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Paçoca de carne de sol
Pounded dried beef with cassava flour
Paçoca de carne de sol: sun-cured beef fried, shredded and pounded with toasted cassava flour and onion
Not the peanut sweet of the same name: in Ceará, Piauí and Maranhão, paçoca is a savoury, fluffy tangle of fried carne de sol pounded with toasted cassava flour and onion in a big wooden pilão. Cowboys of the sertão carried it on long rides because it keeps for days, and today it is served at roadside restaurants and at home with baião de dois, boiled macaxeira, ripe banana and a cold glass of cajá juice. It should be dry, crumbly and full of crisp beef threads, salty and deeply savoury. The thing that goes wrong most often is adding the cassava flour to a wet pan, which turns it into paste; the beef must be fried really dry first. Without a pilão, a large mortar or short pulses in a food processor do the job. Chef's tip: let the pounded paçoca rest for ten minutes before serving; the farinha soaks up the beef fat and the texture turns soft and fluffy.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ lb carne de sol (sun-cured salted beef)or rump salted for 24 h in the fridge; soaked 1 hour in cold water
- 1.5 litres water
- 5 tbsp vegetable oilor rendered beef fat
- 2 onionsfinely sliced
- 4 cloves garliccrushed
- 10 ½ oz farinha de mandiocacoarse toasted cassava flour
- 4 spring onionssliced
- ½ tsp saltonly if needed
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Put 1 ⅓ lb carne de sol (sun-cured salted beef) and 1.5 litres water in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer on a medium heat for 30 minutes until the meat is tender and cooked through. Drain and cool slightly.
30 minStep 2: Cut the beef into 2 cm pieces and pat them very dry with kitchen paper.
Step 3: Heat 5 tbsp vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the beef for 8–10 minutes, stirring, until deep brown and crisp at the edges. Lift out with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat.
10 minStep 5: Lower the heat, add 10 ½ oz farinha de mandioca and stir for 3–4 minutes until it smells toasty and has absorbed the fat.
4 minStep 6: Pound the beef in a large mortar or pilão in batches, adding the onion farinha as you go, until the meat breaks into fine threads mixed through the crumbs. A food processor on short pulses works too; don't turn it to dust.
Step 7: Stir in 4 spring onions, taste and add ½ tsp salt if needed. Rest for 10 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 430 kcal
- Protein
- 30 g
- Carbs
- 42 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does paçoca de carne de sol take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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