Japanese/Paulista cooking

[piazzola]

Often wondered about this type of cooking suddenly discovered some websites in Brazilian which are an eye opener of the large japanes Brazilian community in Sao Paulo.

Does anyone have recipes or knowledge to share.

thank you

[Chris Amirault]

What have you found out there? Can you share it with us?

[piazzola]

Yes ATM no easy answer since the main language is Brazilian which is a problem for this forum

So unless I get some English links I won't bother making NY further postings or comments

[Hector]

Yes ATM no easy answer since the main language is Brazilian which is a problem for this forum

So unless I get some English links I won't bother making NY further postings or comments

←

Can't you post them? I think several people here can make sense of the culinary jargon of Portuguese.

[Silly Disciple]

Indeed there's a very large Japanese community in Sao Paulo, mainly in the Liberdade Neighbourhood. There's a restaurant there called Kinoshita which is excellent, I've posted about it before.

There's also a Japanese Immigration Museum in Sao Paulo, it might be a good source for further information.

[lakland]

Hi all!!! Greetings from Brazil!

Here in Brazil we have the largest Japanese concentration outside Japan (me included!).

Nowadays we can find most of the ingredients found in Japan and in the U.S. However, though we have some excellent chefs, I find that the food is not comparable to what we see in the States, for example. By that I mean the top Japanese restaurants, American and Brazilian, side by side. Bad places on the other hand are quite ubiquitous.

Sushi for example: finding a good piece of blue fin tuna is virtually impossible here.

When I first arrived here from California I got pretty frustrated when people told me that my sushi was bad: they were used to cold sushi rice (I mean really COLD) and back then my sushi was always prepared with warm rice. Another guy even complained and told me that I was doing wrong cause sashimi slices were too thick (he was used to paper-thin slices of salmon-sashimi and thought of it as the REAL sashimi).

Just my 2 cents,

eduardo

[johnnyd]

Greetings Eduardo! Welcome to eGullet!

That was very interesting news indeed. I myself lived in Brasil for a few years as a young man and remember the large Japanese concentration but saw little, if any, references to their food preferences. A japanese/brasilian classmate of mine ate rice and beans like the rest of us.

I love your story about your new friends telling you you're making your sushi all wrong - one of those endearing things about folks in Brasil! I am surprised that you can't find bluefin tuna. Maybe it's so rare now that getting it there is not an option at any price?

If there are some favorite places of yours that have websites, post them here when you get a chance. We are all curious!

[lakland]

Thanks a lot Johnnyd! This forum is THE coolest thing about food on the net!

Where did you live here in Brazil? São Paulo?

I believe most people in the U.S have heard about the "churrascarias"...If you guys have no idea whatsoever what this is all about, think of it as a huge bbq meat orgy! You just sit at the table and have no need to order anything except drinks: the waiters then start coming to your table with huge skewers shaped like swords with several kinds of different cuts of bbq beef, chicken, sausage, lamb, fish, pork and you name it... all you can eat!

Oh! And I love it!

BTW , nowadays they have sushi too... But, being a sushi-chef myself, i haven't been bold enough to try any of that crappy kind of sushi yet...

Here comes another story: soon after I arrived back here I realized that most Brazilians had no idea about the difference between Japanese and Chinese food... Once a customer tried to order some sort of Chinese-American Chop Suey at my sushi-bar... Though I got furious on the inside, I tried to calm down myself and explained him that we were a Japanese restaurant. After that I believe he ordered some Yakisoba or anything that was closer to Chinese food. The same kind of situation repeated itself over and over.

Then I decided to open an ASIAN restaurant!!! Since most people don't know the difference... oh ! Whatever! Though I was trained as a sushi-chef we now serve both Japanese and Chinese food... I agree that our Chinese is not very authentic but I've been planning to take the Asian Culinary Arts Program in Vancouver, BC in a few months...THis way I hope we'll grow out of just Kun Pao Chicken and Chow Fan!

Answering your question, apparently bluefin tuna doesn't come to these waters... I have never seen it here.

Cheers,

eduardo

Edited June 22, 2007 by lakland (log)

[johnnyd]

Ola chef!

Yes I lived in São Paulo, Santo Amaro. A long time ago when things were politically difficult (70s). My dad was in advertising. My mom was born in São Vicente.

We had chances to explore the coast between Guaruja and Ilha Bela and Ubatuba. Back then you had to drive on the beach at low tide to get to little villages where they would set up big churrascarias serving tasty pork loin and beef of all kinds during the seemingly endless round of religious holidays. Any excuse for a party!

There is much discussion on the US forum about brasilian churrascarias that have been set up nationwide. Some are working well and others not so well. I'll send links to those conversations when I find them.

The challenge you face must be truly awesome. When you can, tell us more about your work at the restaurant. For example, if BlueFin is unavailable, how about YellowFin tuna? What other seafood products are offered on the menu? I remember huge langostine-type creatures and fish that are unheard of here in the Northern Hemisphere. Have you taken advantage of those?

Glad you found us. Do you have a camera? You may post pictures here. I will gladly help you make that happen when you have the time.

Abraços!

edit to add: There are a lot of cachaça fans here too! Click here for a couple caipirinhas I made.

[lakland]

Hey JohnnyD!

Wow! You did a truly amazing job fixing some feijoada! My mouth was watering indeed! I'm not sure if you can remember but most places serve feijoada twice a week: wednesdays and saturdays... Though I love it, I believe the high consumption of feijoada is one of the reasons we still are a third-world country! Let me explain with a question: Can you work after a hearty full size feijoada with all the works (torresmo which is deep fried pork rind-chicharrones, farofa, couve-manteiga, bisteca, caipirinha etc)??? I can't...Every time I have some feijoada I call in sick... Fortunately I'm my own boss otherwise I would have been fired long ago!

So your mom was from São Vicente? Interesting... It was the first city I lived in since I came back 6 years ago. Back then I was doing some missionary work with some guys from California and working at some sushi places.

Regarding seafood and fish, there are some different species here. IMHO I don't like the fish here compared to what we have in the U.S. or to what is available in Japan. Despite the fact we have a huge coast, fish is not so abundant and quality not as good. For example: I was used to serve very nice halibut in the States, usuzukuri style. Very thin, almost transparent slices but with firm flesh. First time I got some halibut here I thought it was spoiled cause the flesh was very soft and mushy... slices would fall apart for usuzukuri. Then I took the fish back to the place where I bought it and complained about the quality. The owner of the place thought I was insane or something like that...Later I learned that fish from warm waters are completely different from the ones from cold waters...

Tuna is so so... I was told the best yellowfin tuna is exported to...guess where??? The U.S. Well, this is globalization!

Nowadays I'm very much into Chinese food... As I said earlier, I'm very excited to go to Vancouver to take a culinary arts program on Cantonese food! Yum! Isn't it ironic for a guy that would get mad when someone would order chop-suey???

Abração! (big hug)

eduardo