Chef John’s Brazilian Feijoada

Feijoada is a national Brazilian black bean stew. My feijoada recipe uses a variety of smoked meats and is topped with an orange bread crumb mixture. Serve with white rice and greens to complete this traditional meal.

Preparation Details

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 4 hrs 45 mins

Total Time: 13 hrs 15 mins

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry black beans
• 2 quarts water, plus more as needed
• 3 ounces dried beef, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 smoked pork chops – bones removed and reserved, meat cut into large chunks, divided
• 4 ounces bacon, coarsely chopped
• 12 ounces linguica sausage, cut into large chunks
• 2 (4 ounce) links Italian sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley

Steps

1. Make the stew: Place black beans into a large bowl, cover with water, and soak for 8 hours, or overnight. Drain beans.
2. Place drained beans into a heavy pot with 2 quarts water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until beans are cooked but very firm, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
3. Stir chopped dried beef into the pot. Add bay leaf and pork chop bones, stir and simmer over low heat for another 2 hours.
4. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large, dry skillet over medium heat until not quite crisp. Add linguica and Italian sausage links; cook, stirring often, until meats are brown, about 10 minutes. Remove meats, reserving accumulated fat in the skillet. Slice Italian sausage into chunks.
5. Brown onion and garlic in the reserved drippings in the skillet over medium heat until onion is translucent and soft, stirring to deglaze the pan, about 5 minutes. Season with cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. Add parsley; cook and stir until wilted, about 2 minutes.
6. Stir onion-spice mixture into the pot with the beans. Add bacon, both sausages, and pork chop meat. Pour in enough water so meats are just covered with liquid. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until beans are very soft and liquid begins to thicken, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If beans begin to look dry, add more water.
7. Meanwhile, make the bread crumbs: Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add bread crumbs and cook and stir until toasted. Stir in Italian parsley and orange zest.
8. When beans are cooked, discard bones. Ladle stew into bowls and top with the toasted bread crumbs.