I came across this for Brazilian Pork & Black Bean Stew. Almost always when I see a new to me recipe that looks good, I will look for similar recipes and then pull together the parts/ingredients I like and leave out the parts/ingredients I don’t like. I found this recipe for Feijoada, which is Brazilian Black Bean Stew and combined it with the first recipe and this is what I came up with.
I made this yesterday and could not wait to try it today and share the recipe here.
Notes – these are also included in the recipe but I wanted to be sure you read through these before shopping for ingredients if you decide to make it.
- Because I had quite a bit of smoked pork butt I wanted to use and because I wanted leftovers for the freezer, I used a pound of dry black beans, which was 2-1/2 cups instead of 1-1/2 cups. Therefore I used 1.5 times as much of everything.
- Instead of using boneless country style pork ribs, I used leftover smoked pork butt. I had first cooked it in the sous vide and most of the fat was rendered and drained away. Then I smoked it in the smoker for several hours where more of the fat dripped out.
- Since I was using smoked pork already, I didn’t need the flavor from the ham hock so I left that out. The pork wasn’t heavily smoked since it had been fully cooked with the sous vide before smoking but it gave this dish a nice, but not overpowering smokey flavor.
- Using this site for chorizo and this site for smoked sausage, I substituted one pound of cajun sausage for the chorizo. The chorizo I can buy here is usually not the fermented, cured and smoked type, which is probably what’s called for in this recipe. And, I browned the sausage, which removed some of the fat. I used part of the sausage in the recipe while cooking and I chopped some of it and used it more for “garnish” because I don’t like boiled sausage but I do like sausage cooked in a skillet.
Brazilian Black Bean Stew
- 2 large onions (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 bell pepper (chopped)
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 lb pork butt
- 1 lb smoked sausage
- 1 T. Better than Bouillon (beef flavor)
- 1 tsp. salt (add more if needed)
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
- 8 – 10 cups water
Wash and soak the black beans overnight. Rinse, drain and add to the pressure cooker.
Add the water, salt, pepper, bay leaves and Better than Bouillon to the pressure cooker.
The pork butt – you can cook it in with the beans but there's going to be a lot of fat. If you are able to smoke it, that will give the beans a smokey flavor and much of the fat will cook out of the pork. However you're using the pork, add it to the pressure cooker.
NOTE: If you're using a raw pork but, I would cut it into serving size pieces so it will be done by the time the beans are cooked.
Slice the sausage and saute it in a skillet. It will render some fat. If there's more than a couple of tablespoons of fat, drain the excess. Add the onions, garlic and bell pepper and saute with the peppers once the fat has rendered from the sausage. Add this mixture to the pressure cooker.
Stir in the orange juice concentrate.
Cook on high for 60 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. Test the beans to be sure they are tender. If not, add another 30 minutes, allow pressure to release naturally and test again. Older beans will take longer to cook.
Serve over cooked rice and garnish with chopped green onions.
This is one of those recipes I make the day before, refrigerate overnight and reheat the next day for several reasons:
- At this point I taste it for seasonings and if everything is good, I go ahead and remove what I want to save for future meals, place it in freezer safe containers, let it all cool, label the containers and stick it in the fridge.
- If you’ve started with a raw pork butt, after it sits in the fridge overnight, the fat can be scooped off and tossed.
- The beans will be much more flavorful the second day.
My Notes:
- I used half of a smoked pork butt
- I used quite a bit more black pepper but we love black pepper
- The Daring Gourmet recipe suggests serving with orange slices and I didn’t have an orange but I thought adding a bit of frozen orange juice concentrate might give it a hint of citrus flavor and it did.
This recipe is one I’ll make over and over. It’s a great way to use leftover pork butt, which never seems to end, and it’s a good way to use some dry beans.