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Authentic Brazilian feijoada (black bean stew)

Feijoada completa with black beans, pork, rice, collard greens and farofa

Feijoada is the Saturday black-bean pot: feijão preto (black beans) simmered with salted and smoked pork until the broth is thick and dark. Not a churrasco — the other Brazilian lunch people actually cook at home. A US butcher plus a Brazilian or Latin market can cover the meats. Collard greens work for couve, the usual Brazilian leaf.

Safety instructions

Simmer until the pork is tender and the sausage is cooked through. Leftovers go in the fridge the same day. Reheat until the pot bubbles.

At a glance

  • Region: Across Brazil. Rio made the restaurant plate famous. Home pots are everywhere.
  • Yield: this pot feeds 8 to 10
  • Time: soak the beans overnight. Simmer 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours the next day.
  • On the table: white rice, farofa, collard greens, orange slices, and a cold guaraná.

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What you are actually buying

The bean is feijão preto, ordinary dried black beans. A US supermarket bag is the right bean. Pinto is feijão carioca, the beige bean for another pot (feijão tropeiro).

The meat is mixed pork, salted and smoked, not one steak. A Brazilian shop may have paio (a smoked Brazilian pork sausage), linguiça calabresa (smoked red sausage), and Brazilian shop carne seca (dry salted beef for this pot). Full note: carne seca. If the Brazilian shop is empty, smoked ham hock works in this pot. A smoked piece keeps the broth from tasting like plain bean soup.

Ingredients (one pot, 8 to 10)

Beans and broth

  • 1 lb (450 g) dried black beans
  • Water to cover by 2 inches (5 cm) for the soak, then fresh water to cover by 2 inches (5 cm) for the simmer
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 large onion, minced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil or a spoon of the bacon fat
  • Black pepper
  • Fine salt only at the end. The meats are already salty.

Meats (Brazilian shop first, then the US stand-in)

  • 8 oz (225 g) carne seca, soaked in cold water 8 to 12 hours, water changed once. If the shop is empty, a smoked ham hock is the stand-in.
  • 12 oz (340 g) pork spare ribs or boneless pork shoulder, cut in large chunks
  • 6 oz (170 g) bacon or toucinho (pork fatback), in thick slices
  • 12 oz (340 g) Brazilian linguiça, or homemade garlic sausage. See homemade Brazilian linguiça and linguiça on the grill. If there is no linguiça, smoked pork sausage is the weaker stand-in.
  • 8 oz (225 g) paio (smoked Brazilian pork sausage) if the Brazilian shop has it. The pot still works without it.

Pig feet or ears are authentic when a butcher has them. They are optional. They are not required for this home pot.

On the table, not in the bean pot

  • White long-grain rice
  • Farinha de mandioca (dry cassava flour) for farofa. Julia is the named budget brand. Full cook: farofa and vinagrete
  • 1 bunch collard greens. Use this US leaf in place of couve from Brazil. Slice thin, fry in a little of the bacon fat with garlic.
  • 2 oranges, cut in wedges
  • Guaraná Antarctica, or water. Cafezinho after.

The night before

Pick over the beans. Cover with cold water by 2 inches (5 cm). Soak overnight. Cover the carne seca in a separate bowl of cold water. Change that water once. The sausage and bacon go in dry.

Method

  1. Drain the beans. Put them in a heavy pot with fresh water to cover by 2 inches (5 cm) and the bay leaves. Bring to a simmer.
  2. Drain the carne seca. Cut it into large pieces. Add it with the pork ribs or shoulder. Keep a gentle simmer, not a hard boil. Skim foam.
  3. In a skillet, render the bacon until it gives fat. Soften the onion in that fat, then the garlic for 30 seconds. Stir this into the beans.
  4. After about 1 1/2 hours, add the linguiça and the paio, whole or in big chunks. They should not cook the full time or they go dry.
  5. Simmer until the beans mash against the side of the pot and the pork is tender, usually 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours total. Add hot water if the pot gets thick too early. Smash a ladle of beans against the wall to thicken the broth.
  6. Taste. Add fine salt only if it needs it. Pepper. Rest 15 minutes off the heat.

The meats should be well past a raw center. This is a long simmer.

How you know it is done

The broth coats a spoon. The beans are whole, not soup. The pork pulls from the bone. The sausage is cooked through. If the pot is thin and gray, it needed more time, not more water at the end.

On the table

Rice in one bowl. Feijoada in another. Farofa on the side. Thin collard greens. Orange wedges to cut the fat. Serve it that way — rice, farofa, collards, orange — and skip American BBQ sauce or sour cream on this pot.

What to buy

Meat stays grocer and butcher until a tracking URL exists. The named pantry items below are the ones already wrapped. Full kit: What to buy.

Next cooks

Region: Across Brazil.

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