While his great-grandfather wandered through the hinterland to sell sun-dried meat packed in a leather suitcase, Wanderson Medeiros made the popular food of the Northeast reach the table of São Paulo with refinement.
Ahead of Canto do Picuí, the 42-year-old chef from Paraíba transformed the traditional carne do sol into a sophisticated dish served with coalho cheese mush on ceramic crockery that are true works of art.
The Northeastern delicacy is one of the flagships of the menu at the small and charming restaurant opened in November last year on the trendy Rua Ferreira de Araújo, in Pinheiros, in the west of São Paulo.
“Sun meat is a food of resistance and subsistence. A way to consume animal protein and have beef for a longer period without spoiling”, explains Medeiros, known by the nickname Picuí, the name of the bird that gives the restaurant its name. and to his hometown in Paraíba.
It is the ingredient that most represents the Northeast, says the chef. Despite the name, the meat receives only the first rays of the sun. “It’s more the meat of the moon, of the wind, of the serene”, he points out, differentiating from jerked beef, dried, dehydrated meat.
Legend has it that the meat cured in the nocturnal cold of the sertão got its name because of dialogues between the sertanejas and their husbands: “Zé, now you can take the meat out of the sun!”. That’s why the spelling is of and not of sun, emphasizes Medeiros.
The product is now matured in air-conditioned rooms at 16OC. “The meat is cured there for two days. Then it is desalted. In São Paulo, we use a slightly lighter cure.”
Before arriving in São Paulo, the chef was successful in São Miguel dos Milagres, at the head of W Gourmet, which won him the title of Best Banquette of 2022 by Prazeres da Mesa.
“We make universal food with regional ingredients,” he says of the buffet that has become his main business aimed at a refined clientele on the idyllic Costa dos Corais in Alagoas.
“We serve brides from Brazil and around the world. Milagres is the most popular wedding destination in the country.”
The capital of Alagoas was chosen by Medeiros’ parents to open the family’s first restaurant, Picuí, in 1989. Mero and Fátima opened the house specializing in sun-dried meat in a remote neighborhood.
Five years later, they moved to a spot by the sea. When the son turned 19, the father decided to return to Paraíba and left him in charge of the business in Maceió.
The heir revamped the place, went to take a course as an auxiliary cook at Senac and at the faculty of administration.
“I went to learn how to cook for real. I went to Senac in the morning and opened the restaurant at 11 am. I worked there until 5 pm, rested for an hour and went to college. I spent all night cooking.”
The diligent student used to photograph and catalog the dishes created late into the night. This is how it was with the recipe that is still successful at the restaurant in Alagoas: sun-dried meat in pumpkin, with which it participated in the first gastronomic festival in 2002.
When he was rehearsing higher flights, he called his parents back to take care of old Picuí, who already had a team of 65 people.
The star chef began to shine with his participation in a program on the local Rede Record, “Feito pra Você”. “The cooking show was the one with the highest audience at the time. It beat Globo.”
In 2004, he recorded a recipe that shines on the menu at Canto do Picuí for the traditional picture of TV presenter Ana Maria Braga: brown sugar ice cream.
“It seemed impossible that a Picuí countryman could cook on TV and at festivals.”
At congresses and events, the native of Paraíba wore an apron willing to learn from renowned chefs, such as Claude Troisgros and Alex Atala. “I was always in the kitchen helping this whole gang.”
And presenting many of them with clay couscous bowls, made by Dona Marinalva, artisan from the quilombo of Muquém, in União dos Palmares (AL).
Medeiros often frequents the region where the legendary Quilombo dos Palmares flourished, in search of handicrafts and folk art.
He took the couscous to Mesa Tendência, in 2012, and also to Dalva e Dito, when he signed the menu at Alex Atala’s restaurant for a week.
After Marinalva’s death, he continues to buy pieces from her husband, Seu Leo, the author of the clay heads that decorate one of the walls of the São Paulo restaurant.
“When he found out that I wanted 100 heads to decorate the restaurant, he was overjoyed”, says Medeiros, who ended up ordering 200 pieces. Since then another 500 have been produced for the restaurant.
The chef usually presents them or sells them to customers who want to take a souvenir. Each piece costs R$ 100 and the money raised results in improvements in your Leo’s life.
Medeiros is happy to tell the story to decorate the new restaurant after finally accepting the proposal of the two partners from São Paulo.
There were several negatives until he was convinced that it was time to settle in the national capital of gastronomy.
The stylist from Alagoas, Martha Medeiros, a fan of the chef’s work in Milagres, always encouraged him to establish a flag in São Paulo.
“Picuí is a self-taught man completely in love with his art”, defines the stylist. Despite the same surname, Martha is not related to the young man who, according to her, elevated Northeastern cuisine to haute cuisine.
Picuí Corner
Rua Ferreira de Araújo, 329, Pinheiros, São Paulo, tel. 011 95583-7134
@cantodopicu
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
