Brazilian Style Churrasco & Caipirinha Cocktails – An Ipanema Backyard Feast (Minus the Supermodels)

Brasil, Brasil, Brasil!!! The country with the most World Cup Soccer Titles and home to some of the most beautiful beaches, super models (and the most plastic surgeons) in the world! Brazil is a country that knows how to party and celebrate it’s assets (and they have plenty)! Like their South American brothers and sisters from Argentina and Uruguay, they are proud of their grilling history and outdoor cooking. If you’ve ever been to a Brazilian Churrascaria, where wave after wave of beef is brought to your table until you fall into a meat comma, then you know what I’m talking about! Today I’m sharing my Brazilian Style Churrasco Fiesta that includes steak, pork, chicken, and potatoes in long metal skewers over an open wood charcoal fire for hours. Joining the fiesta is the traditional Brazilian Caipirinha cocktail! Think of it as Ipanema in your backyard but without the supermodels (unless you’re Hugh Hefner and roll like that), and feel free to throw on some green and yellow beach attire to get in that “samba” mood! Just don’t get too carried away like Zane Lamprey as your neighbors might complain.

As it seems Brazilians are born with a soccer ball velcroed to their feet (do the names Pele, Zico, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho come to mind?), churrasco is as equally considered a birthright and the Brazilian culture permeates and celebrates their churrasco like soccer. Translation? There’s always a fiesta in the making. The authentic Brazilian churrasco calls for beef to be seasoned ahead of time with only salt, while pork and chicken are commonly marinated with olive oil, lime, garlic, and parsley overnight. To start my Brazilian style churrasco, I fill 3 chimney starters of hardwood charcoal, ignited with olive oil dressed paper towels underneath. While the charcoal is heating up, I place the beef and pork in skewers through the long end of the meats. For the chicken however, I roll them into a ball and place the skewer through each center while the potatoes are skewered the long way (that’s a lot of skewer talk). With the charcoal pit ready, I place the skewers across the grill (top to bottom rather than left to right) without grates, turning every hour to make sure all parts of the food are cooked evenly. I also add olive oil in an aluminum tray with chopped garlic and parsley to use as a mop to lightly brush on the steak as the churrasco process continues. We’re almost there, so don’t go all fantasizing about Ipanema on me just yet.

Once done, I take the skewers off the grill and bring them to a cutting board and use a large cutting knife to slice the meat downward, preserving some Brazilian tradition in the process. Feel free also to dress your food with chimichurri, as even the Brazilians enjoy this Argentinian sauce. To accompany this Brazilian feast I made some Caipirinha, a classic drink of the country that is very sweet (similar to a mojito in that regard but without the mint) and the main ingredient is a Brazilian-made alcohol called Cachaça. A liquor created from sugarcane that will flatten you like a thundering Roberto Carlos free-kick if you’re not careful. So there you have it, Brazilian Style Churrasco recipe from Paggi Pazzo, time to Carnival!

(All recipes combined are below but for specific recipes from this post, click on the following):
Brazilian Style Steak Churrasco Recipe
Brazilian Style Chicken Churrasco Recipe
Brazilian Style Pork Churrasco Recipe
Brazilian Style Potatoes Churrasco Recipe
Brazilian Caipirinha Recipe

Brazilian Style Churrasco Recipe
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 4 hours
Total time: 5 hours
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. strip steaks (or skirt, flank, top-loin, or NY sirloin)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 lime
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 3 teaspoons pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 2 (8 ounce) chicken breast fillets
• 2 (8 ounce) pork chop fillets
• 4 potatoes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 limes
• 4 long iron or metal skewers

Cooking Directions

1. Clean steak, pork, chicken, and potatoes. Then chop 4 cloves of garlic and 1/3 cup of fresh parsley and in separate zip-lock bags, place chicken and pork but season with 2 garlic cloves (each), 1/2 of the fresh cut parsley (split in half for each), 3 tablespoons of olive oil (each), 1 freshly squeezed lime (each), and a teaspoon of salt and pepper (each), the let refrigerate overnight (take on at room temperature an hour before grilling)
2. When almost ready to prepare grill, salt steak heavily on both sides with a dash of pepper and place long skewer through one end edge of beef going through the other end, almost as if you were making a giant beef kabob
3. Do the same for pork but with chicken, roll fillets into a ball and pierce through centers with skewer (for potatoes, drive skewer through the center with longway sideways)
4. Chop remaining garlic and parsley finely, then add to a small aluminum tray with remaining olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper
5. Prepare charcoal grill: Add lump hard wood charcoal to 3 chimney starters with paper towel brushed with olive oil and lite to start fire
6. Once charcoal is a nice grey color, remove charcoals from chimney and into grill pit, evenly distributed throughout with a small pile for a high-heat zone, but do not add grates onto grill
7. Place skewers over charcoal fire just above heat with skewer ends touching the edges of the grill (you can add other meats and vegetables the same way to the fire if you’d like). Place aluminum tray of garlic, olive oil, and parsley mop onto grill if you have a higher-grate attached area not above the heat zone as it will be used to dress the steak every hour
8. Slow cook for several hours, moving food to high-heat zone if necessary or not satisfied with cooking rate, and turn food once every hour so all sides of meat are cooked/grilled evenly. Lightly dress steak with olive oil, garlic, parsley mop also every hour
9. After about 4-5 hours, food will be nice and crispy on outside and moist on the inside so remove from grill and let rest for 5 minutes
10. Keep food in skewers and slice down with thick cutting knife to serve as well as preserve Brazilian tradition
11. Ready to serve and add a side of chimichurri if you’d like!