Cuscuz in Brazil is not the same as couscous in the United States. The US box is tiny steamed wheat. This plate is northeastern steamed flaky corn (cuscuz nordestino) with sun-dried salted beef (carne de sol) off the fire. That is how cuscuz shows up at a Northeast barbecue. Grilling cheese (queijo coalho; halloumi is the US stand-in) sits next to it.
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Steam the corn first: northeastern flaky corn (cuscuz nordestino). The meat method is here: carne de sol on the fire. If you cannot buy a pack, make it in the fridge: how to make sun-dried salted beef (carne de sol). Leftover grilled steak works on the plate if you have no carne de sol.
Ingredients (4 plates)
- 2 cups (about 240 g) flocão de milho, the flaky corn sold for Brazilian cuscuz, not polenta and not the wheat couscous sold in the US
- 1 cup (240 ml) water
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) fine salt
- 1 1/2 lb (700 g) sun-dried salted beef (carne de sol), soaked if it tastes like a salt block
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) bottled Brazilian butter (manteiga de garrafa), or melted salted butter
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped cheiro-verde (parsley and green onion)
- Optional: 8 oz (225 g) grilling cheese (queijo coalho), or halloumi, rinsed, with no extra salt
The cuscuz
Mix flocão and salt. Add the water until it feels like wet sand. Rest 10 minutes. Keep it loose in the steamer. Steam 10 to 15 minutes after the water boils, in a cuscuzeira or a colander over a pot, covered. Fork it. Spoon some of the butter over while it is hot.
The meat on the fire
Pat the carne de sol dry. The meat is already salted, so skip extra coarse salt (sal grosso). Brush with the rest of the butter. Sit it 30–40 cm (12–16 in) from the embers, not on a close grate. Medium embers, 8 to 15 minutes, until the edges brown and the inside is hot. Cook the onion in a pan with a little of the same butter until soft. Slice the meat thin.
If you add queijo coalho, hold it 20–30 cm (8–12 in) from the embers and pull it before it slumps. The cheese post is grilled Brazilian cheese (queijo coalho).
The plate
Cuscuz down first. Meat and onion on top. Cheiro-verde last. Cheese on the side while it is still hot. This is the starch next to the fire.
What to buy
Flocão is the corn. Carne de sol is the meat. The usual mid is the one to get first in each row.
Flocão de milho
- Low: Yoki Kimilho flocão de milho — the flaked corn this cuscuz is made from.
- Usual mid: Yoki flocão de milho from a Brazilian grocer — same bag, usually fresher and cheaper.
- High: Yoki flocão de milho, the larger bag — same flour when you make this every week.
Carne de sol
- Low: Homemade carne de sol from the fridge cure — the method on this site if you cannot buy a pack.
- Usual mid: Vacuum-packed carne de sol from a Brazilian or Latin market — the usual buy.
- High: The same pack from a Brazilian butcher, cut thicker for the fire.
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