This Brazilian Steak is So Tender, They Cut It with a Spoon!

Hey guys, Mike Chang here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's my last day here in the city. It's been so much fun exploring this place last few days and going to all the very distinctively different neighborhoods and every day being able to see the beautiful ocean. This has been a lot of fun. Quick breakfast food before getting the day started. Pretty much just an egg and ham and cheese. Very gooey cheese sandwich on a french bread. Very crusty, delicious french bread. Classic breakfast here. Just met up with Tom and Marcelo again. And breakfast is coxinha. And would you tell me about the biggest debate about this? So coxinha comes in a kind of rounded form with a pointy top. And in this world there are two types of people. Two types of people I mean. People who start eating their coxinha from the point or you start eating from what we call the bunda. I think the point is it's more logical. So this is like a very common Brazilian snack. Filled with potatoes and chicken and the creamy cheese as well. I like this a lot with hot sauce. A lot of hot sauce. And now we're in the neighborhood of Saúde. And this has been voted, well I'll credit you, as one of the best neighborhoods living in the world. Definitely one of the most up-and-coming neighborhoods. There's been a lot of cool stuff going on here recently. Mostly thanks to this guy we're going to meet shortly. Okay. And this gentleman here halfway out. Pretty much responsible for promoting it and making it what it is today. This is so beautiful. This restaurant is located right above the square. And apparently every weekend this square is just full of tables and barbecues and people just hanging around dancing, blasting music, eating good food. And this is a bar we're in right now. Usually bars in Rio or in Brazil, they're in the first floor. They don't usually go upstairs. So to attract people, they created some newer dishes that you wouldn't typically find. Well, actually you wouldn't find in any other bar in Rio. And this is one of them. This is fried gizzards. So the gizzard is first marinated in salt and pepper, of course, ginger, lime. It goes into the batter. Then it goes to the eggs. Then it goes back into the batter. Then it goes to the eggs again. I think it goes back into the batter. And then it gets covered in breadcrumbs into the fryer. And out comes this toasty, crunchy, fried chicken gizzard nugget. And to dip it, they're giving me guava ketchup. And Rafael, the gentleman I introduced you guys earlier, made all the rest. Come sit down. Hello. Whoa. You like it? Delicioso. This is different than any chicken gizzard I've ever had. It's so tender. That's not KFC. Yeah, it's definitely not KFC. Wow. I'm telling you guys, this is like melt-in-your-mouth chicken gizzards. I've never had anything like this before in my life. This just tastes like the most tender, tender, tender, tenderest chicken nugget in the world. And the flavors, so much spices in here. Dunk it into the fruity, exotic ketchup with a chili sauce. Magnificent. It's so funny because I just sat down. I came in here. I watched them cook the chicken gizzards. I just sat down. The whole process, maybe 10 minutes. And when I came up here, it was pretty much empty. It's packed already. In the 10 minutes, I was gone. They're probably all here for this though. So good. Also, this thing doesn't even taste like it's deep fried. It's so light. I love chicken gizzard. One of the best ones I ever had. They also just gave me another traditional bar food dish. To put it so that YouTube doesn't hate on me. Screw it. It's sausage wrapped around breadcrumbs. Pork sausage. That crunch is amazing. There's a lot of seasoning and herbs in this batter as well. From casing to crispy outer shell. Yeah, this is awesome. Also, this place every day changes up their dessert. Passion fruit mousse. What the heck? This is so freaking good. This might be the best mousse made out of fruit I've ever had. The intense passion fruit flavor. The cloud-like consistency of the mousse. That's ridiculous. And this is really interesting. Down there, I thought it was an ice cream stand. A bunch of kids waiting around for it. I thought it was ice cream. It's acai. That's a much healthier treat. Next up at a restaurant called Torres de Febrillo. Basically means February the 2nd. Which is the day of the goddess of the sea. And that's why the logo is a mermaid. And got a few things here. The first thing is a pastel stuck with octopus and sausage. This is so awesome. Amazingly tender octopus. The sausage, which is not a very common ingredient with octopus. It's flavorful. It's smoky. Look at this. Hot sauce using eye dropper. Add some chilies to it. That is absolutely perfect. Super crunchy, flaky shell. Tender octopus on the inside. Nice smokiness from the sausage. Then you just add that heat which cuts through all that fat. Brazilian dumplings. Can't get enough of these. And this is really interesting. This is anchovies. Covered in cornmeal. Then fried. And then the sauce is also really interesting. This is a mix of cassava flour and fish gravy. Which explains why it's so thick and slimy looking. Dunk the anchovies into the gravy. Holy crap, I love this. It was one of the greatest dishes I had in Brazil. I'll try this without the gravy. This fish is a masterpiece. Even without the gravy, it's excellent. The shell is just magnificently crunchy. The fish is so tender. The flavor is just out of this world. It's citrusy, rich, tons of umami. And because it's fried in this sort of cornmeal, it has that subtle sweetness on the outside. That makes it even crunchier and lighter. You won't be able to tell this is a deep fry. The flavor is so not greasy at all. Clean. Just so scrumptious. And I love that this country, especially in the South where people don't eat a lot of spice. Everywhere you go, you get chilies, you get hot oil. It is always extremely spicy and delicious. Rafael just brought over a little bowl of clams in the clam broth. These little clams, he's just taking it apart and using one side as a spoon to scoop out the clams. Not a pro yet. That's really sweet. I love clam soup. Very good. I love that brininess. Delicious. I love this guy. That's a lot of chilies he put on that clam. Rafael can handle his heat. So this is basically stir-fry cured beef. And this one here, this is much more cured than this version. This thing is basically jerky right here. Wow. Everything here is so good. They didn't use a lot of butter in this. It's so buttery. It's kind of jerky as texture, but it's still very tender. And that flavor just releases every time you chew. It becomes more and more flavorful. Then you got that crunch from the different colors of peppers. It's incredible. I'm gonna try the beef that's not as cured. Because that version is more dense. It's not gonna be as juicy. It's gonna be a little drier, but still very tender. The crunch of the onions kind of gives it some additional juice. I mean, both of these are good. This is mind-blowing though. Mind-blowing. Little fried batter fish. Same fish gravy. I haven't had a lot of seafood while in Brazil. Seafood in Brazil, at least a couple times I've had it. Freaking amazing. The flavors they use, the different spices. Everything. I mean, fish dunked in fish gravy. And I think the cornmeal they used to fry this little fish, a little crispier than the bigger filet. Both with that subtle sweetness and amazing crunch. God, this is so good. This place is so good. Feel some hankering for seafood while you're in Rio. I'm not gonna go wrong with this place. This fish gravy thing, you gotta get this when you're here. And definitely get this beef. What I'm about to eat at the next place, this is something truly, truly unique. I never even imagined something like this before. This is cow hump steak. Yeah, cow hump. Not camel hump, cow hump. So apparently there's a breed of cattle in Brazil that has a hump. And this is the meat from the hump. Because cow hump is such a tough piece of meat. It's put into the pressure cooker first. Then it goes on the grill. It goes in the smoker. So it's nice and smoky. And this thing comes out just falling apart. Oh, it smells so smoky. Some parts are lean, some parts are fatty. They also serve it with a macaroni salad with leek. So this is their version of garlic bread. Inside is mayonnaise and leeks. Look at that. This is so cool. It's toasty on the outside. This thing is buttery. It's leeky. I love the flavor of leeks. I love it in dumplings. I love it raw. I love it in anything. And it's perfect in this. This is a wondrous cut of beef. Just want to take a moment to appreciate what I just ate. Put this on your food bucket list if you are ever in Rio. I'm so in love with this. This thing melts in your mouth completely, totally, and deliciously. So this cut of meat, there's a ton of fat it tastes like. Also a lot of collagen. Tastes very gelatinous-y. This is a bring tears to your eyes. Cut of beef. I'm not kidding, one little bit. There's something subtly delicious about this. I mean, I'm sure, I don't think they used a lot of seasoning. I just confirmed salt, pepper, onions, garlic, that's it. This is something when you put in your mouth and you start chewing, your eyes just inadvertently closes so you can savor that flavor more. Texture is perfect. I can't believe this is part of meat that's usually not cared for. It's very tough. And now absolutely melts in your mouth. It's so remarkably good. This is a new camera because my other camera overheated in the winter of Rio. This is winter right now. This is right here, the glistening one. This consists of the fattier parts of the hump and on top all that gravy. It's just fat drippings. If you love meat, like I said before, put this hump steak on your food bucket list. It's one of the most tender cuts of beef you'll ever put in your mouth. And this here, with all the fat and the fat drippings, it's just umami fatty flavor overload. What I wanted to do, this is the garlic bread, right? The Lee garlic bread. Open this thing up. Put this tender cut of hump onto the garlic bread and make a little sandwich out of that. Oh my gosh. This makes me want to cancel my ticket back to the U.S. Buttery, gelatinous, delicious beef with the garlic bread. It's just a perfect combination of texture, flavor. It's like nothing I've ever had before. It is such ingenuity to make a cut of meat that people really didn't want into such a masterpiece. Finally, some dessert. This is the grilled cheese with a little bacon floss on top, pork floss on top, and guava. This is the ultimate cheesy, meaty popsicle. This is some outrageous, outrageous food. The cheese is really nutty. It's grilled perfectly. I love the char, the guava, the sweet with the savory. Freaking outrageous. So apparently there's a dessert in Brazil called Romeo and Juliet, which is consisting of a piece of cheese and some jam. So this is a version of that. I think there's a better version of that. I mean, if Romeo and Juliet could taste this, they wouldn't run away. Stay home and each have one of these. Wow, all three places I went to this neighborhood, uniquely delicious in its own way. This whole place is so vibrant. People are happy to hear laughter everywhere. In here, people definitely like their food and they like their food with a ton of flavor. Thank you. Welcome. He will definitely make you feel welcome. So now we're at like a giant market. It's full of souvenirs, clothing, claw machines, restaurants, a lot of place to drink. So apparently places like this will open for the entire weekend, 24 hours a day. Right now it's the middle of Friday. It's not a lot of people here, but I think starting tonight, it's going to get really hopping. So of course, a lot of restaurants in this complex. This place also serves cuisine from Northeastern Brazil. And it's called Moqueca. It's basically stewed fish or seafood or shrimp with a lot of tomatoes and peppers, all sitting in a very thin orange looking broth. That's made of coconut milk and the red palm oil. When we had the Carajé, that's the oil that the Carajé was fried in. So let's try this. Very fragrant, subtle sweetness from the coconut. That's a ton of cilantro on here. So you're getting that really refreshing herby flavor. It's sweet, not just from the coconut, but also from the tomatoes as well. Fish is nice and tender. The shrimp, yeah, that thing's got a nice bounce to it. And then this little bowl contains that delicious fish gravy I love. And this one looks like it has some shrimp in there. And it's a lot thicker as there's a ton of garlic in here. Like solid chunks of garlic in here. And this fish gravy, just one of my favorite things in Brazil. I do like it with a bit more of a citrusy flavor. And the condiments they give you, they give you a little bottle of pretty much melted butter or something. And then this is the chilies. That came out really easy. This hot sauce tastes like spicy liquor. Oh yeah, yeah, there's liquor in here. I mean, that thing really added some unique flavors to this dish. And it's very strong. This next dish is wild. It's called bruxada. It's basically the Brazilian version of a haggis. So they took goat stomach lining. And inside it's just stuffed full of goat liver, kidney, there's hearts. So all sorts of the inside goodness of a goat is stuffed in here. And the gravy is a combination of peppers and tomatoes, garlic, onions, and of course the natural juices of the goat itself. I've never tried anything close to this before. This is really interesting to me because I love organs. So I'm actually excited to try this. Delicioso! You see, this will make me strong. I like it. I mean, goat stomach lining, pretty much just tripe. Nice and crunchy. And different texture from all the different organ meats. You definitely taste that nice organ-y flavor. Little bits of heart, which is very scrumptious, clean muscle. Liver's delicious. This whole thing soaked in this broth that's a little citrusy. A ton of rich, rustic umami flavor. This thing basically just got a dozen different textures in there. That's really good with rice. That's a pretty wild dish. I think it's pretty good. All right, well that was a fun few days here in Rio. Thank you guys so much for showing me around. Lovely place that you brought me to. It was great to have you, a professional eater like yourself. This is a professional right here. She can hold down her food. By the way, again guys, eat Rio. Check them out if you're ever in Rio. These are great people to show you around. Ciao! Till next time. Thank you so much. Thank you.