Two Cowboys: Getting Introduced to Chicken Delights (Coxinha) at Durello Traditional Brazilian Foods in Auckland, NZ

Coxinha

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When a thigh is not enough.

Thanks to Wikipedia, and Durello Traditional Brazilian Foods in Auckland, we know that Coxinha is a popular food in Brazil consisting of chopped or shredded chicken meat, covered in dough and moulded into a shape resembling a chicken leg, battered and fried.

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Coxinha was originally made with the meat of chicken thighs. Its traditional shape is also meant to resemble a chicken thigh (a small chicken, obviously). In its modern form, it may have originated among the Brazilian Royal Family in São Paulo in the 19th century. This is where we encountered a story that explains the existence of the Coxinha. Thanks to a talented cook faced with a dilemma, who invented an artificial chicken thigh to appease a hungry young prince. Today we have Coxinha.

History tells us that Prince Gaston, Count D'Eu, husband of Princess Isabel of Brazil (1846-1921), had a favourite dish, chicken. But, he only ate the thighs. One day, not having enough thighs, the Royal Chef decided to turn a whole chicken into thighs by shredding it and making the filling for flour dough shaped into a drumstick. Messing with a Prince's chicken thighs is risky business. Luckily, the Monarch endorsed the results and today we have Coxinha.

Empress Teresa Cristina, when visiting him, could not resist this tasty delicacy. She liked it so much that she requested that the master of the imperial kitchen learn how to prepare the snack. So Coxinha won over the nobility and became history. However, somehow this delight and its amazing story didn't escape Brazil and Spain for Canada or New Zealand, until now, thanks to Durello.

You can't ignore the Coxinha if you want to pretend to provide any sort of complete coverage of Brazil's world of food and eating. Barbara and Marcelo certainly couldn't either if they were to pay homage to the authentic food of their motherland, Brazil.

Observations

We checked in with Marcelo and Barbara before we left New Zealand's summer behind for Canada's winter. Previously we learned about Brazilian Cheese Bread from Barbara. She insisted that we were missing the best part. We had to return one more time and try their Chicken Delights (Coxinha).

We couldn't refuse, knowing how delicious their products are. We wanted to learn what is so special about these Chicken Delights that gave it its local notoriety. It is so unique that it allowed Durello to walk away with the winning prize at the New Zealand Food Awards of 2014.

What we found again was an attention to detail and a laser focus to make the most authentic product surpassing the best in Brazil. They are so good that Durello has been asked to export it right back to Brazil!

Talking about export. Durello succeeded during 2016 in getting their export compliance licensing to start shipping this delight to Australia in 2017. Initially, it will be positioned for the restaurant and bar trade, and soon after, you will be able to buy it in the grocery stores. You already can buy it in New Zealand's stores as a frozen product you can prepare yourself, or at their tiny little downtown store in Auckland.

We are encouraged by Marcelo and Barbara's dedication to their business and will excitedly follow their international expansion. It is an amazing story when you realise that a person from the Netherlands (Barbara), married a fella from Brazil (Marcelo), then moved from Brazil to New Zealand for a new life, started a manufacturing business making authentic Brazilian food products, that will now be exported to Australia. One day, they will send it to the rest of the world. Possibly, even back to Brazil.

What an amazing story!

Hendrik van Wyk
Coxinha Cowboy

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Photos

Tiny Chicken Thighs

Happy Man

Ready to Travel

o-CNN: Brazilian Cheese Bread in Auckland, New Zealand

Mystery Bread

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Mining cooks in Brazil invented cheese bread around the 1700's. They combined cassava starch, eggs, lard/butter and hardened grated cheese chips to come up with something that resembles bread. 

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In those days the cheese bread was made by slave women. There was no wheat flour. Wheat doesn't grow in the warmth of the Brazilian North-East. The only wheat flour to be found in Brazil at the time was imported from Europe for Kings and Noblemen. The rest of the people enjoyed a tasty, cheesy morsel that today is well-known as Brazilian Cheese Bread.

While the recipe may have exists since the eighteenth century, it became popular in Brazil since the 1950s as a snack food. Now, New Zealand has its own and to our knowledge, the only producer of Brazilian Cheese Bread in the country. It is made in the traditional way Neide Durello learned to do it growing up in the Brazilian countryside a few decades ago. Marcelo, Neide's son and partner Barbara brought this know-how to New Zealand when they immigrated to the Islands arriving with a few suitcases and four children. They founded their Cheese Bread business.

It is a small company that goes by the Durello name. Initially, they rolled the bread by hand the traditional way. Now, Durello's production is mostly automated, and they boast a tiny little store in Queen Street, Auckland where they induct the downtown student population and tourists into the ways of Brazilian Cheese Bread. 

Durello's expanded product range is available in New Zealand's Supermarkets country wide. The New Zealand Food Awards recognised them as a winner in 2014. Business is booming. The phone rings off the hook with orders, and the empire is slowly growing. Kiwis like the Cheese Bread.

During our visit, Barbara mentioned that they are preparing to export products to Australia. The range grew with different flavours that suit the Kiwi palate. Bacon and garlic are new additions. They are also expanding with Chicken and Prawn Delights. Same little balls. Equally delicious.

Observations

The story by now is familiar. We encounter it often. Many of the profiles that the Two Cowboys do tell a similar story of immigrants arriving in a new country with nothing except their knowledge of their country of origin's authentic products. They have a strong commitment and will to make a new living for themselves and their family, in a new home country. With hope, drive and hard work they succeed in establishing a successful production business. 

Barbara mentioned that a big motivation for relocating to New Zealand was the country's favourable outlook and ease of launching and operating small businesses. Less regulation, lower taxation. Above all, less corruption than they faced in Brazil. 

It is the local markets that gave them their first opportunity to introduce Kiwis to Brazilian Cheese Bread. The reception was overwhelmingly positive. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Durello has energy. Barbara is busy, busy. Marcelo's passion for his products is contagious. We love the Cheese Bread and wish we could take some with us back when we head to Canada. 

One thing is a given. When we are in New Zealand, we will look up our Brazilian friends for some Durello Cheese Bread. It is the best we've had so far. Saúde Barbara and Marcello. We lift a Caipirinha to your continued success and will be back for more.

Hendrik van Wyk

Two Cowboys and Cheese Bread

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Photos

On the Road

Family

The Beginning

Making Something

Cheese Balls