Trinchado - a spicy South African Portuguese Beef dish

[tod2]

Besides Braai and babotie, South Africans from Portuguese decent have come up with this delicious beef dish. There are several versions and one can adapt the recipe to make it your own.
Besides the traditional beef, one can use chicken livers. I also add some tomato salsa or tomato paste which enriches the dish.

easyportugueserecipes.com/trinchado-braised-beef/

[kerouac2]

As one of the rare European visitors to Cape Agulhas, the southern tip of the African continent, I can attest to the Portuguese influence or they would have called it "the cape of needles." I am still furious with the Lonely Planet guide to South Africa which said "don't bother to go there -- there's nothing to see." How can they imagine that symbolic places are not of the utmost importance? The tip of Africa, fuck! That's important.

But to get back to the recipe, it looks excellent, but I regret not seeing any Portuguese dishes on the menu when I was there. I must confess, shamefully, that KFC was my go-to place a lot of the time, just because I knew that I would not get in trouble with the menu there. I was already a bit traumatised by the fact that a lot of people (of all races) would address me first in Afrikaans. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised because before I got old and shapeless, most people's first guess about me (even in Europe) was that I was Dutch. But I also noticed that just about everybody seemed relieved when I spoke English to them and even more pleased when I said I came from France because people from such countries were sorely lacking at the time. My hotel room for this reason was upgraded a number of times.

[tod2]

To be honest Kerouac, The Trinchado thing is fairly new. By new. meaning about 10 years old on restaurant menus some even more recent. But, unless you are in a bone fide Portuguese restaurant don't bother ordéring 'Trinchado. It will be some kind of spicy dish but that's it. I bet you anything a Portuguese restaurant in Paris will make a very very good Trinchado. The only comment I have seen from a Portuguese person from Mozambique is that they would'nt be seen dead adding Worcestershire sauce to any Portuguese dish....who cares

[kerouac2]

Well, the Portuguese are by far the largest group of foreign origin in France, so it would indeed be amazing if the Portuguese food here were not good. But I never get around to eating it, just because there are so many other options.

[tod2]

I'm amazed! Really? Portuguese. Trouble is Trinchado is a South African Portuguese dish. They probably never heard of it.

[kerouac2]

8% of the immigrants in France are Portuguese, followed by Algeria and Morocco, both at 7%. It is pretty much impossible now to keep track of the EU immigrants, though, since there is no need to register or go through any other formalities, unlike non-EU countries. But if you really want to experience Portugal outside of Portugal, a trip to Luxembourg is obligatory -- the Portuguese represent 16% of the population of the country (compared to 1.7% in 1970). When I go to Luxembourg to shop for groceries, you can imagine that a lot of space is reserved for Portuguese products. However, in the last few years the French represent a higher number of immigrants than the Portuguese (not even counting the workers crossing the border every day).

[lagatta]

Portuguese make lovely hot sauce that isn't very hot. Great with chicken.