Main dishes
Home-style black bean and pork feijoada
Home-style feijoada for 8 with black beans, pork, bacon and smoked sausage: soaking, an initial boil, slow simmering and storage step by step.
- Total time
- 680 min
- Servings
- 8
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Cuisine
- Brazilian, home-style adaptation
Ingredients
Beans and cooking
Meats
Aromatics and seasoning
Beans and cooking
Aromatics and seasoning
Method
Soak the beans in the refrigerator
Sort the 500 g dry black beans, removing stones or damaged beans, and rinse. Put them in a roomy container with about 1.5 litres water, covered by several centimetres. Cover and soak for 8 hours in the refrigerator at 4 °C or below; add more water if absorbed. Discard all soaking water and rinse afterwards. This water is additional to the 2.5 litres used for cooking.
Prepare ingredients and separate raw meat
Chop the 200 g onion and 20 g garlic on a clean produce board. Cut the 400 g fresh boneless pork shoulder into roughly 3 cm cubes and the 100 g bacon into short strips on a separate raw-meat board. Slice the 250 g sausage into 1 cm rounds; use a product whose package says fully cooked, not fresh sausage or cured meat needing desalting. Keep meats refrigerated until cooking and wash hands and utensils after handling raw pork.
Boil the beans before lowering the heat
Put the drained beans in a pot of at least 6 litres with the 2.5 litres fresh water and 2 bay leaves. Bring to the boil, about 15 minutes as a guide, then maintain a clear rolling boil for at least 30 minutes without a lid to control foam and overflow. Skim foam with a spoon; add boiling water if beans become exposed. Do not taste raw or hard beans or replace this stage with a slow cooker.
Brown the meat and aromatics
During the boil, heat a wide skillet over medium heat with the 15 g oil. Cook the bacon for about 5 minutes, stirring, until it begins to brown. Add the pork in two batches for about 4 minutes each, only browning the surface; it must finish cooking in the stew. Remove meats to a plate reserved for them. Cook the onion in the same pan for 7 minutes, garlic for 1 minute and sausage for 4 minutes. Keep everything, including the rendered fat: the nutrition estimate counts it all.
Simmer the stew until tender
After the 30-minute boil, add meat, sausage, aromatics and pan juices to the pot, scraping the pan with a little hot broth. Add 1 g pepper; leave salt until the end. Return to a gentle simmer and cook for about 100 minutes with the lid partly open, stirring from the bottom every 15–20 minutes. Keep beans and meats barely covered, adding boiling water in 100 ml increments if needed. Prevent sticking and avoid a hard boil that breaks all the beans.
Check temperature and tenderness
With a clean food thermometer, check the centres of several pork cubes: this stew uses a practical target of at least 74 °C, above the minimum for whole cuts. The meat must also yield easily under a fork, and a bean lifted with a spoon must be creamy inside without a hard core. If anything remains firm or below temperature, cook longer and check again; times are a proposal, not a guarantee. Do not taste with utensils that touched raw meat.
Thicken, season and rest
Lift out a ladleful of tender beans without meat, mash them in a bowl and return the paste to the pot. Simmer for about 15 more minutes, stirring, until broth lightly coats the back of a spoon; add boiling water if too thick. Remove the 2 bay leaves. Taste only now and add the planned 4 g salt, or less if the sausage and bacon are already salty; less salt changes estimated sodium. Turn off the heat and rest for 10 minutes with the lid on.
Portion and cool promptly
Divide the stew into 8 portions with similar amounts of beans, meats and broth. Rice, orange or farofa can accompany it but are not included in ingredients or nutrition. For storage, promptly divide leftovers into small shallow containers and refrigerate at 4 °C or below within 2 hours, or 1 hour if ambient temperature exceeds 32 °C; do not leave the whole large pot outside to cool. Use within 3–4 days or freeze portions; 2 months is a proposed quality limit. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat while stirring to at least 74 °C in several places.
The step photos are illustrative.
Notes
Nutrition facts
1 of 8 portions of stew, without sides
- Protein
- 28 g
- Carbohydrates
- 42.5 g
- Fat
- 25.3 g
- Saturated fat
- 8.1 g
- Fiber
- 10.2 g
- Sugars
- 2.7 g
- Sodium
- 596 mg
Informational estimate, not analysis of finished stew. Sausage and bacon brands and salt levels, soaking, yield and broth distribution change the values. Rice, orange, farofa and vegetable sides are excluded.
Reference source: USDA FoodData Central — SR Legacy (abril de 2018)
For general information only; it does not replace advice from a qualified health or nutrition professional.
About this recipe
This home-style feijoada combines black beans, fresh pork shoulder, bacon and fully cooked smoked sausage in a dark broth thickened with some of the beans themselves. It is an adaptation with clearly identified ingredients and no salted meats requiring desalting; it does not represent every Brazilian version.
The proposal makes 8 portions of stew. The estimated 680 minutes include 8 hours of refrigerated soaking, 30 minutes of preparation, 160 of cooking and 10 of resting. Brown the aromatics while the beans boil. Quantities, yield and timing await confirmation in a kitchen test; tenderness and temperature matter more than the clock.
Frequently asked questions
Can I skip soaking?
This proposal starts with 8 hours of refrigerated soaking and fresh cooking water. No equivalent unsoaked timing is provided; that changes the process and does not remove the initial 30-minute boil.
Why are the beans still hard?
Old beans, hard water or acidic ingredients added early can prolong cooking. Keep enough hot water in the pot and cook until there is no hard core; add the planned salt at the end.
How can I thicken the broth without flour?
Mash a ladleful of tender beans without meat and return it to the stew. Simmer for another 15 minutes, stirring; add boiling water if excessively thick.
