231
Eleven short hours of flight and here we are this time in Brazil in São Paulo, the largest city in South America! On the program of our culinary journey, a typical Brazilian breakfast and dinner in a churrascaria with meat at will! A small tour in a supermarket then visit the municipal market…
So here we are this time in the center of São Paulo in a bakery! But you should know that a bakery (uma padaria) in Brazil is a place where bread and other pastries are sold, as well as cheese, ham, milk… So it’s a pretty broad concept! Let’s go to the one in Rua Luis Coelho, “Bella Paulista”! A “padaria” a little more sophisticated!
In general, in a classic bakery, the decor is simpler and you eat at the counter…
But we find the great classics, like these giant cheese breads (pão de queijo or pães de queijo in plural!)…
In the window of the counter, a really Brazilian specialty on which we will return largely by putting the recipe, the “coxinhas”! It is pronounced cochignia, and a “coxinha” literally means “little thigh”!
This is not necessarily very typical for breakfast but I couldn’t resist! All this with a great latte and a pão de queijo!
The coxinha is usually filled with chicken and the dough around it is made of wheat flour, or potatoes (like gnocchi) or even cassava! Then they are rolled in breadcrumbs and dipped in boiling oil!
And here are the “bolinhas de queijo”, the principle is the same as for the coxinhas, but they are smaller than these and are filled with cheese! A real treat!
Early enough in the morning on the biggest avenue of São Paulo, Paulista Avenue, here I am ready to consume a fresh fruit juice at “Banana Split”!
At the counter, you just have to ask and your wish will be fulfilled in a blender! The pressed paulistanos take their juice on the go!
The fruits are mostly fresh, because if you want a fruit juice that is not in season it will be a frozen fruit.
At 5 Reais a glass, I didn’t mind! On the left, a cashew fruit juice, and on the right a beet-orange-carrot juice!
When you think that in this Paulista avenue, there were until the 1950s, palaces that lined it, today only a few remain…
Small tour in a supermarket (pão de açúcar) with the fruit section which for us are of course exotic!
In the juice section, I couldn’t resist and had to leave with concentrates of my favorite juices, passion and cashew!
The dried meat department to make a delicious “feijoada”!
And of course the cachaça to make caipirinhas!
In the evening, meet with friends from São Paulo in a churrascaria! Whenever I go to Brazil, I pass at least once in these delicious restaurants!
The waiters pass one after the other with long skewers of deliciously grilled and salted meat! They cut them up in front of us for our greatest pleasure!
And of course there is a buffet for everything else. Lots of non-Brazilian things but there is still the farofa that I love!
And the black beans for the feijoada (the picture doesn’t give you the desire but it is so good!!)
The next day, we went to the center of the city and Ô surprise at the corner of a street, the chain of stores of cheese breads the “casa do pão de queijo”!
And here we are, finally, at the municipal market!
Inside the market is huge. It is filled with displays of fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses…
To begin the exploration of exotic fruits, here is a really delicious fruit, the ‘jabuticaba’ which grows directly on the trunk of its tree… It is used to make very good liqueurs and can be eaten as is!
There are also cocoa pods…
And other fruits of extraterrestrial origin! Even Brazilians admit they don’t know much about these fruits! It must be said that in this market, we find a lot of fruits of Amazonia…
And here is one of my favorites! The cashew fruit that makes an absolutely wonderful juice! When I first tasted this juice, I imagined that it was the juice of the cashew nut without imagining for a moment that there was a fruit underneath!
I find it amusing to see how fruit is arranged around the world! There is a big difference between the markets in Montreal, Seattle and São Paulo!
The mountain is formed by a sweet passion fruit… (maracujá doce) much sweeter than the classic passion fruit!
Of course I rushed to buy it for the snack!
The inside really looks like a fish egg pouch!!! But I really liked the taste and the juice!
You can also find a lot of places to have lunch and enjoy the day’s purchases!
In one of them you can find pasteis (‘um pastel’ in singular), which are composed of a kind of fried puff pastry filled with either chicken or cheese etc…
I tried the cheese and tomato one and I suggest you do the same! It’s hot and it’s very good!
You can also access the upper floor where there are several small restaurants…
One can easily spend more than an hour and a half in this market if one observes all the corners!
Here is another sweet that can also be found in Portugal, these are the ‘quidims’, small cakes with egg yolk, sugar and fresh coconut! Recipe in progress!
I really fell for this little fresh pasta vendor! She was really sweet. She makes all this lovely pasta herself!
Influenced by Portugal, Brazil also consumes a lot of ‘bacalhau’ or salted cod!
I found in a kitchen utensils stand in the market, this incredible small pot made of soapstone and copper, very used in the ‘minais gerais’.
And here is the famous cheese that is normally used for the pão de queijo, the ‘meia cura’!
Very appetizing sausages!
And pots of hearts of palm that have nothing to do with the hearts of palm found in France that I find really not good! These are delicious with a huge Brazilian avocado, just with a little olive oil and salt!
There was also a store in the market that only sells chili!
And hot sausage stands!
And finally to conclude, a store of dried fruits and vegetables…!
With the famous Brazil nuts!
