Eat like a Brazilian

With a vibrant street-food culture and a love of barbecue food, Brazil offers plenty of inspiration for your summer cooking.

Take your cue from the party nation and make Brazil sharing dishes your go-to for al fresco gatherings and dinner parties. From the spicy meat-and-bean heartiness of classic feijoada (black beans stewed with smoked meat, often pork), to the lighter, but still punchy moqueca – a fish-based stew full of creamy coconut flavours – one-pot dishes are the backbone of this cuisine. The food centres around sharing big dishes with family and friends. So, to eat like a Brazilian, make sure your home cooking is bold, plentiful and served with authentic side dishes: lots of rice, black beans, and salads packed with romaine lettuce, sweetcorn and coriander.

Throw a Brazilian-style BBQ

Latin American's favourite way to cook is over fire and simply seasoned, prime cuts are always the star of the show. Often chargrilled over hot coals and carved directly onto your plate, set your joint in the middle of the table for everyone to dive in. Known as churrasco, this style of barbecue is easy to recreate at home – serve a variety of meats, including beef and chicken, plus sausages and cheese skewers, then pile onto a platter ready to share. Keep it authentic and offer herby chimichurri sauce or aji green sauce – a creamy mayo flavoured with coriander and green chillies – on the side.

Be inspired by street food

For an speedy dinner in the garden, put together a sharing platter with dishes from our in store Taste Brazil range, served with a few cold beers. Our prawn and sweetcorn croquettes, are inspired by the Brazilian street-food classic coxinha. Their distinctive shape is traditionally crafted from a potato flour pastry, but ours are covered in breadcrumbs to give them a delicious crispy crunch. Team them with our spicy malagueta chicken, £4 (400g), marinated in honey and fiery malagueta – a signature chilli used in Brazilian cooking.

Refresh your drinks

Turn your summer party into a fiesta by serving a selection of Brazilian-style drinks. Caipirinhas are the national cocktail and are made with cachaça – a spirit from sugarcane juice. Our take on this national drink is guava and Lime caipirinha sparkling fizz, a blend of fruit, white wine and cachaça. Serve chilled with a slice of lime, or try a vodka-based version called caipiroska – mix a measure of vodka, half a lime cut into wedges and a teaspoon of sugar, muddled together and poured over as much ice as you can fit in a tumbler.