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Written by: ESTHER OERTEL

Published: 01 August 2021

LAKEPORT, Calif. — I was transported to Brazil on Thursday, though I didn’t have to travel far — just the 30 or so miles from Middletown to Lakeport.

I was connected by a colleague of mine to Euni Barbosa Sloan, a local Brazilian woman who is delightfully enthusiastic about dishes from her native land.

I was invited to join the two of them to sample feijoada (pronounced fay-jwa-da), a quintessential Brazilian stew and a specialty of Sloan’s, to whose home I had trekked.

The day was hot — near 100 in Lakeport — but it didn’t rival the warm welcome I received when I reached my destination and knocked on the door.

Brazilians are known for their friendliness (hospitality is characteristic of Brazil), and my host unquestionably embodied this trait. After being greeted with a hug I was ushered into the kitchen, where the components of our lunch were ready and laid out.

Arrayed in front of me were bowls of traditional accompaniments to feijoada: succulent slices of orange, toasted cassava flour with bacon (known as farofa in Brazil), and a juicy salsa of sorts, made joyfully colorful by a rainbow of bell peppers.

Sloan piled white rice fresh from the stove into a bowl and ladled fragrant stew into a tureen. A mound of finely shredded deep green kale was put in a skillet to sauté, something done last minute to ensure its freshness.

Since there are so many components to this dish, Sloan had printed a picture showing how to assemble one’s plate, something this novice appreciated.

Once our plates were full and we were ready to eat, talk turned to Sloan’s homeland. I learned a bit about its history and gained greater knowledge of its food.

Brazilian cuisine is influenced by a mixture of European, Indigenous, and African ingredients and traditions.

Feijoada, a stew of black beans and pork, is sometimes called the national dish of Brazil. It likely originated with African slaves who worked on Brazil’s coffee, cotton and sugar cane plantations.

Its name stems from feijão, the word for black beans in Portuguese, the language of Brazil.

After the plantation owners had feasted on pork, slaves would use the leftovers, typically the “undesirable” parts such as the ears, tails and feet, to make a stew with black beans.

These days many eliminate the original parts used by slaves and substitute ribs, bacon and sausage; however, Sloan offers a nod to the initial configuration by adding a pig’s foot to the more modern version.

Her stew was rife with deep flavor, rich and smoky, and I found myself reaching for the tureen to replenish my plate. The juices of the black beans and pork mixed well with the graininess of the farofa, and the oranges, kale, and salsa provided balance by adding bright notes to the dish.

It was a truly sublime experience, and I find myself thinking of the flavor even now, though I eat mostly plant-based foods.

Sloan enjoys cooking the dishes she grew up with in Brazil and strives to make them as authentic as possible, though it can be a challenge to find true Brazilian ingredients.

For example, in Brazil she makes feijoada with calabrese, a sausage that originated in Italy’s Calabria region, a reflection of the Italian influence in some of Brazil’s cuisine, particularly in the south.

In the U.S. she subs more available linguica or kielbasa, smoked sausages hailing from Portugal and Poland, respectively.

She often has luck finding ingredients at Bruno’s Shop Smart in Lakeport, but if all else fails, she orders what ingredients she can online.

Sloan refers to the cassava flour I mentioned as yuca flour (not to be confused with yucca, another plant with edible parts). Other names for the root from which this flour is made include manioc, mandioca, casabe and, as we may more commonly know it, tapioca.

In Portuguese, cassava flour is known as farinha de mandioca.

As to what food Sloan misses most, she longs for pão francés, a sourdough French bread warm from the bakery and spread with butter. I could almost taste it through her description. She’s been unable to find it here.

I learned of pastel, a thin crust savory or sweet Brazilian pastry filled with cheese, meat, or bananas and cinnamon, and coxinha, a Brazilian chicken croquette, which is a popular street food there.

I also learned that the custom in Brazil is to eat a heavy meal midday and a snack in the evening. Sloan has convinced her American husband to embrace this custom. Luckily he works nearby and can come home for lunch to enjoy his wife’s lavish cooking.

Our meal was finished with coffee and bolo de laranja, a rich Brazilian cake flavored with a whole orange, rind and all, that manages to be both dense and delicate.

Brazil is known for its passionate love of meats, and there are some Brazilian steakhouses and barbecue restaurants within driving distance, though not in Lake County. Napa, Sacramento, San Jose and San Francisco were mentioned by Sloan, and Brazilian food may also be available in nearby Sonoma County.

Sloan prepared feijoada for her husband’s birthday celebration less than two weeks prior to my visit, and I’m grateful she made it a second time for me. I deeply appreciate her valuable contributions to today’s column, as well as her warm Brazilian hospitality.

I also extend my sincerest thanks to Teresa Marks, a fellow literacy tutor and Lake County Literacy Coalition board member, for suggesting the subject and introducing me to Sloan.

Brazil, which occupies half of South America’s land mass, was ranked by Condé Nast Travel editors as the most beautiful country in the world. (This is no small task, to be sure.) As Condé Nast reports, with its many and delightful natural wonders, Brazil has “no shortage of grandeur.”

While I’ve never traveled to Brazil (I hope to someday), my visit to the Sloan residence, what I now think of as a local Brazilian outpost, was both grand and delightful.

Today’s recipes are generously shared by Sloan and are for her feijoada and Brazilian orange cake.

Feijoada (Brazilian black bean and pork stew)

1 pound dried black beans (soaked at least four hours or overnight), drained and rinsed
4 ounces slab bacon, rind removed, diced
1 pound pork ribs, cut into individual ribs
2 smoked sausages, such as linguica or kielbasa, sliced
4 ounces pork meat, cut into small pieces
1 pork foot, cut into small pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 or 4 bay leaves
Water, about 8 cups
Oil for pot
Salt to taste

Add oil to a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add bacon and cook over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

In the same pot, brown ribs and sausages in batches. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

If needed, add more oil to the pot and sauté garlic over medium heat until soft and fragrant, being careful not to burn, about a minute or less.

Add the beans, bacon, sausages, ribs, pork meat, pork foot, salt, and bay leaves to the pan. Cover with water, about 8 cups.

Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Cover and let it cook for 2 to 2 ½ hours, or until the beans are soft.

If the stew has too much liquid, uncover the pot and continue cooking to allow some of the liquid to evaporate.

Bolo de Laranja (Brazilian orange cake)

1 whole orange with skin, cut into pieces with white pith removed
1 cup neutral oil (Sloan uses avocado oil)
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Powdered sugar for decoration

Grease and flour a tube pan.

In a blender or food processor, puree orange, oil, eggs and sugar. Set aside.

Mix flour and baking powder in a large bowl.

Add blended orange mixture to the bowl and incorporate well.

Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake at 360 degrees F for 30 minutes.

When cool, remove from the pan.

Lightly sprinkle powdered sugar over the cake to decorate.

Recipes by Euni Sloan.

Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.