Le Peche

yea abra, the way that i've seen pork prepared in feijoada has been in the form of linguica sliced on a bias into rounds.. jowl, ears, trotters (bone in), and large dice sized pieces of shoulder and belly. that doesn't go to say the other parts can't be used to make a feijoada but i don't recall ever seeing pork chops or a tenderloin cut into it.

helenjp, I'm not sure what size of beans you have but if it looks anything as small as a lentil thats probably too small.. but then again i dont think i would want to eat a feijoada with something as big as pento beans or fava.. so i guess somewhere inbetween. a good size black turtle bean is the one in the pot in the top left of this picture.

the black bean used in a traditional feijoada is the 'turtle bean'.. it's sometimes called 'mexican bean' or 'spanish bean' but i wouldn't trust those other names because ive also seen kidney beans or pento beans named that way. black turtle beans are your best bet. and wesza, the recipe you described im sure it is a delicious bean stew, it's not a feijoada at all. the point of a feijoada is that it is a dish that the very poor can make on almost no money, so i dont think they can afford to buy wine or paprika or other imported goods when they live in the ghettos. i think there may be some differences by region as Lilija mentioned but I am from the northeast of Brazil town called Recife.

well.. being brazilian, i think i have something to say about this dish.. the iconic dish of my country. feijoada isn't like refried beans, like ive seen a few times in the US. it is more like a cassoulet. it is made only with black beans, anything else is not a feijoada to me. and while a cassoulet can be made with duck, pork, lamb, etc. the feijoada is made only with pork. although in the poorer regions of brazil they use only the offal and cheaper parts of the pig, i think almost all feijoadas include linguica which is a portugese sausage similar to chorizo (the raw kind, not cured). what are you thinking of serving with your feijoada? perhaps a metal circle tower of crab and avocado? or serving it by itself? no! the only way to eat feijoada is with farofa and white rice! farofa is ground cassava root, cooked with butter until toasted and slightly nutty. it is similar to a gremolata from italy usually served with osso buco but made with cassava root instead of breadcrumbs. my personal favorite way to prepare farofa is to mix it with butter, herbs and scrambled eggs. very typical way. something else typical to go along with your feijoada is 'vinagrette' which is not what the rest of the world things a vinaigrette is. in brazil it means small diced tomato, white onion, and peppers, with white wine vinager and water i believe.. something like a salsa. also alongside the plate add orange slices and collard greens. i love feijoada, thanks for starting this topic! ps: don't forget to enjoy it with a delicious and refreshing caipirinha!

i second the recommendation made earlier about alex atalas cook book, 'Por uma gastronomia Brasieira'. i don't think its currently available on amazon but you can buy it from his website at domrestaurant.com.br, but it is in portugese.

first order of business, get out of le marais and experience the real paris!

in Sao Paulo try restaurant D.O.M. (domrestaurant.com.br) it has won just about every brazilian food award and was voted #38 restaurant in the world in 2007. chef Alex Atala is doing some really great food with the indigenous fruits and vegetables of the amazon and other regions of brazil.

dug up a little info today during work for you, UE. Rob says he wants to introduce a build your own pizza style to the menu, something like three different sauces, different types of cheezes and toppings to choose from. im not sure if there will be a choice in crusts. he is still going to have the signature pizzas, i am pretty sure a few of them will change though. I think he is going to put an anchovy pizza, im excited for that because its my favorite pizza topping. No word as of yet as to when this will come into action, but all i can say is.. soon. ps, i dont know if you've tried the gorgonzola potato radicchio pizza but thats my favorite right now, it's great.

I'm a cook at 1924 main, pizza bella is one of our restaurants and i am pretty sure that the menu has changed since opening. I just see that they still haven't updated the websites menu. I'll ask about that.

along the lines of raw cheese but.. real creme fraiche.. not 'sour cream' or the crappy pasteurized creme fraice that we get in the US. foie gras is pretty common in the US, you can pretty much find it at most high end restaurants.. you could do a rabbit rillette to serve with crackers, im sure people dont eat it that often and its deliciously french.

just to update everyone on the situation of the school. I am enrolled to start in September '08 at Ferrandi for cuisine. the program has changed a bit, it's been shortened to about 5 months of class instead of 9 or so that it was before but the 3 month internship remains. here is an email that i received from their anglo recruiting director: "We have shortened the course basically at the request of many of our students who find 9 months of courses followed by 3 months of internship is too long, considering the cost of living in Paris. The program which will cover 19 very intensive weeks of between 35 and 39 hours a week will follow the same direction as the 9 month course. These 19 weeks will be followed by the 3 month stage. We will probably be cutting out some of the subjects such as history and geography of France, there will be fewer regional courses, perhaps a few fewer wine classes, but these will still be included. On the other hand we are putting a real emphasis on training for the restaurant kitchen - and real life, hands-on experience in the kitchen during restaurant service. This will become a training program aimed for the person who wants to become a restaurant or catering chef - not just the food-lover who wants to learn to cook to, for example, teach, or to become a journalist or cookbook author. Thus we need highly motivated candidates. By the way, the price of the program will be less - due to the shorter length. The price for the coming year of 19 weeks in school plus 3 months in an internship and all of the uniforms, books, documents, knife kit and lunch daily will be 15,000 euros." as far as i know it still gives you a chance to get the chamber of commerce exam and license so that you can work in paris afterwards which is the biggest draw for me. hope that helps someone considering the school and feel free to ask questions if you have any.

natal is a great town. i've eaten at some great japanese restaurants there, don't recall the name though. in towns in the north east of Brazil it's always a great call to head to the beach, drive around until you see a shack-like restaurant and stop by. remember though, in Brazil people eat big meals at lunch and usually a sandwich or so at dinner so go during lunch time for the real experience.