TASTING BRAZIL

A genuine contribution to our knowledge of world cuisines from the author of Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons (1989), about the African food legacy in the New World. Harris's concise introductory overview surveys Brazil's different regions with their different ethnic mixes and sorts out the major elements—indigenous, Portuguese (and through them, Moorish), African, and others—in this lively melting-pot cuisine. Her useful list of foreign- sounding ingredients includes several available at Latin American and Caribbean markets and a few unavailable to us. Brazilian cooking, and thus these recipes, makes heavy use of cassava, fresh and dried shrimp, peanuts, banana leaves, coconut milk, dende (palm) oil, hot malagueta chiles (often preserved according to a recipe Harris provides), and various tropical fruits. The more exotic recipes include drinks made from cachaáa (an alcoholic sugar-cane product), unusual sweet snacks, spicy condiments, typical Bahian black-eyed-pea fritters, and two versions of the Brazilian national dish feijoada—that elaborate smoked-meat and black-bean feast that unfortunately requires carne seca (a salted, sun-dried meat peculiar to Brazil). Some of the other dishes can be prepared with items from your local supermarket, but you'll definitely want to range further afield. As presented here, a Brazilian spread would make for a memorable informal party.