PlanetEye

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

Caipirinhas and Cachaça, vol. 1

Brendan

The Global Nomad

Most countries have their own favourite classic cocktail—you know, the kind you’re likely to get offered at every turn. In Peru it’s a Pisco sour. In Cuba it’s the mojito. Probably the closest thing us Canadians have is the Bloody Caesar. (for those non Canadians out there, it’s a Bloody Mary with Clamato instead of tomato juice).

In the case of Brazil, it’s the ubiquitous Caipirinha. (kahee-pee-REE-nya) It seems that as soon as they’re stamped your passport you are offered one. Then another every 23 minutes after.

Like the original Cuban daiquiri, the caipirinha is the quintessential local drink for an (originally) sugar-based economy: sugar (grown locally), cachaca, made form sugar, and lime, grown down the road. That’s it.

The result is that caipirinhas are 1) pretty darned cheap, and 2) pretty friggin strong. Brazilians have a notoriously heavy pouring hand when it comes to the bottle, so if you plan to partake, make sure you don’t have any complex tasks to accomplish. Like breathing. Oh and stay away from heavy machinery.

So with no further ado, I bring you the real Brazilian Caipirinha:

2 ½ oz. (at least) cachaça
1 lime, cut into quarters, then crosswise
1-2 tablespoons sugar, depending on your taste

Instructions:

1) Put lime and sugar into a tall glass (or coconut, or whatever). Mash together with a wooden pestle (great souvenir BTW) or similar object.

2) Add cachaça, equal in amount to the lime juice.

3) Add ice and stir, or better yet, cover and shake.

Variations on the theme include Caipiroska – with vodka instead of Cachaça—plus any number of fruits instead of lime. Good luck!

• Posted in  Drinking, Eating, Partying
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Monday, April 14th, 2008

Churrasco – Brazil’s meat on a Stick

Brendan

The Global Nomad

Brazilians like their meat. Hands-down the best way to experience this is to join the force-feeding frenzy that is a Brazilian Churrasco. (Tip: don’t eat for several days beforehand.)

Churasco (chuh-HAS-ko), is a style of dining whereby an enormous barbecue with giant swords of rotating meat tries desperately to keep up with a room full of hungry patrons scarfing down flesh like their lives depended on it.

The way it works is simple: each diner is issued a small disc, one side of which is green and the other side red. To start the deluge, simply leave the disc in front of you with the green side up.

Likely the first thing that will happen is a waiter will bring a platter or cart with every imaginable tropical drink on it. Like a dessert tray, these are simply samples; just choose what you like and they will bring a fresh one (and if you haven’t yet, this might be a good time to try a caipirinha. More about that in another post.)

Next, a flood of random starch will quickly fill your table. Some of these may be familiar (french-fries, rice) and others may not (fried cassava, or the powdery farofa, also made with cassava flour). Although you may wonder if they are expecting a football team to join your table, these are just side dishes.

Then the meat. As long as your green light is showing, a constant stream of waiters wielding enormous swords of meat will stop by the table, brandishing giant knives and offering to slice off anything from chicken hearts to filet mignon. (This style of serving is called rodízio) The solid Brazilian fav is picanha (pi-KAN-ya), or rump steak—easy to recognise as it looks like a giant string of the letter “c” written in meat. Make sure to be ready with the little tongs issued with your cutlery—you use them to grab the end of the meat before it has been completely sliced off (the waiter will stop halfway to allow you to do this) so it doesn’t end up on the floor.

Once your distended belly has had enough, simply flip the disc to the red side (usually with something written on it that translates as “for the love of God, make it stop”) and you are done…or just taking a rest. As if this isn’t enough, many churrasco places also have a buffet table with everything from salad to sushi, and of course there is also a dessert cart.

Churrasco can be an affordable way to have a great feed, especially if you make it your main meal for the day. Be aware though, that they make much of their money on the extras, so that the reasonable all-you-can-eat price can double with a few beers plus desserts.

In Rio, Carretão (locations in Copacabana and Ipanema) is one of the most affordable (if more moderate quality) ways to experience the meaty madness.

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Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Fryjacks & Fritters - Culinary Belize

Brendan

The Global Nomad

When was the last time you saw a Belizean restaurant in a big international city? Yeah that’s what I thought.

Belize isn’t exactly known for its cuisine, and sometimes it seems like everything is deep fried. But there are some fun eats to be had, as long as you aren’t too fussy about presentation or trans-fat counts.

If you are lucky enough to be here during lobster season, cheap and plentiful lobster tops the list—for as little as ten bucks you can have a fresh lobster dinner; try it in everything from fritters (mmm) to tacos.

Speaking of fritters, conch fritters is my favourite way to have that most Caribbean of shellfish. If you aren’t familiar with the chewy meat from the shell made famous as an instrument, you can also find it in soups and stews, as well as fresh in ceviche, the Latin dish where seafood is chemically ‘cooked’ in a mix of lime juice, cilantro and other veggies like onion or peppers. (And it’s pronounced CON-k, at least here)

Of course, Belize is a world hot sauce superpower, and although food is usually not cooked spicy, hot sauce made with the regional habanero pepper (the hottest in the world) is a standard fixture on every restaurant table.

One of the least healthy but tastiest Belizean treats is fryjacks, essentially triangular fried bread served at breakfast, can also be stuffed with the rest of your breakfast—eggs, bacon, sausage all wrapped in dough and fried….mmmm. It’s no wonder Belizeans aren’t the slimmest of people.

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Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

Eating Like Local In… Costa Rica, Vol. 3

Brendan

The Global Nomad

The GlobalNomad’s top things to eat (that you might never try) in Costa Rica:

horchata. (or-CHA-ta) If you go to a Soda (see Dispatch #1) you may see two big liquid containers, one white and milky, the other a deep, watery red. Depending on how local you are it could be two jugs or two of those big slushy dispensers. The white one is horchata, a delicious, milky, sweet, rice-based drink, usually with a touch of cinnamon. I dream about this stuff….

Rosa de Jamaica. (ha-MY-ka) The Red one is Rosa de Jamaica, sometimes just “Jamaica,” a drink made from hibiscus flowers. It’s refreshing and tart, like cranberry juice, and supposed to be good for your memory

ceviche. (suh-VEE-chay) This one almost doesn’t need to be said, but some travellers are afraid of it because it’s technically raw seafood. Unfortunately, they’re missing out on possibly the best thing to eat in the region. Raw fish or seafood is marinated in lime juice so it ‘cooks,’ then mixed with lots of fresh cilantro, onions, peppers and whatever the chef likes. Lots of countries do ceviche well, but my favourite is the Costa Rican variety

yucca. (YOU-ka) aka cassava or manioc. A starchy root vegetable, it’s great as both chips (better and crunchier than potato chips) and fried like French fries—they are boiled first then fried. Dry unless you dip it in mayo! Delicious, but definitely unhealthy

churros. (make sure to roll your rrrrr) Speaking of unhealthy, Churros are a pan-latin thing and common in Spain as well. The latin answer to a doughnut, churros are just long, straight sticks of fresh fried dough, rolled in sugar. Sometimes cinnamon is added, or they are stuffed with chocolate, or…

dulce de leche. There are different names for this depending on where you are in Latin America (e.g. cajeta or manjar) but it’s all essentially the same: milk with so much sugar added that it makes a brown, caramel-like paste. Sold in buckets in any market, great in desserts. My girlfriend decided she loved me when I introduced her to it

anona. Also going by different names and variations (e.g. chirimoya), the fresh fruit of the custard apple tree is something you need to try. Messy and juicy, with big black seeds you don’t eat, only try to eat it where you would be ok eating pineapple—with lots of water around.

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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Eating Like a Local in… Costa Rica (Vol. 2)

Brendan

The Global Nomad

Driving through the towns and mountains of Costa Rica you are likely to be bombarded by mostly unrecognizable food options, first at stoplights, speed bumps or construction stops, and later as you inevitably pass scores of roadside stalls selling local products.

Some common (and delicious) options: sliced green mango (in season), dangled in little bags as cars slow down to pay the toll to exit San Jose. Toronja, candied grapefruit also sold in small clear bags, usually hanging above the counter of a country snack stop. Look for the dirty-looking dark orange ball. Cajeta, coconut cookies, and cocada, sweet coconut crackers.

One of my girlfriend Melanie’s favourites was queso palmito (see photo above), a fresh, young cheese sold in double-bagged, cream-coloured softball-sized balls. The cheese inside is wet and squeaky like cheese curd, and made up of one long ‘tape’ of cheese wrapped on itself to form a ball. Unravel it and you see where it gets its name—palmito is heart of palm, and like its namesake the cheese comes apart in long, stringy pieces.

Me, I love the unofficial snack of Central American chicken buses: plantain chips. The banana’s bigger, starchier cousin, sliced, fried crisp and doused in salt. They may look like banana chips, but they’re crunchier and not at all sweet. For some reason they taste better when cut lengthwise!

Buying from local stalls is also a great way to ensure your money goes directly into the hands of the people who produce the food. Not to mention you’ll never get it fresher.

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Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Eating Like a Local in… Costa Rica (Vol. 1)

Brendan

The Global Nomad

The Soda

Most travellers’ introduction to Costa Rica will be its much-maligned capital San Jose. For all its shortcomings, San Jose is actually quite a liveable city, with a decent nightlife and any service you could possibly need. It’s also home to easily the country’s best collection of international restaurants, with everything from sushi to Denny’s. For the purposes of this series, I plan to completely ignore every one of them.

I mean really, did you fly 5000 miles to eat at the same chain you have around the corner? While your secret answer may be yes (inside voice please), you certainly don’t need my help to find the local Pizza Hut.

Costa Rican food is world-renowned for its mediocrity, and so I think it makes sense to start not with the upscale and fancy, but with the heart and soul of Costa Rican food: the humble soda. The Costa Rican answer to a diner, sodas are ubiquitous, cheap and shockingly uniform in what they serve. Learn five or six standard dishes and you are guaranteed to be well fed pretty much anywhere in the country for under five bucks.

The undisputed king of all sodas is Chelles, a San Jose institution for generations. So well known is this 24-hour diner that all buses passing its corner list it alongside other major city landmarks to define their routes. Fine dining it isn’t, but like all great greasy spoons it fills both an essential culinary niche (late night, post-bar snacking and hangover breakfasts prominent among them) and provides a window into a fascinating cross-section of the city which it serves.

And what better way to observe the people of another culture than to rub elbows with them at their most unaffected, over a cup of Costa Rican coffee?

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