Creamy Blender Chicken Pie: Fluffy Batter That Melts in Your Mouth With a Juicy Filling
Salgados Lanches
Glossário Culinário
Requeijão
Requeijão is a typically Brazilian creamy cheese, made from curdled milk mass melted with cream, butter and melting salts. With a mild, slightly tangy flavor, it has a soft, spreadable, even texture that melts with heat without losing creaminess. It is one of the most versatile dairy foods in home cooking, from breakfast to pie and snack fillings.
Characteristics
Requeijão has a yellowish-white color, creamy sheen and a consistency that is firm on the spoon but soft in the mouth. The main variants are creamy requeijão, in a cup or tube, ideal for spreading on bread; culinary requeijão, firmer, made for oven fillings; and light and herb versions. There is also the firm sliced requeijão from the North. Once opened, it keeps refrigerated for a few days, always within the label date.
Uses in the kitchen
- Fillings for blender pies, empadões, empadas, pancakes and stuffed breads.
- Escondidinho and fricassê creams and pâtés, combined with chicken, shrimp, corn or hearts of palm.
- Breakfast on tapioca, crepioca, bread or in scrambled eggs and omelets.
- Finishing sauces and cream soups, giving a velvety body in small amounts.
Substitutions
The closest substitutes are cream cheese and firm requeijão from a known brand, which behave similarly in the oven. Whipped ricotta cream and blended cottage cheese make lighter versions for spreading on bread. In fillings, thick cream with a mild cheese solves it when missing. Each swap changes flavor a little: cream cheese is tangier, cottage is milder.
Fun facts
Requeijão was born from using up milk on farms, when surplus curd was remelted with fat so nothing went to waste. In the pan, add it with the heat already low and without boiling, since boiling can curdle the sauce. For extra-creamy oven fillings, prefer the culinary version, formulated for heat without separating fat.
