Entrevero de pinhão is a typical dish of the southern regions of Brazil, mainly from the Serran regions, typical of the Santa Catarina mountain, more precisely from the city of Lages.
It’s a dish based on meat and pinhão, the recipe changes from region to region, but pinhão is always present.
The origin of this typical dish is associated with tropeirismo.
The tropeiros needed caloric food to sustain long journeys and the cold of the southern highlands.
The tropeiros used various ingredients such as leftover meat, thus giving the name “entrevero“, which means confusion, disorder.
It is typically prepared on a wood stove, plow discs, copper pots, or iron pots; being an integral part of the typical festivals of Santa Catarina and Paraná.
The dish can be prepared using different types of meat, mixed together, from pork (usually pork loin), to dried meat, and even chicken, but I opted for only:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Brazilian
- Seasonality: Winter
Ingredients
- 14 oz pinhões (boiled and peeled)
- 7 oz bacon
- 1.5 lbs meat (cut into strips)
- 14 oz linguiça
- 1 cup beef broth
- 2 onions
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 bell peppers
- 4 tomatoes
- to taste vegetable oil
- to taste salt and pepper
Steps
Heat a drizzle of oil in a large high-sided pan, add the diced bacon and, stirring occasionally, let it brown.
Set the bacon aside in a bowl and, keeping the fat in the pan, add the linguiça and leave it on the heat until it starts to brown.Add the onion and, when it starts to brown, add the garlic, finally the bell peppers and tomatoes.
Adjust salt and pepper and add the pinhos and the broth.
Let the broth dry (about 30 minutes).
The best choice for cutting the meat into strips as per the recipe, is a steak knife set of 4 pieces.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What is pinhão?
Pinhão, which reigns in the southern region’s winter, is the seed of the araucaria, a tree typical of colder and mountainous regions such as the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná.
It can be consumed baked, cooked, and added to many other preparations.
They were of great importance for the diet of the indigenous people (boiled for a long time in water and salt or roasted among the embers of their own branches).
They are about fifteen millimeters wide and up to ten centimeters long, and can weigh several kilograms, reaching up to thirty centimeters in diameter.
The araucaria is a tree whose presence gave its name to the city of Curitiba and is also the symbol of the state of Paraná. Today it is in danger of extinction.
