Cooking In Brazil 101

Name: I cannot speak highly enough about how incredible this school is. All of the instructors are extremely skillful and masters of their craft, diligent and meticulous in caring for each and every student of any level, and welcoming and kind! My wife and I joined as complete beginners and have grown to love martial arts, and the students and teachers at Elite!
Item: Elite Training Center
Rating: 5
Author: Andrew Balogh

This past July I had many life changing experiences both professionally and personality. With travel from Los Angeles to Philadelphia and back twice. The philly diet of pizza, hoagies and other favorites, stress and other things I arrived in Brazil by the end of July a little fat or ” Gordinho!” After a week in Brazil eating the foods, training jiu-jitsu and a lot of walking, I feel better and look great with my physique. I credit this mostly to drilling, sparring and not eating food in the United States!

When you are in Rio de Janeiro, one of the easiest ways to burn through your money is eating out every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is the typical in all countries as we are paying extra for the dining experience and having other wait on us. You have to pay. If you are arriving in Brazil for the first time, you will notice the pattern dish and some of the staple food items: Rice & Beans!

Many restaurants here in Brazil are setup to weigh your lunch by the kilo. You can choose what you want to eat and put it on the scale. Afterwards, you sit down eat and then pay. Some places you make the payment at the scale. This is very normal and, more often than not, on the plates are rice and beans.

Dinner time starts late in Brazil. When I ask when the answer is, “When it is very dark out!” 7PM or 8PM is normal here. A great experience is to have dinner at a Brazilian BBQ house known as a churrascaria or the churrasco. In this environment, you can sit at the table to order your drinks and right way can walk to the salad area, cheese and meats bar, soups and seafood area. However, the best part of the churrasco is turning your red and green card to GREEN! Quickly you will be treated to the best types of chicken, steak and other specials of the house: fried bananas, pasta dishes and cheese bread/other types of breads. It you need a break for the action, you can turn the card back to RED!

My favorite meat is Picanha! So what is this meat:

In American butcher-lingo it has been tragically baptized the “rump cap”. It is a triangular cut from the top of the, that’s right, rump region of the cow, and just like our rumps, it has a beautiful layer of fat. It is not a muscle that moves much during the animal’s life, and so, remains tender. The picanha’s blanket of fat lends the meat flavor and juiciness while protecting it from human error that may occur during grilling. And because it is little known in North America and Europe, a picanha is a relatively cheap and plentiful national secret. – Suzie Castello (http://honestcooking.com/picanha-101-brazilian-barbecue-meat/)

My Friday Lunch in Barra da Tijuca and the www.connectionrio.com house.

Picaha- Supermarket R$11,00 (reais) about $4.80 (USD) for 4 pieces. Lunch and Dinner
Cooked at home with in a pan with a little oil, salt powder and lime.

One bag of Rice 1kg.- Supermarket R$2,00 about .90 cents. Added corn and peas. Serves all plates for one for a week.

Bag of green lettuce the style I like- R$3,00 or $1.30 (USD). Serves 5 lunches.
Tomato, Mango and lime for dressing.

One bottle of Matte- Brazilian Ice-T- R$3,00 or $1.30 (USD).

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I learned many things this time around in Brazil. After 6 trips here for jiu-jitsu, everytime I leave I know I want to come back. If you train Martial Arts, you should really think about coming to Brazil to train. I can’t wait to get back for more. Next time I will not be called “Gordinho!”

My best,

Prof. Tony Pacenski
2nd Degree Black Belt
BJJ Revolution Team