🇧🇷 Brazil · Alagoas, Rio de Janeiro bars, festa junina tradition
Caldinho de feijãoBrazilian bean broth
A thin, creamy Brazilian bean broth of blended beans, bacon and sausage, served hot in small cups as a bar snack or festa junina treat.
Origin and history
Caldinho de feijão, beans cooked with pork and puréed into a pourable broth, belongs to Brazil's bar and beach culture. On the waterfronts of Recife and Olinda vendors sell caldinhos from thermos flasks; in Maceió the Caldinho do Vieira in the Farol district has served it in cups since the early 1970s; in Rio de Janeiro the black-bean version is known as feijão amigo. Chef Paulo Machado describes it as a north-eastern take on feijoada in which the stewed beans are blended smooth.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 bowls, or about 12 small cups
- Total time
- 2 h
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 500 g1.1 lb (about 2 1/2 cups) dried beans: feijão-preto (black beans), or carioca or mulatinho beans as in the North-East, picked over and rinsed
- 2 l8 1/2 cups water, plus more as needed
- 2 bay leaves
- 150 g5 oz smoked bacon (bacon or toucinho defumado), rind cut off and kept; bacon finely diced
- 200 g7 oz linguiça calabresa (smoked pork sausage) or paio, skinned and finely diced
- 1 tbsp lard or vegetable oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- 3 tbsp chopped coentro (cilantro) and cebolinha (spring onion), or parsley and spring onion
- toppings: torresmo (crisp pork crackling), chopped hard-boiled egg, pepper sauce, to serve, optional
Method
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1. Cover the beans generously with cold water and leave them to soak overnight; drain.
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2. Put the beans in a large pot with the 2 l (8 1/2 cups) of water, the bay leaves and the bacon rind and bring to the boil, skimming off the foam.
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3. Simmer, partly covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the beans crush easily against the side of the pot with a spoon; top up with boiling water whenever the beans start to show above the liquid. (In a pressure cooker, allow about 30 minutes once it reaches pressure.)
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4. Take out and discard the bay leaves and the rind, and let the beans cool for 10 minutes.
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5. Blend the beans with all their cooking liquid, in batches and with the blender jug no more than half full, until completely smooth.
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6. In a clean pot, heat the lard over medium heat and fry the diced bacon for about 5 minutes, until crisp and the fat has run.
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7. Add the sausage and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until browned.
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8. Add the onion and cook for about 4 minutes until soft and golden, then stir in the garlic for 1 minute.
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9. Pour in the blended beans, stir well, scraping up the browned bits, and bring to the boil.
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10. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often, adding hot water a little at a time until the caldinho pours like a light cream and can be drunk from a cup.
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11. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper, stir in the herbs and serve very hot in small cups, glasses or bowls, with the toppings on the side.
Notes
- Total time: 2 h, plus overnight soaking.
- Two traditions: in the North-East (Recife, Olinda, Maceió) caldinho is beach and bar food, made with lighter carioca or mulatinho beans and finished with coriander; in Rio de Janeiro the black-bean version, called feijão amigo, is a boteco classic topped with torresmo.
- Maceió's well-known Caldinho do Vieira finishes its beans with manteiga do sertão (clarified butter from the backlands) and chopped hard-boiled egg, seasoned assertively with black pepper.
- Leftover feijoada or everyday cooked beans can be turned into caldinho: blend them with their broth and start from the frying step.
- Serving: in small cups as a snack with cold beer or a cachaça, or in a bowl with toast as a light supper. Other toppings include crisp bacon, fried onion, farofa and hot sauce.
- Make-ahead: it thickens as it stands and keeps for 3 days in the fridge; thin it with hot water as you reheat.
Adapted from Paulo Machado, Caldinho de feijão, MICHELIN Guide, Receiteria, Feijão amigo, and Receiteria, Caldinho de feijão.
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Brazil.
Earlier editions
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May 04, 2022 – September 04, 2022
🇧🇷 São Paulo, Brazil
Festival de Sopas da CEAGESP
On the menu as Caldinho de Feijão com Aroma de Cachaça