Day 167

Coxinha: In case you didn't notice on my Facebook page, this week is officially "Brazilian Week" here on my blog. After finding some awesome new eats yesterday at Minas Emporium (a Brazilian eatery/market on Roswell Road), I decided to devote the next 7 days to the Brazilian food I discovered there. After finishing a super tasty lunch, me and the GF did a bit of browsing in the small market. In addition to an impressive meat counter and some interesting dry goods, they also had a hot pastry display with some choices that looked really appealing, including this coxinha.

I'd previously read about coxinha on Blissful Glutton's website and decided to take one home - I was too full to possibly eat any more. It looked like a teardrop-shaped breaded pastry, and it was apparently filled with a mixture of cheese and chicken. Yum. Based on the ingredients, I figured it couldn't possibly be bad.

I decided to give it a try this afternoon, so I heated up the oven to keep the coxinha from getting soggy in the microwave. It looked like it held up well from yesterday, but the paper bag it came in was a bit greasy. I hoped it didn't dry out, but after heating it and cutting into it, it was anything but dry. Once bisected, I saw that it was filled with a creamy mix of shredded chicken and some sort of creamy cheese. After doing some research, I discovered that the cheese was actually Catupiry, a Brazilian style that's reminiscent of cream cheese. The pastry shell was about a quarter of an inch thick, and it held the cheese/chicken mix in well.

On to the eating. I took a bite, and was blown away by how good it was. The pastry dough's texture reminded me of a dumpling, but with a potato-like consistency. The breading had a nice crunch, and the chicken/cheese mix was a bit savory and sweet at the same time. The chicken itself was really tender, not stringy like canned chicken can be. Wow. Definitely one of the better foods I've tried during this experiment, and I could have easily eaten 4 or 5 more of these if available.

Based on what I've eaten so far, I've become a fan of Brazilian cuisine. I can't wait to find out how good the rest of my purchases are.