Espetinho

Its nickname churrasquinho de gato — little cat barbecue — is an old joke about uncertain provenance at the cheapest stands, and Brazilians use it affectionately. The dish is genuinely democratic: the same format serves a two-real chicken heart skewer and a good cut of picanha, and the same stand often sells both.

The grill is small, the coals are close, and the cook is fast for the beef and the cheese; chicken hearts need gentler coals and more time. Queijo coalho is the interesting case: it is a squeaky, high-melting-point cheese that browns and softens without flowing, and it is grilled directly on the skewer until blistered.

Farofa — toasted cassava flour — is dusted over the meat as it comes off, and it is doing a real job rather than a decorative one: it absorbs fat and juice and adds a dry, nutty crunch against the meat. Skipping it makes the skewer noticeably less interesting.

Beef in cubes, chicken hearts (a genuine Brazilian favourite and worth trying), linguiça sausage cut into rounds, and queijo coalho in blocks. Chicken hearts need only trimming and a rinse. The cheese must be actual coalho — halloumi is the nearest substitute and behaves similarly.

Marinades are light: garlic, coarse salt, sometimes beer or lime. Coarse salt is the Brazilian default and is applied generously. Farofa, either plain toasted or made with butter and onion, for dusting. Bamboo skewers, soaked.

Straight off the grill, dusted with farofa, sometimes with a vinaigrete (a chopped tomato-onion-vinegar relish) spooned over. Eaten standing with a very cold beer. Sold by the skewer, and nobody orders one.