Day 168

Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo): Today marks day 3 of Brazilian Week, and so far, everything I've eaten has been really good. I was lucky to find some great items to take home from my visit to Minas Emporium a couple days ago, and their lunch buffet/pastry counter has provided some tasty surprises. I had one more pastry left, so I decided to go ahead and eat it before it went stale. After yesterday's coxinha awesomeness, I was looking forward to trying this piece of cheese bread, which is apparently a Brazilian staple at many meals.

This ring-shaped little piece of bread held up surprisingly well after being in the fridge for a couple days, but I microwaved it for a few seconds to hopefully return some of the moisture. From what I can tell, these are made from a mix of tapioca flour, milk and shredded queso fresco. I figured it would be good - how can you go wrong with any sort of bread made with cheese?

After heating, I took a bite, and it was a bit drier/crumblier than expected, but that could have been due to not eating it when it was fresh. The interior had a flaky consistency that reminded me of a popover, but without the hollow middle. The mix of bread/cheese was a savory, salty treat, and I bet these would be amazing right out of the oven. I'll have to make sure to not fill up on the buffet next time and eat a couple of these while hot. Good stuff.

I'll be posting the rest of my Brazilian goods over the next few days, so stay tuned. I'm so happy that I discovered a new cuisine - I'm learning a lot!