Brazil; the home of samba, football, nuts, Jesus, a certain type of waxing and, as I recently discovered, a mind bogglingly amazing meat-fest of a sandwich: The sanduíche de mortadella.
Brazil is a big country (fun fact #1) and so you're not going to be able to just wonder around willy-nilly and expect to find a sandwich as fine as this. You're going to have to go to São Paulo, the biggest city in South America (fun fact #2) and then you'll have to navigate your way through the enormous metropolis to Mercado de Municipal, in the old thriving heart of the city. If you go at the weekend you'll know you're close because you'll be one of the million people squeezing through the narrow streets.
Resist the temptation to buy food from the endless street sellers and save your hunger and every last square inch of your stomach for your sandwich. As you enter the huge indoor market, again say no, resist, hold out as you pass the most beautiful exotic fruits, polished to a high gloss and piled high in every direction. Today is not about vitamins, today is about pure unadulterated meaty indulgence.
Now this is when it gets tough, but you must stop yourself from going to just any mortadella bar, there are many crammed into this market, you must keep walking, trudging through the crowd, weak and weary from your travels, until you find Bar do Mané. The holy grail of mortadella madness. This is where you shall feast.
Before I go on to describe this sandwich sensation, I thought I should mention the origins of the beast, as the meat minded amongst you will know mortadella is a very Italian affair. It's here for the same reason that most Paulistanos will sincerely inform you that they have the best pizza in the world. In the late 19th Century, due to an economic depression in Italy and the need for huge numbers of workers in Brazil (resulting from the abolition of slavery), many Italians emigrated to Brazil to find work and much like in New York, they settled, eventually in cities and kept their culinary traditions alive, well and very delicious.
Therefore, thanks to 120 years or so of Italian influence, a huge pile of mortadella topped with gloppy cheese and shoved in a bread roll is one of the best, and most authentic, things you can eat in this fine city. The thinly sliced meat is thrown on the grill for a matter of seconds just warming it up and getting the edges all nice and brown and crispy, then the cheese is thrown on top and it is presented in a baguette style roll.
Now, eating it is a challenge, especially when you're foolish enough to take a photograph first, every second counts as the warm juices from the meat begin to soak into the bread, making it more delicious on the one hand but reducing it's structural integrity at the same time. This is no time for table manners, airs or graces; grab it with two hands, attempt to squeeze it to roughly to size of your mouth and attack. The last few bites, I admit, had to be tackled with a fork, the juices had got the better of the bread and all that was left was a meaty, cheesy, bready mound on my paper plate. A truly, delicious meaty, cheesy, bready mound.
Links:
-Mercado de Municipal: http://www.oportaldomercadao.com.br
-Bar do Mané: http://www.bardomane.com.br
