Feijoada à transmontana

The story

Feijoada in Portugal is a northern dish, and each part of the north cooks it with its own bean: white beans in the Minho and Douro, red beans in Trás-os-Montes in the northeast. Feijoada à transmontana is the red-bean version, and the pig raising of the region shaped it: almost every part of the animal goes in, from ears, trotters and snout to chouriço, salpicão and other smoked sausages, with tomato, carrots and Portuguese cabbage. Black beans, the base of Brazil's feijoada, are not used in these northern versions. The dish is traditionally cooked for special days, and it is the expected meal of Domingo Gordo, Fat Sunday, the Sunday before Carnival and Lent, which falls on February 7 in 2027. Carnival in Portugal means three days of license before Ash Wednesday, and the word is often explained from the Latin for removing meat, so the last big pork meals come now. Cooks serve it with white rice, sometimes with rice baked in the oven. Cook the beans and the meats in separate pots, as Portuguese recipes do; the stew then comes together in half an hour, and both parts can be made the day before.