Paçoca de Pilão de Carne de Sol

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for simmering
• •Wide 30 cm skillet
• •Pilão or large mortar and pestle
• •Food processor, optional shortcut

Instructions

1. 1

   Check the salt

   Cut off a tiny cooked edge if your carne de sol is already cooked, or smell and feel the raw meat if it isn't: it should be salty, firm, and still a little moist, not rock-hard like charque. If it tastes aggressively salty after simmering later, soak the pieces in cold water for 20 minutes and drain. Carne de sol varies from butcher to butcher, so you adjust the salt before it takes over the whole paçoca.

2. 2

   Simmer until tender

   Put the carne de sol in a pot with 4 cups of water. Bring it to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the pieces pull apart with a fork, about 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and let the meat cool just until you can handle it. This step softens the fibers and pulls out extra salt, so the pounding gives you tender shreds instead of dry little stones.

   If you had to use carne seca or charque, soak it overnight in the fridge, changing the water 2 or 3 times, then simmer until tender. It works, but it's a different salt level and a different texture. Don't pretend they're the same ingredient.
3. 3

   Shred the meat

   Pull the warm meat apart with your fingers or two forks, removing any hard bits of fat or gristle. Keep the shreds rough, not perfect. Rough edges brown better and later grab the farinha, which is what makes the paçoca taste like one thing instead of meat mixed with dust.

4. 4

   Brown the shreds

   Heat the oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shredded meat in one loose layer and cook, stirring now and then, until the edges go deep amber and a little crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. If the pan is crowded, brown in two batches. Crowd it and the meat steams in its own water, turns grey, and loses the flavor you came here to build.

5. 5

   Make the refogado

   Lower the heat to medium and add the butter to the same skillet. Add the onion and cook until it murcha, soft and see-through, about 5 minutes, scraping the browned bits from the bottom. Add the garlic for 1 minute, just until you smell it. The onion sweetens the salt of the meat, and the garlic only needs a minute because burnt garlic is bitter and bossy.

6. 6

   Pound with farinha

   Put a handful of browned meat and refogado into a pilão. Add a few spoonfuls of farinha and pound until the meat breaks into fine, irregular fibers and the farinha turns golden and savory. Repeat in batches, adding farinha little by little, until the paçoca is loose, crumbly, and moist enough to clump when pressed, then fall apart again. The farinha stretches the meat, but too much makes it dry, so let the texture tell you when to stop.

   No pilão? Pulse the meat, refogado, and farinha in a food processor in short bursts. Stop before it turns into paste. The shortcut works, but the crumb will be more even and less tender than the hand-pounded one.
7. 7

   Finish and serve

   Taste before adding anything. Carne de sol usually brings enough salt. Add black pepper if you want and fold in cilantro or parsley only if it belongs at your table. Serve warm or room temperature with arroz soltinho, feijão, and couve. That's a pê-efe doing its quiet work.

Chef Tips

• •Buy carne de sol that still feels pliable and smells cleanly cured, not sour or harsh. If it's hard as a board, you're probably holding carne seca or charque, and that needs a longer soak.
• •Use farinha de mandioca torrada, not breadcrumbs and not a seasoning mix. Farinha is the structure of the dish. Powder from a packet is just someone charging you to forget how onion and garlic work.
• •Manteiga de garrafa gives the most sertão flavor, nutty and deep. Regular butter works. A neutral oil alone works too, but you lose some roundness.
• •The right texture is a crumb, not sand and not paste. Press a spoonful in your palm: it should hold for a second, then loosen. That's the ponto.
• •This is excellent picnic food because it's good at room temperature and doesn't sulk in a container. Pack it with rice, beans, boiled cassava, or sautéed greens and you've solved lunch.

Advance Preparation

• •The carne de sol can be simmered and shredded 1 day ahead. Keep it covered in the fridge, then brown it before pounding.
• •Finished paçoca keeps 4 days in the fridge. Bring it to room temperature or warm it gently in a skillet with 1 teaspoon of butter if it seems dry.
• •Freeze finished paçoca for up to 2 months in flat portions. Thaw overnight in the fridge and loosen in a skillet before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 130g)