Mungunzá Salgado

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5-liter pot with lid
• •Wide skillet
• •Wooden spoon or potato masher
• •6-quart slow cooker, optional

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the base

   Rinse the corn and beans separately until the water runs clearer, then cover each one with plenty of water and soak overnight, at least 8 hours. Put the cubed carne de sol in a separate bowl of cool water for 1 to 2 hours, changing the water once if it tastes very salty after cooking. Soaking isn't fuss. Dry corn and dry beans cook more evenly after they drink first, and they sit easier in your stomach. The meat needs enough salt pulled out so it seasons the stew instead of bullying it.

   Cooking today and forgot to soak? Boil the corn for 5 minutes, turn off the heat, cover, and let it sit 1 hour. Do the same for the beans in a separate pan. It's an honest shortcut. The texture won't be quite as even, but dinner will still happen.
2. 2

   Start the corn

   Drain the soaked corn and put it in a heavy 5-liter pot with 8 cups of fresh water and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer with the lid slightly open. Cook until the kernels swell, split at the tips, and feel chewy but not hard, about 1 1/2 hours. Keep the corn covered by a finger or two of liquid, adding hot water when needed. Cold water shocks the simmer and makes the pot take longer to come back.

3. 3

   Add the beans

   Drain the soaked beans and add them to the pot with 2 more cups of hot water. Simmer until the beans crush easily between your fingers and the corn is tender all the way through, about 35 to 50 minutes. Don't salt yet. Carne de sol carries salt of its own, and if you salt now you may spend the rest of the recipe trying to undo your enthusiasm.

4. 4

   Brown the meat

   While the corn and beans cook, drain the carne de sol and pat it very dry. Warm 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat and brown the meat in batches, leaving space between the pieces. Let each batch sit until the bottoms turn deep amber, then turn and brown the other side. I know it's tempting to dump it all in and get on with your life. Don't. Crowd the pan and the meat releases water, the pan cools, and you steam it grey instead of dourar properly.

5. 5

   Build the refogado

   Lower the heat to medium and add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the same skillet. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until they murchar, soft and glossy, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute, just until you smell it, then stir in the tomato, colorau, cumin, and black pepper. Cook until the tomato collapses and the oil turns orange-red, about 4 minutes. This is the base. No packet, no powder with a cartoon chicken on it. Real flavor starts here.

6. 6

   Thicken the caldo

   Scoop one generous ladle of cooked beans, corn, and broth into the skillet with the refogado. Mash the beans hard against the bottom with a spoon or potato masher until they turn pasty and the broth looks cloudy and thick. This is the little trick that makes the caldo creamy instead of watery: the beans do the thickening themselves, and the refogado carries that flavor back through the whole pot.

7. 7

   Simmer together

   Scrape the refogado mixture into the pot, add the browned carne de sol, and stir well from the bottom. Simmer gently, uncovered, until the meat is tender and the broth turns thick, glossy, and dinner-quiet, about 40 to 50 minutes. Stir every so often because corn likes to settle and catch on the bottom. If the stew tightens before the meat is tender, add hot water 1/2 cup at a time. You want a spoonable stew, not a cement project.

8. 8

   Finish and serve

   Taste the broth first, then add salt only if it needs it. Turn off the heat, stir in the cilantro and scallions, and let the pot rest 10 minutes so the caldo settles and the flavors stop shouting over each other. Serve in bowls with arroz branco soltinho, couve refogada, and farofa if you like. That's the pê-efe showing up in a different shirt, and it resolves dinner beautifully.

Chef Tips

• •Carne de sol, carne seca, and charque are cousins, not twins. Carne de sol is usually moister and less salty. Carne seca is drier. Charque is often saltier and firmer. If you use carne seca or charque, soak it overnight in the fridge, changing the water 2 or 3 times, and don't add salt until the final taste.
• •Buy canjica de milho branca, the whole white corn kernels, not cornmeal and not a powdered mix. Powder gives you thickness without the bite of the corn. That's not mungunzá salgado, that's someone selling you the idea that chewing is optional.
• •A little feijão is enough here. The beans are not there to take over the pot. They help the broth turn creamy and pull the stew back toward the everyday Brazilian plate.
• •For a slow cooker, do the soaking, browning, and refogado exactly the same way, then put corn, beans, meat, refogado, bay leaves, and 8 cups hot water into a 6-quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or high for 4 to 5 hours, until the corn is tender. Mash a ladle of beans into the broth at the end and cook uncovered on high for 20 minutes if it needs thickening.
• •This freezes well because corn and beans forgive you. Portion it once cool, freeze for up to 3 months, and reheat with a splash of water because the caldo thickens as it sits.
• •Serve it with couve or another green that looks good and cheap that week. Buy what's good today, not what yesterday's list told you to buy.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the white corn overnight, at least 8 hours and up to 12 hours, in plenty of water.
• •Soak the dried beans overnight in a separate bowl. They cook more evenly and are kinder to the belly.
• •Desalt carne de sol for 1 to 2 hours. If using carne seca or charque, desalt overnight in the fridge and change the water 2 or 3 times.
• •The finished stew keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes for up to 3 months. Reheat gently with water added by the 1/4 cup until the caldo loosens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)