While Brazilian culinary traditions are diverse, churrasco has become the quintessential Brazilian cuisine. Three of the biggest Brazilian-themed restaurant brands in America (Fogo de Chão, Texas de Brasil, Rodizio Grill) all serve churrasco. Churrasco means barbeque and it comes the Pampas region, a fertile low grassland area occupying parts of Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Argentina, and Uruguay. Starting in the 1840s, the Pampas was a wild west frontier territory. Its biggest industries are agriculture and ranching. Ranchers in the Pampas are called 'Gauchos' and are seen as brave, dangerous, honorable, and unruly frontiersmen. These South American cowboys are a folk symbol and source of many legends throughout South America especially in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and southern Bolivia.
To fit their migratory lifestyle, the Gauchos developed a simple cooking style based on cooking meat spit-roast using simple spices like garlic and salt. In Gaucho culture, ornate garnishes and spices muddy the original and authentic flavors of the meats and are hence discouraged. This manifests in modern churrascarias where there aren’t any sauces and no effort is paid to plating (the meat is cut off the spit at the table and put right onto the customer’s plate).
Meats are served by passadores or ‘meat carvers’ who cut slices using oversized knives resembling the facón knives traditionally used by Gauchos. Passadores are dressed with neckties in a reimagined formal Gaucho style. Rodízio translates to rotation and that’s the dining style popular in high scale churrascarias. It’s all-you-can eat, waiters will continue bringing grilled meats until the customers signals that they’ve had enough. Customers signal passadores using a double sided card. When the green side is facing up, the customer wants more meats, when it’s facing down they’ve had enough.
The most popular dishes include:
Fraldinha = bottom beef sirloin
Galeto = chicken
Presunto = ham
Torresmo = pork belly
Linguíca = spicy pork sausage
Picanha = top sirloin with lots of fat (called the cap)
Cordeiro = also called lamb picanha is lamb chops.
Lombo = pork
A popular side dish is called Polenta. The Italian equivalent of grits, Polenta made its way to Brazil through the Italian immigrants. In a churrascaria, polenta is hardened and then grilled creating a yellow cornbread-like cake to accompany the panoply of meats. Palate cleansers include Pao de queijo or Cheese Bread and Banana-da-terra grelhadas or Grilled Plantains.
I’ve been to Fogo de Chão before which is a high-end churrascaria chain catering to wealthy Americans. This weekend though, I had the opportunity to have an entirely different experience. I went to Brasil Tropical Restaurant in Midlothian. Food costs $10-20 rather than $80-100 and everyone there is Brazilian. Due to the cost difference, there’s aren’t any passageros, nor rodizio, but a simpler buffet style restaurant where food is paid for by the pound. I had a great experience but quickly realized how ignorant I am of restaurant vocabulary. For example, how do I say how cooked I want the food? I learned that one doesn’t say ‘raro,’ ‘medio,’ and ‘bem cocinado’ literal translations meaning ‘rare,’ ‘medium,’ and ‘well-cooked,’ but rather one ought to say ‘mal passado, ao ponto, and bem passado.’ These literally translate to ‘bad timed,’ ‘on point,’ and ‘well timed.’ Putting on my sociolinguistics hat I asked her if ordering something ‘bad timed’ was considered ‘bad.’ It isn’t. It’s just an idiomatic expression.
To fit their migratory lifestyle, the Gauchos developed a simple cooking style based on cooking meat spit-roast using simple spices like garlic and salt. In Gaucho culture, ornate garnishes and spices muddy the original and authentic flavors of the meats and are hence discouraged. This manifests in modern churrascarias where there aren’t any sauces and no effort is paid to plating (the meat is cut off the spit at the table and put right onto the customer’s plate).
Meats are served by passadores or ‘meat carvers’ who cut slices using oversized knives resembling the facón knives traditionally used by Gauchos. Passadores are dressed with neckties in a reimagined formal Gaucho style. Rodízio translates to rotation and that’s the dining style popular in high scale churrascarias. It’s all-you-can eat, waiters will continue bringing grilled meats until the customers signals that they’ve had enough. Customers signal passadores using a double sided card. When the green side is facing up, the customer wants more meats, when it’s facing down they’ve had enough.
The most popular dishes include:
Fraldinha = bottom beef sirloin
Galeto = chicken
Presunto = ham
Torresmo = pork belly
Linguíca = spicy pork sausage
Picanha = top sirloin with lots of fat (called the cap)
Cordeiro = also called lamb picanha is lamb chops.
Lombo = pork
A popular side dish is called Polenta. The Italian equivalent of grits, Polenta made its way to Brazil through the Italian immigrants. In a churrascaria, polenta is hardened and then grilled creating a yellow cornbread-like cake to accompany the panoply of meats. Palate cleansers include Pao de queijo or Cheese Bread and Banana-da-terra grelhadas or Grilled Plantains.
I’ve been to Fogo de Chão before which is a high-end churrascaria chain catering to wealthy Americans. This weekend though, I had the opportunity to have an entirely different experience. I went to Brasil Tropical Restaurant in Midlothian. Food costs $10-20 rather than $80-100 and everyone there is Brazilian. Due to the cost difference, there’s aren’t any passageros, nor rodizio, but a simpler buffet style restaurant where food is paid for by the pound. I had a great experience but quickly realized how ignorant I am of restaurant vocabulary. For example, how do I say how cooked I want the food? I learned that one doesn’t say ‘raro,’ ‘medio,’ and ‘bem cocinado’ literal translations meaning ‘rare,’ ‘medium,’ and ‘well-cooked,’ but rather one ought to say ‘mal passado, ao ponto, and bem passado.’ These literally translate to ‘bad timed,’ ‘on point,’ and ‘well timed.’ Putting on my sociolinguistics hat I asked her if ordering something ‘bad timed’ was considered ‘bad.’ It isn’t. It’s just an idiomatic expression.
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