Barreado

Ingredients

• 2kg beef shin or chuck, cut into 4cm cubes
• 200g smoked bacon, diced
• 3 onions, finely chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 6 spring onions, sliced
• 3 tbsp salt
• 500ml water, plus more as needed
• 300g cassava flour (farinha de mandioca), for serving
• 4 ripe bananas, to serve
• 2 oranges, cut into wedges, to serve
• cooked white rice, to serve

Before you cook

• Trim any heavy sinew from the beef and cut it into even 4cm cubes.
• Mix the beef in a large bowl with the bacon, onions, garlic, bay leaves, cumin, crushed peppercorns, parsley, spring onions and salt.
• Cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight for a deeper flavour.
• Take the meat out of the fridge 40 minutes before cooking so it loses its chill.

Steps

1. Pack the marinated meat and all its seasonings into a heavy clay pot or a cast-iron casserole in tight layers.
2. Pour in the water so it comes about two-thirds of the way up the meat.
3. Lay a sheet of baking paper over the surface and press the lid on firmly.
4. Mix 4 tbsp of the cassava flour with enough water to make a stiff paste.
5. Smear that paste all around the join between the lid and the pot to seal it, the step that gives the dish its name.
6. Set the pot over the lowest possible heat, or into an oven at 140°C.
7. Cook undisturbed for 5 hours.
8. Break the seal, lift the lid and check that the meat falls apart under light pressure from a spoon, returning it sealed for another hour if it does not.
9. Lift out the bay leaves and discard them.
10. Mash the meat into the broth with a wooden spoon until it shreds completely into a thick, dark stew.
11. Taste the broth and add salt if it needs it.
12. Ladle a portion of the hot stew into a wide soup plate.
13. Sprinkle cassava flour over the surface and stir it in until the mixture thickens into a soft pirão that just holds its shape.
14. Slice the bananas and lay them over the top.
15. Serve with white rice and orange wedges, adding more cassava flour at the table as the pirão loosens.