carne seca in calgary

[karmafish]

I found a recipe for fiejoada and it calls for carne seca, a brazilian salt cured beef. Anyone know where I can find this in Calgary or another product that would be a good substitution?

[Scary Bill]

Feijoada has many recipes, so carne seca is not absolutely necessary, merely one of the variants. I've never used it. You could substitute cured bacon (in addition to the smoked that is typically added) or naval beef, but I would soak the beef so as not to oversalt the dish. Really any salt dried beef would be a reasonable substitute. You could probably even use a moist beef jerky.

[karmafish]

thanks! any recommendations for where i can find salt dried beef?

[howlin]

i get my naval beef at sobeys or coop no frills used to have it ,but havent seen it there lately

[Scary Bill]

I should clarify my earlier comments in one regard. Naval beef is in a heavy brine, it is not a dried beef. As the meat in feijoada is cooked for a long time, in some recipes both roasted and braised in the beans etc. for a long time, the result of using dried beef (which is typically preserved with salt) vs brine cured would to me likely be negligible.