle of of this neighbourhood is a street that in passing looks just like any other in the area, Rua Barão de Iguatemi. However, to foodophile Cariocas, this street is a bit special.
First of all you have Aconchego Carioca, a restaurant that was catapulted to fame (and fortune, no doubt) after it was championed by Rio’s resident French uber-chef, Claude Troisgros. It’s a cosy place (aconchego actually means ‘cosiness’ or ‘cuddle’ in Portuguese) and sells dozens of fancy beers and delicious main courses such as moqueca, but top of the list has to be the bolinhos de feijoada.
A meal in a bolinho – Black beans surround thinly cut couve and little pork/carne seca pieces. These were actually invented by the owner and are now imitated all over Brazil.
Some might say that Aconchego’s success has become a bit of a problem – the last few times I’ve wanted to go, there has been a 40-60 minute wait for a table. Luckily there are some other great options nearby!
The Brazilian drinks menu, just like its food counterpart, can hold some surprises (and the odd chuckle) for people new to Brazil. Today I thought I’d take a quick look at a few of the things that might not be immediately obvious to newcomers.
Hi-Fi
The Hi-Fi is one of the first items listed under the heading Coquetéis (Cocktails) on many drinks menus. When I first asked about this I was told it was a vodka and orange. “Isn’t that called a screwdriver?” I asked. Well in my opinion the answer is basically “yes, it’s the same drink”, though cocktail purists will tell you that a Screwdriver is made with real orange juice, whereas a Hi-Fi is made with ‘orange drink‘.
Vodka + orange = Hi-Fi = Screwdriver
Blood Mary
Staying in the cocktail section, most menus list the classic vodka, tomato and Worcestershire sauce cocktail as “Blood Mary” (instead of Bloody Mary). At first I wondered what had happened to the “y”, but then I heard a Brazilian say “Blood Mary” out loud – it sounds like Bludgee Mary. No need for the “y”! In fact the letters K, W and Y aren’t used in real Portuguese and were only added to the official alphabet in 2009 in order to be used in foreign words.
Gim Tônica
You don’t get much more English than a good Gin and Tonic do you? And Brazil’s climate is perfectly suited for this most refreshing drink! Here in Brazil however you will usually see it written as “Gim Tônica”. Again, the rules of Portuguese language are behind this spelling.
One ingredient that you’ll find on almost every Brazilian restaurant menu is Carne seca. When the menu includes English translations this is often translated literally as ‘dry meat’ – I can’t imagine many people would pick that from the menu! A better translation that you also see used is ‘Jerked Beef’. Before I got to Brazil I thought jerked beef was just beef jerky – dry, salty strips chewed by cowboys in the olden days.
Happily, since those early days I have been enlightened. Rather like that dubious story that Eskimos have 50 words for snow, so Brazilians have several terms for dried, salted meat. Not all the accounts I have found agree, but I will try to explain the differences between the main types.
Carne de Sol
Also known as Jabá, this is a speciality of Northeastern Brazil – a region that for most of the year is hot and very dry. Meat (usually beef) is salted and then dried over the space of a couple of days. Originally the drying process was carried out in the sun (hence then name ‘carne de sol’, which translates literally as ‘Sun Meat’), but today it is more commonly dried in a covered location as the drying process is driven mostly by exposure to wind and low humidity rather than sunshine.
The end result is meat with a dry, salty surface that protects the soft, succulent interior – the meat doesn’t require refrigeration and will keep for weeks. When it is ready to be used, the carne de sol is soaked in water for a few hours to reduce the levels of salt – then it is ready to be fried or stewed and used in a variety of classic Northeastern recipes.
Not to be confused with the peanut sweet of the same name, Paçoca (pa-SOCK-a) is a dish from the Northeast, made with shredded carne de sol, manioc flour and red onions and garlic.
Carne Seca
Carne Seca is common throughout South America where it goes by a variety of different names. Originally it was given the name charqui (sounds like ‘sharky’) by the Quechua people and referred to dried, salted llama meat. The word charqui is where the word ‘jerky’ comes from. Carne seca is more heavily salted than carne de sol and dried for longer.
The first time I saw carne seca I was in Bolivia and the meat was drying on a washing line next to laundry. As you can see on faces of my friends, we weren’t exactly filled with a desire to eat the stuff.
In my ongoing quest to learn Portuguese, there have been certain words and phrases that have proven difficult to pick up and use with confidence. A commonly cited ‘tricky’ Portuguese word is “saudade“, that profound feeling of wistful longing; sadness offset with a wan smile. But in my experience, although saudade is a tricky word to explain (see previous sentence), it’s an easy word to feel, to understand and therefore to use.
The words I find most tricky are the ones that have multiple meanings depending on context. Gírias (slang words) and Palavrões (swear words) are probably the main culprits.
One such word that I still find a little bamboozling is moleque (sounds like “mul-ECK-y”). The dictionary on my phone lists the following translations: (nouns) urchin, scoundrel, young person; (adjectives) mischievous, funny. Google Translate gives me 2 nouns: kid and imp.
