Feijoada – stew of beans and pork meat by Amilton Rotella
Ingredients
5kg black beans
3 salted ears
3 salted tails
4 salted trotters
5 salted snouts
1.5kg salted pork ribs
1.5kg fresh pork ribs
10 spicy Brazilian sausages
1.5kg of bacon
1.5kg smoked loin of pork
1kg fresh loin of pork
1.75kg of pork chops
10 onions
15 cloves of garlic
5 bay leaves
5 crushed chillies
Method
Despite all the usual warnings about never salting beans until after they are cooked Amilton Rotella chef of London's Amazonas restaurant not only soaks the beans and the salted meats together for 24 hours but then simply fishes out the meats and cooks the beans until soft in the soaking water that is left behind. Bear in mind that you may need to add more water - preferably boiling - as they cook.
Boil the salted meats separately for about half an hour and then slice very finely. Add to the beans.
Slice the sausages and bacon and fry in a little oil. Add to the beans and salted meats.
Chop the onions garlic bay leaves and chillies and fry until golden in some oil.
Slice the other meats and assemble everything in a large casserole pot. Cook slowly until all the meat is tender. This should take about five hours.
Feijoada is traditionally served with boiled rice stir-fried greens oranges and farofa - sun-dried ground cassava root fried in oil with garlic and onions.
by Amilton Rotella