Brazzil

As an American who has traveled to Brasil many times, Churrascaria or Rodizio is a mind blowing affair..The places in Rio Ive been to were fantastic but not that inexpensive.. Marios in Lemme was the best i encountered. I also ate at a place in my ex wifes small city of Araraquara in which I took her entire family out for dinner. We ate and drank all night long and the bill for 20 people was less than $200 US Dollars. Doesnt get any better than that.
There is also a place in New York City which I frequent called Churrascaria Plataforma. It's become a popular place among the Wall Street crowd. Its as good as any in Brasil.

The key is to not fill up on the salad bar which isnt that easy to do. Leave room for the beef!!!!

Ate Mais,

James H

Great article on Rodizio. I lived in Porto Alegre (Churrasco capital of Brazil) for several years and travel there monthly for my business. Your article did a great job of highliting some of differences between the US/UK and Brazilian styles of barbecue (quantity and variety of food) but you left out one of the most important differences - the actual cooking techinque. In typical American (and Argentine) barbecue, individual portions of meat are grilled directly over a bed of coals, or shamefully gas grills, at very high temperatures and ready within minutes of being thrown on the grill. The Brazilians skewer much larger cuts on enormous spits and roast the meat at lower temperatures for much longer periods of time. The only seasoning is rock salt typically rubbed on after the meat has warmed over the natural wood coals, or carvao. Also, it is common to cook a wide variety of other foods on the espeto such as vegetables, garlic bread, pineapples, etc.

My most memorable churrasco experiences were not at the Rodizios but rather in private homes and apartments, where friends and families would gather for all day parties and the food would come off the churrasqueira from early afternoon to well into the evening - along with copious amounts of beer, caipirinhas, and even wine, now that wine has finally gained some respect/trendiness in the Brazilian middle-upper class. In Porto Alegre, one of the first questions when renting or buying a new apartment or house is "where is the churrasqueira"? It is a matter of pride for the Brazilian men, at least from Porto Alegre, to be experts in making churrasco. Since I had a built in churrasqueira right of the bar/living room area of my apartment, I pretty much made it every night I was home. Eventually I even won grudging respect from my Gaucho friends who remain convinced that Americans don't know the first thing about how to do a proper barbecue. I tend to agree with them.

Having lived in northeastern Brazil for 5 years I can add that the southern-born barbecue craze has spread and entrenched itself as part of nordestino culture as well. Many barbecue restaurants in the northeast are actually run by gaúchos who try to recreate a typical southern ambience by offering chá maté, a piping hot herbal tea that is served in a gourd shell with a silver straw. Cheese, such as queijo mineiro, as well as lingüiça and even ox kidneys are often barbecued too. The beaches in the northeast also barbecue small fish known as "ginga", although they are usually cooked as "churrasquinho", or on small wooden skewers, rather than on the metal sword-like skewers used in barbecue pits. Finally, since the northeast is generally a lot warmer than places like São Paulo or Porto Alegre, many people prefer to drink ice-cold beer with their barbecue rather than wine or hot tea. Of course if you drink beer with your barbecue you need to pace yourself more than ever, though, since beer can be very filling.

I've been living in Sao Paulo for five years now, and my Brazilian family and friends adore the wings - with great preference to the "assinhas" (the 2nd segment of the wing with two bones inside) over the "coxinhas" (the other part). Of course, picanha is number one, but at our table "assinhas" are often the 2nd most popular item served. Guess it depends more on the personal tastes of your group.

Great article, though!

Yes, wings and legs are really popular, but usually not at Rodizio....more at home churrascos.

Don’t tell me what’s popular. I’m saying that my Brazilian friends love eating wings at churrascrias.

The author wrote, “Yes, you'll get some prime chicken served with your rodízio, …, but as for wings, just forget them. … In Brazil we throw the things away… I may be exaggerating, …but the wings seem to be one of the last things on a lot of people's minds when chicken is around…”
I don’t know where the author eats his rodizio, but I too have been to a fair number of upscale churrascarias in Sao Paulo. Most serve wings, legs, thighs and hearts (not sure if that’s what he meant by “prime chicken”). From what I’ve seen, the espetos of wings are emptied a lot faster than any other cut offered.
It’s a silly point. Rodizio is all about the beef. I liked the article. Most of his facts were excellent. But generalizing that - in Brazil - wings are “the last things on … people's minds when chicken is around”, is clearly a reflection of the author’s distaste for them. From what I see, wings are really one of the most popular cuts served here.

My experience is in between yours and the author's. While wings are definitely not a throw-away, I don't think they're a favorite either. Maybe the wing espetos are emptied faster because there is less meat on them (ie, wings take up more space)... Poultrywise, I prefer hearts anytime.

Btw, rodízio has the more or less the same etimology as 'rotation', but 'rotating barbecue' would be a lousy translation.

Has anyone considered the word "rotisserie"? While a rotisserie is usually an oven or broiler equipped with a rotating spit on which meat cooks as it turns I can easily see this applied to a barbecue pit as well. This isn't too far off, I think.

Hamburgers and Hotdogs are NOT considered barbecue in America, they're considered "grilling". We also grill vegtables, we don't barbecue them. Your statement was a cheap shot against Americans, big suprise on this web site. There are 2 main types of barbecue in America, southern and mid-western. Being from The South I can tell you that our barbecue begins the day before, slowly smoking the pork (flames don't go near the meat) for at least 18 hours. After that the meat falls of the rib bone, no knives or forks needed. Before cooking the pork we use a "rub" consisting of herbs and spices. After cooking one can add sauce, although if done right sauce is not needed. I also might say that food in America is easily the best. There is a Fogo de Chao 15 min. from my house, as good as any churrascaria I visited in Rio or Sao Paulo. 5 min. away there's an authentic Japanese restaurant far better than any I visited in Liberdade S.P. And while we're talking barbecue, 10 min. away there's a Korean B-B-Q place that will give picanha a run for its money any day of the week. Furthermore do you know the two best places in the world to get Chinese food? New York and San Francisco-Any chef worth a damn leaves communist China behind.

kaushik@hth.bhel.co.in

Hi there,

I am from Calcutta and as great lover of football , I would like to accompany Brazialian football fans to germany during the forthcoming World Cup Football 2006 at Germany, for cheering our favourite team of Brazil.

I hope someone would respond to this from brazil and we can work out the modalities.

Looking forward eagerly for a response from Brazil or supporters of Brazil Worldwide.

with love,

Koushik Maitra
1449 Park View Apartments,
Sector 29, NOIDA

Mobile : +91 9810570331