Our Brazilian Steakhouse: After All That Meat…. Something Sweet!

Our Brazilian Churrascaria Dinner Club will feature several types of meat entrees, just as a true steakhouse of this type would. However, besides following traditional format for our Churrasca-style dishes, we’ve incorporated some other Brazilian menu items that will delight and dazzle before and after the “meat portion” of the meal!

As a starter for the evening, we’re having a Brazilian Shrimp Soup. I’ll be looking forward to this treat, as I’m a huge seafood lover and I think it’ll be fantastic to incorporate this element in our meal; seafood is so primary to Brazil’s gastronomy historically and currently. This coastal, South American country really has the best of both worlds when it comes to their cuisine with both deep inland and coastal regions.

Along with our meat choices we’re having collard greens – according to our research as a group, a side dish very familiar in this country – as well as a traditional Brazilian cheese bread. It’s more of a roll, really, and sounds great as a starch to balance out our menu well.

For dessert we’ll be enjoying Chocolate Brigadeiros (traditional Brazilian “chocolate balls”). Interesting, right? But they sound great; I’ve included the recipe here below. Try it out and see what you think! It would go with so many meals, whether you want to do the all-out churrascaria with friends, or just grill some fish or flank steak! Or go ahead and make them as a sweet treat for your family. They’re the Brazilian equivalent of a cookie or brownie snack here in the states. I’ll let you know what our Dinner Club thinks of them once we’ve had a chance to sample!

Chocolate Brigadeiros
Found at: http://www.epicurious.com/
Epicurious | June 2010

by Leticia Moreinos Schwartz
The Brazilian Kitchen

Brigadeiro de Chocolate

Chewy, fudgy, addictive. These little chocolate fudge balls are as common and as loved in Brazil as cookies and brownies are in the United States. Traditionally, brigadeiros are a simple mixture of condensed milk, sweetened cocoa powder, and butter, cooked to a fudge state, then formed into little balls and rolled in chocolate sprinkles. I find this to be much too sweet, so I made a few changes to the original recipe, adding real chocolate, real cocoa powder, heavy cream, and corn syrup. Chocolate sprinkles are usually made with vegetable fat, so unless I know the sprinkle is made with real chocolate like the ones from Guittard or Cocoa Barry, I prefer to use cocoa powder, or grated chocolate, for rolling and the result is amazing. This is a perfect dessert to give as a gift for any occasion. Children will love it and so will adults.

Yield: Makes about 45 brigadeiros

Ingredients:

2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate sprinkles, preferably Guittard

Preparation:

1 In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, place the condensed milk, butter, heavy cream, and corn syrup and bring to a boil over medium heat.

2 When the mixture starts to bubble, add the chocolate and the cocoa powder. Whisk well, making sure there are no pockets of cocoa powder. Reduce the heat to low and cook, whisking constantly, until it is the consistency of a dense fudgy batter, 8 to 10 minutes. You want the mixture to bubble toward the end, so it's important to use low heat or the sides of the pan will burn the fudge. If you undercook it, the brigadeiro will be too soft; if you overcook it, it will be too chewy. It is done when you swirl the pan and the mixture slides as one soft piece, leaving a thick burnt residue on the bottom.
3 Slide the mixture into a bowl (without scraping the bottom) and let cool at room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
4 Scoop the mixture by the teaspoonful and, using your hands, roll each into a little ball about 3/4 inch in diameter (about the size of a chocolate truffle).
5 Place the sprinkles in a bowl. Roll 4 to 6 brigadeiros at a time through the sprinkles, making sure they cover the entire surface. Store in an airtight plastic container for 2 days or up to 1 month in the refrigerator.

Source Information
Recipes from The Brazilian Kitchen by Leticia Moreinos Schwartz (Kyle Books; 2010)