Chef Juliana
Coração de Frango no Espeto
You think chicken hearts are restaurant food or brave-person food. Wrong. Salt, garlic, lime, a hot espeto, and the discipline not to overcook them: that's the skewer everyone eats first.
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Queijo Coalho na Brasa
Created by
You think skewering cheese and holding it over fire is for the barbecue expert. It's not. Buy the right cheese, turn it with attention, and you've solved the snack before the rice is ready.
Appetizers & Snacks
Brazilian
BBQ
Outdoor Dining
Game Day
10 min
Active Time
8 min cook•18 min total
Yield8 skewers, 4 servings
You look at the grill and that little voice starts: "isso não é pra mim." Say it out loud and it loses half its power, doesn't it? I know the voice. I had it in my own kitchen, standing over onions I had ruined, convinced everyone else had received a secret manual and I had been absent that day.
Cozinhar não é dom, é um aprendizado. Here the lesson is wonderfully small. Queijo coalho is firm enough to hold its shape over heat, so it doesn't melt into a puddle, it golds, blisters, and softens. Your job is to pat it dry, give it steady heat, turn it when each face is browned, and eat it while it still bends a little.
At a churrasco, this is the snack people steal before lunch is ready. But it also belongs to the same honest kitchen as arroz soltinho, creamy feijão, and something green on the plate. The pê-efe teaches a gente that real food doesn't need a costume. Rice, beans, a piece of something salty and good, a green vegetable, and dinner starts behaving like dinner.
Anota aí: right cheese, clean fire, no fuss. I'll give you the version for coals and the version for a grill pan, because Tuesday does not always produce a backyard. What I won't give you is a powder pretending to be flavor. Milk, salt, heat, and attention are enough.
Queijo coalho is tied to the cattle-raising Northeast of Brazil, especially Ceará, Pernambuco, Paraíba, and Rio Grande do Norte, where firm rennet-set cow's milk cheeses have long been made to travel and keep their shape in heat. The word coalho means rennet or curd, not charcoal; na brasa is the beach-and-churrasco habit of skewering the cheese and browning it over coals. In Recife, Fortaleza, Natal, and other coastal cities, vendors with small charcoal braziers helped turn it into the salty, squeaky snack Brazilians expect by the sea.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
queijo coalho
Quantity
500 g (about 1 lb)
cut into 8 batons about 1 inch thick, or bought pre-skewered
neutral oil
Quantity
1 teaspoon
for brushing the grate or grill pan
lime (optional)
Quantity
1
cut into wedges
melaço de cana or honey (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| queijo coalhocut into 8 batons about 1 inch thick, or bought pre-skewered | 500 g (about 1 lb) |
| neutral oilfor brushing the grate or grill pan | 1 teaspoon |
| lime (optional)cut into wedges | 1 |
| melaço de cana or honey (optional) | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Charcoal grill with a clean grate, or a 30 cm cast-iron grill pan
- •8 metal skewers or 8 bamboo skewers soaked 20 minutes
- •Long tongs
- •Small heatproof brush
Instructions
- 1
Prep the cheese
Cut the queijo coalho into 8 thick batons if it didn't come already skewered, then pat every side dry with a clean towel. A dry surface browns. A wet surface spits, sticks, and makes you think the grill is against you, which is nonsense. Thread each baton lengthwise onto a skewer so it sits steady and doesn't roll around over the fire.
Pre-skewered coalho is a good Tuesday shortcut. The cost is that the pieces are often thinner, so they brown faster and toughen sooner. Watch them closely and serve right away. - 2
Heat the grill
Prepare medium-hot coals, with the charcoal covered in gray ash and no tall flames licking the grate. If you're indoors, heat a cast-iron grill pan over medium-high heat until a drop of water flicked nearby sizzles and disappears. Too cold and the cheese sits there getting rubbery before it browns. Too hot and the outside burns before the center softens.
- 3
Oil the surface
Brush the grate or grill pan lightly with the oil, then wipe away any heavy puddles. Oil belongs on the cooking surface, not dripping off the cheese. A thin film helps the first browned face release cleanly; too much oil flares on the coals and gives you bitter spots instead of good color.
- 4
Brown the first side
Lay the skewers on the grill with a little space between them and leave them alone for 60 to 90 seconds. Look for deep golden patches and small blisters on the underside. Don't poke them every ten seconds. The browned crust forms when the cheese is allowed to sit still, and that crust is the whole pleasure.
- 5
Turn and finish
Turn each skewer a quarter turn and brown the next side, then repeat until all four long sides have color, about 6 to 8 minutes total. If a skewer resists when you turn it, wait 15 seconds. It will release when the crust has formed. If the cheese cracks open and starts to sag, move it to a cooler part of the grill. You're warming it through, not trying to defeat it.
- 6
Serve at once
Move the skewers to a plate and serve immediately, with lime wedges and a little melaço de cana or honey if you like that salty-sweet bite. Eat while the outside is browned and the inside is soft. Coalho tightens as it cools, and five minutes later you'll have a perfectly edible but less joyful stick of cheese. Dinner has rules. This one is fair.
Chef Tips
- •Buy real queijo coalho, firm, salty, and squeaky when bitten. If the label reads like a science project full of starches and flavorings, leave it there. A packet cannot pretend its way into comida de verdade.
- •No queijo coalho where you live? Halloumi grills in a similar way, and I won't scold you for using what the market gives you. It won't taste Brazilian, but it will teach the same fire lesson.
- •Don't sprinkle powdered barbecue seasoning over this. The cheese already has salt, and the fire gives you the browned flavor. If you want something extra, use lime, melaço de cana, or a little honey, all visible, all honest.
- •Serve it before you call people twice. Queijo coalho is best hot from the grill. Reheated, it gets tougher, and then everyone blames the cheese instead of the timing.
- •For a full plate, keep it simple: rice, beans, sautéed couve, and these skewers on the side. That's not fancy. That's resolver o jantar.
Advance Preparation
- •If using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for 20 minutes before grilling so the exposed ends don't burn too quickly.
- •The cheese can be cut and skewered up to 4 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the fridge, then pat it dry again before it goes on the grill.
- •Take the cheese out of the fridge 10 minutes before grilling. It should not sit out all afternoon, but a short rest helps the center warm before the outside over-browns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 130g)
Calories
465 calories
Total Fat
35 g
Saturated Fat
21 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
110 mg
Sodium
1000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
10 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
29 g
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