Carreteiro: A Delicious Way to Eliminate Leftover Barbecue
‘Leftover barbecue? Eliminate?’ you may ask. All right, maybe there’s hardly anything left after your cookouts—especially so when you prepare churrasco—so why would you worry? Besides, it would only make sense to save whatever leftover meat there might be and just heat it up later to have, well… more churrasco. However, in the South of Brazil, where I live, it’s pretty usual to have loads of leftover barbecue after a nice churrasqueada. So, how do we solve that “problem”? We make a typical kind of risotto called carreteiro.
The Life on the Road
First of all, a brief History lesson. Long ago, all sorts of goods and provisions traveled throughout Brazil on ox-drawn wagons named carretas, which can still be seen in the countryside. The transportation workers who drove such wagons were known as carreteiros—a term that is also used to refer to a long-haul truck driver. Those lonely, sturdy men who lived on the road had little choice in the matter of food. While engaged in a carreteada, they’d only get a chance to have churrasco at a stopover after traveling for a few days. The solution was to cook what came to be known as arroz-de-carreteiro, a mixture of rice and charque (jerky). An easy dish to prepare, it was practical and fit for long trips, since the jerky wouldn’t spoil even after many days on the road.
Today, carreteiro is a common dish all over the country. In the South, though, we often replace the traditional jerked meat with churrasco leftovers, sometimes not only beef, but also chicken, pork, sausage, and so on. Why don’t you try this delicious way to eliminate leftover barbecue?
Recipe
Ingredients:
• 1 lb (500 g) of churrasco beef
• 7 oz (200 g) of chopped onions
• 2 ½ cups of water
• ¼ cup of oil
• 2 ½ cups of rice
• 2 chopped garlic cloves
How to prepare:
Chop the beef in small pieces; braise it in a pot with the oil, garlic, and onion. Add the rice to the braised meat and mix well. Then, add water, keeping heat to the maximum until it boils. After that, reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer, stirring once in a while.
Tips:
• If possible, use fatty meat, once it enriches the flavor of the whole dish.
• Give extra flavor to your carreteiro and make it more colorful by adding olives and chopped green, red, and yellow peppers, and tomato purée or powdered saffron. When done, try garnishing it with parsley and sprinkling some grated Parmesan cheese over it. Finish with a trickle of olive oil.
Source of recipe: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102005491
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