In London's Southbank Centre, the 2016 Rio Olympics party started long before the opening ceremony.
Since May, the U.K.'s popular Cabana chain has been hosting a pop-up restaurant on a beachy outpost of trucked-in sand, and the carnival atmosphere will run through the end of the Paralympic Games in September.
The menu includes chimichurri steak with rice and black beans and what Lizzy Barber, marketing manager and one of the co-authors of "Brazilian Barbecue & Beyond," calls "cheesy dough balls" _ because it's easier to say than pao de queijo (PAWN-dee-kay-zhew).
Wait! Chimichurri? Isn't that the national steak sauce of Argentina? Blame the cross-cultural confusion on the cultural melting pot that is modern Brazil: Yes, the parsley-heavy chimichurri _ an Argentinian creation _ has become the No. 1 sauce at Brazilian-style steakhouses, Barber says.
In a vast country where there are many regional cuisines but no tradition of haute cuisine, home cooking is the status quo. That also means every cook has his or her own version of a recipe _ "no carbon copy recipes exist" _ and the country's immigrant roots are reflected in its dishes, such as the popular stroganoff, originally from Russia.
"Brazilian Barbecue & Beyond" aims to "replicate the flavor and vibrancy" of Brazilian food in London without copying it, Barber says during a recent phone interview. That approach makes the book's 80 recipes both appealing and adaptable.
I've been married to a Brazilian for 29 years, and for nearly as many years the signature cocktail at Casa Silva has been the lime-and-sugar-muddled caipirinha. When we have friends over for a barbecue, my husband grills churrascaria-style meats. He also makes huge pots of the pork and black bean stew known as feijoada every August (which reminds me, I will be chopping 10-pound bags of onions very soon).
I have always been a helpful spectator and an enthusiastic and knowledgeable eater, but I've never really taken control of the menu. A few weeks ago, I grabbed the colorful "Cabana" cookbook (it has a different name and cover in the U.K.) that had been on my bookshelf since 2014 and began thumbing through it, searching for recipes that would work nicely when hosting a Rio-themed Olympics watch party.
In addition to traditional skewers of meat, I wound up making my first batch of coxinhas, a snacky chicken croquette shaped like a drumstick that is typically served at botecos and barzinhos, literally "little bar." (The Brazilians add "-inho" to practically everything to show affection.) The coxinhas were, if I may brag, among the best I've ever had. Bonus: I got over my fear of deep-frying.
My non-Brazilian girlfriend, who has been partying Brazilian-style with our family for nearly three decades, is so smitten with Brazilian food that she made learning how to make the cheesy bread a New Year's resolution.
Inspired by her success _ I taste tested for quality assurance _ I wanted to learn to make them myself. She found a ridiculously simple version on simplyrecipes.com and she remains the official head pao de queijo maker of our party group, but when I get a craving, it's good to know I can make my own.
I also made my own caipirinha, and I tested a sangria with a slug of cachaca at a recent potluck. Let's get this Rio party started!
