Brazilian Beef Stew (Feijoada)
This dish is made in the slow cooker. I found this recipe in Cuisine at Home Feb 2011, thought of my friend Marcia, and had to make it. It was delicious - looking forward to making it again.
This dish is made in the slow cooker. I found this recipe in Cuisine at Home Feb 2011, thought of my friend Marcia, and had to make it. It was delicious - looking forward to making it again.
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 1 lb beef stew meat seasoned with salt and pepper
- 8 ounces kielbasa sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds
- 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 15 ounce can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 15 ounce can black beans drained, rinsed and pureed
- 1 1/2 cups onion diced
- jalapeno sliced
- orange wedge
- orange zest
- Carbohydrate 670.687270014667 g
- Cholesterol 80.13465201 mg
- Fat 33.6117250353753 g
- Fiber 43.3695968738898 g
- Protein 146.584609888948 g
- Saturated Fat 10.272785309316 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (2147g)
- Sodium 876.174600001383 mg
- Sugar 627.317673140777 g
- Trans Fat 5.23217631936439 g
- Calories 3306 calories
Step-by-step
- Brown meat in oil in batches in a large skillet over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer meat to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Brown kielbasa in same skillet, 3 minutes per batch. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Deglaze skillet with orange juice, scraping up brown bits on bottom of pan; set aside.
- Combine tomatoes, beans, onions, garlic, and chili powder in a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker. Stir in browned meats and deglazing liquid. Cover slow cooker; cook on high setting until steak is fork tender, 4 hours.
- Add vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
- Garnish each serving of stew with jalapeno slices, orange wedges and zest.
Unlike a thin vegetable broth that scales linearly with volume, bean-heavy braises demand precise adjustments when multiplying portions. Feijoada relies on a dual-bean structure where whole black beans provide texture while pureed beans act as a natural starch thickener. Doubling this recipe does not mean doubling the cooking liquid proportionally, because slow cookers trap moisture with minimal evaporation. Excess liquid prevents the starches from the pureed beans from gelling correctly into a glossy sauce. Keep total liquid volume restricted to a maximum 2-inch headspace below the slow cooker rim to maintain proper reduction efficiency over four hours on high heat.
Browning Physics and Thermal Mass
Crowding the pan prevents Maillard reactions because moisture escaping from too much meat at once drops surface temperature below the required 300 degrees Fahrenheit threshold. Brown the beef and kielbasa in small batches over medium-high heat, allowing at least two inches of space between pieces so water vapor escapes instantly. Deglazing the skillet with orange juice immediately dissolves caramelized fond off the metal surface, incorporating those savory compounds back into the braising liquid before everything enters the 4 to 6 quart slow cooker.
- Watery stew results from excess slow cooker condensation; remove the lid during the final 30 minutes of cooking to accelerate vapor release if the sauce appears thin.
- Tough beef fibers indicate insufficient conversion of collagen into gelatin; extend the high-heat cycle by 45 minutes until fork resistance disappears entirely.
- Metallic acidity can overwhelm the palate if the red wine vinegar is added too early; stir the acid in at the very end of cooking to preserve bright acetic notes without dulling the garlic aromatics.
