Amazonia · Volume 22, Tucupi, Jambu and the River's Own Kitchen

X-caboquinho

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Illustration

by Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Manaus's own defining fact is demographic, not culinary in the narrow sense, and it shapes the food anyway. Amazonas holds Brazil's largest Indigenous population, and Manaus itself, a major state capital, counts 71,713 residents who self-identify as Indigenous, more than any other Brazilian capital, spread across 186 ethnicities and 99 languages; 62.3% of the state's Indigenous population lives in cities rather than rural communities. This urban indigenous presence is the direct reason two of Manaus's own dishes now carry formal municipal heritage status. Jaraqui, a river fish rather than a prepared dish, was recognised by Manaus municipal law in November 2019, later extended to the whole state, explicitly for its role "forming the social, historical and gastronomic identity of the Amazonian population." X-caboquinho, a sandwich of French bread, sliced tucumã, fried ripe plantain, queijo coalho and butter, received the same municipal recognition the same year, though its own origin is disputed even locally: one account traces it to 1960s Parintins, carried to Manaus by students moving for school, others insist Manaus itself invented it. Manaus's contemporary elevated dining scene has its own reference point, entirely separate from Belém's: Felipe Schaedler's restaurant Banzeiro, open since December 2009, voted best regional-cuisine restaurant in Manaus five times by Veja and holding a Michelin Guide mention, doing grilled tucunaré and wood-smoked pirarucu.

Read the history

As tradition built it

X-caboquinho

Origin disputed between 1960s Parintins and Manaus itself

Ingredients

The method as the tradition gives it, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them, lead dishes first.

French bread
tucumã, sliced
ripe pacovã plantain, fried
queijo coalho
butter

Method

Split the French bread and fill with sliced tucumã.
Add fried slices of ripe pacovã plantain.
Add queijo coalho and butter.
Eat hot, most often before dawn, as street food for people on their way to or from work.

What a modern chef changes

Big Green Egg grill, concentrated plantain

Method

Dehydrate the plantain slices briefly before frying, concentrating their natural sugar so the surface caramelises harder without the fritter turning greasy.
Grill the queijo coalho over the Big Green Egg's direct heat rather than in a dry pan, a genuinely suited application for a cheese already prized for holding its shape under fire.
Toast the bread itself over the same direct heat for a smoke note the pre-dawn Manaus street stalls this sandwich comes from would never have had the equipment to give it, an honest addition rather than a claimed authenticity.

Open in the atlas: cook mode, scaling and tick off lists