Iara, my best friend and matron of honor when I got married, was an architect from Porto Alegre. With her Brazilian and Portuguese background, she taught me many dishes while we were in graduate school together in Syracuse. This remains my favorite. As the famed Brazilian national dish, you can quickly understand why it is so beloved when you enjoy the whole meal: It is best served with farofa (toasted manioc flour), rice, sauteed kale, and a Batida de Limao. One theory on the origins of this dish suggests it stems from Brazilian slaves who made great feasts for themselves from the scraps of meat from their Portuguese masters, while also using all the weird leftover bits the Portuguese would not eat, such as ear and tail. Another theory is that this dish simply evolved as a Brazilian interpretation of the European cassoulet or caldeirada. In any case I like using a combination of beef ribs and pork sausage for both a tender and flavor-rich result. My version does not use pork trotter, ear or tail, traditional carne seca or smoked bacon slab since my friend Iara did not either. This is basically how Iara taught me to make her national dish. If you are making this for kosher company, you can just simply use all beef short ribs and the suggested additional spices. This recipe is also easy to cut in half.

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