A holiday on the Brazilian coast of white beaches lined with palm trees and a pleasantly warm sea isn't complete without the joy of splendid seafood meals. Brazilians love all types of shellfish, crustaceans and sea fish, and all along Brazil's Atlantic Coast you will find a mixture of low budget seafood stalls and luxurious restaurants. Have a try at the pitú, river lobster, or the renowned caranguejo guaiamun – blue crab.
Brazilian cuisine – sea lobster and river lobster, pitú
Camarão and lagosta – shrimp and lobster – are favourites in many of Brazil's seafood restaurants. Depending on the region, lobster may be scarce due to overfishing, and thus expensive.
In the Rio do Francisco, the river that divides the state of Sergipe from Alagoas, lives a river lobster called pitú. When you see pitú torrado on the menu, you'll know it's boiled in water with salt on a wood-burning stove. Note that there is also a brand of cachaça [sugarcane liquor] named after this lobster.
Brazilian seafood – shrimp and crab dishes
Along the Brazilian coast, many restaurants have waiters who will show you a plate with different lobsters, from which you can select the one you want. Shrimp, by contrast, is chosen from the menu and is often offered in various ways, such as:
- Camarão acebolado, served with onions, olives and olive oil.
- Camarão alho e óleo, fried in oil with garlic.
- Camarão ao molho de tomate, served with tomato sauce.
- Camarão ensopada, served in a sauce of coconut oil, or, on request, fried in dendê palm oil.
Characteristic of the Brazilian cuisine along the Atlantic Coast is crab [caranguejo]. There are different types of crabs and, of course, they come in various sizes. Look for the tiled tanks alongside the restaurant where they are most likely kept. Just watching how the cook battles with the crabs to catch them is an intriguing sight – they don't allow themselves to be cooked alive that easily!
Seafood sauces – the difference between moqueca, ensopada and ao molho de
Shrimp and fish may be served in various sauces. Especially in Bahia, but also in other northeastern states of Brazil, the term moqueca indicates that the cooking is done in dendê palm oil, coconut milk and tempero [condiments], for example moqueca de camarão. If you find dendê palm oil too heavy or greasy, order a camarão ensopado, which is cooked only in coconut oil and condiments.
Another option is to order fish or shrimp "ao molho de," meaning "in a sauce of." For example, you can order a filé de peixe ao molho de camarão – fried fish with a shrimp sauce.
Whether you order a moqueca, an ensopado, or a dish "ao molho de", the seafood is always served with rice, beans, a salad, farofa and pirão:
- Pirão is a thick fish sauce, made of the oil in which the fish has been fried, mixed with farinha [manioc flower].
- Farofa is a garnish of manioc flour sautéed in butter
- In general the salad is referred to as vinagreta, which is not a vinaigrette dressing but a salad made of chopped tomatoes, onion and coriander.
What is the best seafood of the Brazilian cuisine?
All these terms may be confusing in the beginning, but at least there is one major comfort for those who love any type of fish. Brazilian seafood is scrumptious! So even if you get served something other than you thought you ordered, you will most likely end up licking your fingers anyway. Allow yourself to indulge in the splendid Brazilian cuisine of seafood, and enjoy your meal!
Karin-Marijke Vis - Karin-Marijke Vis is a bilingual writer (Dutch-English) who has been traveling in Asia and South America since 2003.
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