While the temperature hovers around 0 degrees here in the Northeast, I should be thinking about hot, soothing soup, or a slow-braised joint of meat. Instead, I am finding comfort in dreaming of the tropics.
The rainforest fascinates me…an infinite and largely undiscovered source of plant and animal life. As a teenager, I spent a glorious month in Brazil, staying with family in Santos, but my stay was confined to the coast around Sao Paulo, and only skimmed the outer edges of the Amazon.
Perhaps the most celebrated chef in Brazil today is Alex Atala of D.O.M. Restaurante in Sao Paulo, which is counted among the top 50 restaurants in the world. Besides being a gifted chef and speaking 3 languages fluently, chef Atala is enthusiastic about discovering and sharing the resources of the rainforest, which he calls "a universe of aromas". This is no small feat, considering that the Brazilian diet is still tied to old customs and subsists largely on rice and beans and other imported goods.
Having captured my imagination, I set out to weave together flavors/aromas from crops that are widely grown in rainforest climates…and I do mean weave in a literal sense…hey, if Wylie can tie foie in a knot, why not weave? I edited a long list of possibilities down to those that I knew would work well together:
banana
coconut
lime
tamarind
coffee
vanilla
cashew
I began with a piece of grouper, which was seasoned and placed in a bag with vanilla-infused coconut milk and a piece of banana leaf, sealed under vacuum, and cooked sous-vide at 50C for 20 minutes.
Next, I separated the flavors and aromas into two agar sheets. I chose agar because of its heat stability–I didn’t want it to melt as soon as it came in contact with the hot fish–but I was careful to keep these sheets on the soft side, barely firm enough to manipulate. The first sheet (creamy, rich, slightly sweet) was made by mashing bananas with lime juice(for flavor and to retard darkening), I added agar to the coconut milk, brought to a boil, then combined this with the banana mash. I then poured this out onto a plastic-lined flat container to a thickness of 1/4" and chilled until set.
The second sheet (aromatic, tart, bitter) was made using the same procedure, except the agar was heated with tamarind puree and a hint of vanilla extract, then combined with a pulled shot of espresso and molded.
After both sheets set up, I cut them into 1/2" strips and carefully wove them together, holding them in the refrigerator until just before service, when they were inverted onto the squares of grouper. To finish, a little sprinkle of ground cashews and lime zest.
So, you may ask, is this dish "a universe of aromas"?
No…but, maybe a microcosm.
Playing with Fire and Water 
I am brazilian, and I do have to disagree with you. It’s true that our main dish is indeed rice and beans. but they are not imported. as the meat and fruit we eat are not imported. our diet is based on rice, beans and fruit. lots of. bananas of many kinds, mangoes, cashews, and so on. if you go out for a snack, the juice bars are in every corner. i spent a month in europe. and god, i missed fresh fruit other than apples. i would have to say another thing. sao paulo is away, far away from the rain forest. it’s in the middle of the tropical forest, though. what’s left of it, anyway. the rain forest exists only in northern brazil. i’ve seen it in a trip. it’s wonderfull. and they do not have neither bananas nor cashews. but cupuaçu, açai, and other very, very strange and unique flavors…
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Antonia,
Thank you for your comments. I hope that I did not offend you or any Brazilian. In fact, I have strong ties to Brazil…lots of family on my mothers side in and around Sao Paulo and a new sister in law and nephew that recently moved to the U.S. from Fortaleza. My observations are based on conversations that I have had with them in an attempt to identify indigenous Brazilian cooking. I’ve surmised that Brazil is composed of many regions that have pockets of immigrants from around the world that prefer to eat the imported foods from their homeland along with the national dish of rice and beans. I believe Alex Atala also said something along those lines in an interview here: http://www.hangar-7.com/#en/special-pages/kulinarik/gastkoeche-2006/alex-atala/
As far as having visited the rainforest, we did take a 3 day trip inland and I vividly remember the vegetation getting denser, although I can’t be sure that we were anywhere near the rainforest. As much as I fantasize about the wonders and mysteries of the rainforest, I am well aware that there are also things that live there that would terrify me.
Here in the U.S., we are starting to see products with acai in health food stores, but I don’t know what cupuacu is. I would love to know more about these and the other very strange and unique flavors…
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I have to agree with Antonia.
The natives of Brazil have been eating rice with all sort of vegetables plus meat and fish for many centuries before the Portuguese set their feet on the American continent. Our rice, beans, manioc and meat/fish is not imported at all. The traditional Brazilian rice is red rice cooked with milk (arroz de leite) and traditional to Northeast Brazil. The food of the Brazilian people is totally traditional and each region (Brazil is larger than US without Alaska) has its own local flavors and products, mostly unknown to the world. It is not right to generalize since the people of the cities are not representative of the Brazilian people.
By the way, I love D.O.M. and had few but great meals there 10 years ago, when I lived and worked in SP. Few weeks ago Atala took a very honorable decision and changed his menu. D.O.M. no longer serves foie gras and other imported goods.
C.
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