Around the World in 80 Dinners - Bill Jamison [124]
¼ cup duck fat or olive oil
½ pound chopped pancetta, ventreche, or blanched bacon
2 large onions, cut into small chunks
2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
¼ cup Armagnac or brandy
½ pound celery root, peeled and chopped, or 2 celery hearts, chopped, optional
1 small pig’s foot, optional
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Zest of 1 medium orange
Handful of chopped parsley
Thyme sprigs, optional
Make the marinade, first warming the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic, and sauté about 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Pour in the wine, add the remaining marinade ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. Uncover and cool to room temperature.
Place the beef in a Dutch oven or similar large pot. Pour the marinade over it, cover, and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours. With a slotted spoon, remove the beef from the marinade and reserve. Strain the marinade, reserving only the liquid. Rinse and dry the pot. Add the duck fat or olive oil and pancetta, and sauté over medium heat until it colors lightly, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove and discard the pancetta.
Stir the onions into the pan drippings and continue cooking over medium heat several minutes, until limp. Add the garlic and carrots and continue cooking until the vegetables just begin to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the meat, about one-half at a time, stirring until the first batch is evenly browned before adding the rest. Pour in the Armagnac. Add about 1 cup of the marinade and scrape up from the bottom to dislodge all the tasty brown bits, or fond. Add the rest of the marinade, and the optional celery root and pig’s foot. Bring to a very slow simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the meat is very tender, 2 to 3 hours. Remove the pig’s foot, if used, pull any meat from it, shred the meat, and add the shreds back to the pot, discarding the rest. Add the chocolate, salt and pepper, orange zest, and parsley, and simmer for about 15 additional minutes. (If the liquid seems watery at this point, simmer uncovered for these remaining minutes.) Serve hot, garnished with thyme if you wish.
BRAZIL
OUR LONG BUT COMFORTABLE BRITISH AIRWAYS flight, via London and São Paulo, arrives in Rio de Janeiro at midmorning on a Saturday, always an auspicious day in the city. “Think of it like Thanksgiving,” Bill tells Jan and Mary, two friends joining us in Brazil. “Only it happens every week.”
“And instead of a big, bland bird at the center of the table,” Cheryl adds, “you get the most sumptuous pork and beans on the planet.”
“Of course, you can eat feijoada anytime—it’s the national dish, after all—but Saturday lunch is the traditional feasting hour,” Bill says. “Few cooks or restaurants serve the whole completa version at night because it’s too much food for then. They reserve it instead for a leisurely midday weekend meal, when everyone can take a nap afterward, preferably on the beach.”
Mary Jablonsky agrees to the idea with resignation. A close friend of Cheryl’s for decades, she’s always game for any adventure—like her traveling companion, Jan Kohler—but Mary is also apprehensive about some of our eating enthusiasms. “Just don’t expect me to try any ugly pig parts. You guys have never had to inspect slaughterhouses, like I did in my early years at Kraft. I’ve seen plenty of hog chow that will never cross my lips.”
“If you end up with a trotter on your plate,” Bill says, smiling, “pass it along to me. You may not know it, but I’ve got a bit of a foot fetish.”
Mary and Jan flew into Rio from Chicago and Boston, respectively, the day before, and have just welcomed us to the Ipanema Plaza Hotel, our mutual residence for the next three nights. “So where do you want to go to satisfy your little obsession?