Have you ever possessed a cookbook that's occupied a lot of time in your mind, but not so much in your kitchen? I spent hours reading the recipes in The Brazilian Kitchen by Leticia Moreinos Schwartz, but it was nearly a year before I finally got around to making them. It took some patience researching ingredients such as dendê oil and locating the most reliable and affordable places to buy them Read more

A recent preoccupation with Brazilian recipes has led me to discover a number of South American pantry staples that aren't commonly used in the United States. Manioc starch is one of those; this powdery, flour-like ingredient comes from the cassava (also known as yucca or mandioca). In many tropical countries, this root vegetable gets pressed in order to make cassava meal, thereby releasing Read more

In an age when grocery shelves are stocked with everything from toasted sesame oil to coconut oil, here's a relative unknown that you may have never heard of: dendê oil. This oil, which has a distinctive orangey-red color and a thick, somewhat opaque consistency, is a recurring ingredient in the cuisines of Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Bahia, a northeastern region in Brazil. There, the very Read more

"At first it was the gays, then the straights, for the chest and the back," a wax technician tells Salon. "But now, many straight men come to me for the full Brazilian." Then it gets creepy. "Guys think that since they're naked, you're gonna give them head," another technician confessed. The male Brazilian, when a man waxes his highly sensitive nether region, has become a bit of a rare luxury Read more

After I found myself drooling over CasaSugar's steak frites, I realized I was long overdue to make a large, juicy chunk of beef for dinner. That's when I remembered an interesting recipe I'd come across for a steak marinated in cachaça, the national liquor of Brazil. Although the meat should sit in this marinade for a couple of days, the prep is minimal, which makes this recipe an overall piece Read more

Although I love to sip more than one beverage at a time, I didn't want too many drinks crowding the table at Easter brunch, so I settled on a holiday tipple that did double duty as part morning joe, part festive cocktail. This quick and simple libation makes use of cachaça, a sugarcane liquor that's similar to rum and wildly popular in Brazil. When combined with chilled espresso and sweetened, Read more

Some skills, like brain surgery and kidney transplantation, require doctors with years of training behind them. And although I know having your nether regions waxed within an inch of its your life should only be handled by a professional, I'm doubting this professional needs to have a PhD in waxing. Perhaps the Brazilian has gotten more complicated since the first — and last — time I got Read more