Brazilian Cooking Class
As I typically do on all my travels, I signed up for a cooking class as soon as I arrived in Brazil. It was winter and the weather was a bit dreary during the week I was in Rio de Janeiro. Cooking classes are a great rainy day activity (although I would do it even on sunny days!) and I picked the stormiest day to learn how to make a hot seafood stew with Cook in Rio.
Chef Simone Almeida has been running these classes for a few years; originally out of her Fogo Carioca restaurant in Copacabana. She recently opened a new restaurant called Lampadosa in Centro, and it was on the 3rd floor of this establishment where I took the 4-hour cooking class. It was quite fun to do a cooking class in a busy restaurant because as we could cook and people watch as the lunch crowds filtered in.
The class began at 10am and lasted for 4 hours. It was a nice and small class of 4 people, and Chef Simone was extremely engaging and passionate about her country and her craft. She emphasized Brazilians’ love for fusion and mixing cuisines and cultures. Brazilian cuisine developed from indigenous, European, African, and Asian influences. There is not really a single “national Brazilian cuisine” but rather an assortment of various regional dishes.
We made a cheese appetizer, drank caipirinhas and Guaraná soft drinks, and cooked a traditional Bahian seafood stew. Chef Simone also had her kitchen send us some delicious polenta fries to snack on throughout the class. It was a terrific class and highly recommend any visitors to Rio to try it out!
For more South America cooking classes, check out our Peruvian Cooking Class – Lunch, Peruvian Cooking Class – Dinner and Chilean Cooking Class posts!
Here is what we prepared during our Brazilian Cooking Class:
Brazilian Haloumi with Guava Chili Marmalade
I don’t have a separate post on this because it’s pretty self explanatory… you grill haloumi and then spread a guava chili marmalade over it and it is heaven. I have been struggling to locate any guava marmalade in Asia… but I did find some chili jam in London. I figure will concoct something eventually to make it worthy of a post!
food comas 
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