Portugal, daughter of the sea, sends out its caravels in search of spices and produce
Portugal enjoys a mild climate where grape vines and olive trees are bursting with vigor, producing the wine and oil that are the pride of every Portuguese meal. Coveted early on by the Romans, Portugal came under the control of the Moors in the 8th century, who turned it into a garden of Eden.
But it was in the 15th century, under the influence of Henry the Navigator, that the first caravels set sail for Madeira, the Azores and Brazil. In 1498 Vasco da Gama changed Portuguese cuisine forever when he discovered the spice route, reaching all the way to the Far East and dotted all along its length with ports of call filled with bewitching scents. The bundles of treasures transported in the ships’ holds through epic adventures and at the cost of human lives had names like coriander, pepper, ginger, saffron and paprika. The Portuguese were the first to drop anchor in the Moluccas to obtain nutmeg, in Japan and Ethiopia for rice and tea, off the African coast for coffee and peanuts… not to mention the pineapple, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes that they had already brought back from the New World.
A Land of Stews and Sauces
Still relatively unknown outside the country, the cooking of Portugal bears little resemblance to that of its neighbor, Spain… except that both countries call rice “arroz.”
Portuguese cuisine is abundant and rich, based on butter, lard or oil depending on the region. But there is one constant: everything – or almost everything – has a sauce! You’ll enjoy “cozido,” a national dish similar to the French pot-au-feu, and the tasty caldeirada made from the country’s best fish.
And eggs!
Eggs are used everywhere. If you order a steak, it doesn’t come with French fries, but with fried eggs on the side. Try Steak Faustino, served on a piece of toast and topped with a slice of ham and a half tomato filled with scrambled eggs.
In Lisbon, cod is served “à la Bras,” named after a tavern owner from the Bairro Alto neighborhood who had the brilliant idea of combining flaked cod with fried potatoes and scrambled eggs.
In some poorer regions, the meal consists of a bowl of soup: water flavored with cilantro, garlic and olive oil, thickened with a piece of “broa,” or cornbread, and topped with a poached egg to make a nourishing meal.
No surprise, then, that the ultimate dessert consists of eggs beaten with sugar. The windows of tearooms are filled with egg-based sweets such as eggs en timbale (ovos moles), in pudding (pudim de laranja), Tavira almond and egg cakes, etc.
A Coastal People
Fish has pride of place all along the coasts. It is often served with a drizzle of oil, pan-fried, “à la Bras,” served as fritters or in stews (such as caldeirada) or in fish soup. On the Costa de Prata, as everywhere in this coastal country, time seems to have stopped. In the rough Atlantic waves, bulls, their hooves encrusted with sand, work alongside men to haul in the nets or big fishing boats. Long and slender, these craft are painted red and blue, designed for the open sea, with gracefully curved ends.
In Alveiro you’ll see the locals in the marshes collecting salt which they place into shining cones, or setting out in rustically-decorated moliceiros to collect sea grasses that they’ll use as fertilizer in their fields.
In Sesimbra, fishermen shuttle back and forth between boats and trucks, carrying baskets filled with fish on their heads to be shipped to nearby Lisbon.
In Lisbon, in front of tiled panels or low houses, women assertively call out their wares, their pink and silver stalls on a base of white and blue faience with some ochre notes to emphasize the scrolled motifs.
Though bacalhau, or cod, is the most famous dish and remains the national culinary touchstone, don’t miss trying caldeirada, more fish stew than soup, cooked over a wood fire and served with tomatoes and chilies; or lamprey with red wine and olive oil.
In the fishermen’s basket…
Sea eel (eiroz)
Spider crab from the Costa de Lisboa
Algarve king prawns
Smoked halibut from Caminha
Algarve rock lobster, cooked “à l’étouffé”
Cod: the Portuguese claim, with some justification, that they have 365 cod recipes, one for each day of the year
Mussels (mexilhoes)
Clams cooked in Algarve with bacon, chorizo and herbs
Swordfish (peixe espada) flat and silvery, from Setugal and Sesimbra
Rockfish
Red mullet (salmonete)
Sole (linguado)
Big sardines grilled over the coals – part of every popular feast
Algarve tuna, served in filets
Freshwater fish:
Shad (savel) from the Tage and Douro, fried or pickled Caminha-style
Lamprey with rice from Caminha and Monçao (lampreia)
Minho salmon (salmao)
Trout from Coura and the Serra d’Estrela (truta)
This is authentic regional cuisine, simple but delicious no matter what the region.
There is always soup on the menu and a piece of “broa,” cornbread that is dunked in the soup or sauce. Go into some of the charming little restaurants where you’ll see dried cod and hams hanging from the rafters.
Main courses are simple, meat- or fish-based depending on the region
North: cod, lamprey, tripe and cabbage soup (Caldo verde)
Central: eel, kid and roast young pig
South: clams with ham and herbs
In Alveiro, don’t miss the famous fried eel or eel with saffron, as well as caldeirada.
In Coimbra, spit-roasted suckling pig
In Buçaco, roast young pig and chanfana, kid in a deliciously spicy stew flavored with mountain herbs
In Estremadura, sardine roe pâté
In Evora, porco alentejana or rice and clams
In Faro, dried figs and figs with almonds
To learn more: see Portuguese cuisine by region
Meats are imaginatively cooked. The good local wine is added to port sauce to accompany grilled or pan-fried steak (bife à portuguesa) as well as brochettes (espetadas), in which beef marinated in wine and garlic is cooked over green bay branches that flavor it as it cooks.
Rather than mutton (carneiro), you’ll likely have kid, young goat (cabrito) or lamb (borrego) cooked as a spring stew (ensopado) or marinated with aromatics and cooked in the oven.
Pork and suckling pig are prepared in many ways and every cut is used. There are lots of pigs here, enthusiastic for acorns and the white truffles found in the cork-oak forest of Alentejo. Pork “a alentejana,” pork with clams from Portugal’s southern Alenteja region, is a classic of Portuguese cuisine, slowly simmered with a few sprigs of cilantro in a “cataplana,” a hinged copper pot that opens up like an oyster.
The residents of Porto have a love for tripe that goes back to the 15th century. In that era soldiers were setting off on expeditions to Ceuta, Morocco and local residents gave them all their pork, keeping for themselves only the tripe which they became skilled at preparing. In fact, it became the city’s specialty and the people of Porto became known as “tripeiros.” Also in the north you’ll find pork offal with rice (Caminha), raw ham and suckling pig (Melgaço), and everywhere the famous chorizo, a delicious sausage red with chili powder that is spicy without being overpowering.
You’ll also find regional cheeses: usually sheep’s milk cheese, the most famous of which is Queijo da serra, sheep’s milk cheese made in Serra de Estrela, the highest point in Portugal. Locally you’ll find creamy little cheeses from Azeitao, available primarily in spring, small white goat cheeses from Tomar, and Serpa from Alentejo, so mild and creamy when fresh that it can be eaten with a spoon with a glass of good Port. If you prefer a stronger cheese, Serpa develops character after a year or two of ripening. There’s also Cabreiro, a powerful goat’s cheese and Queijo da Ilha, a remarkable cheese from the Azores that is used grated, like Parmesan, and is sprinkled on countless dishes. Nothing else is necessary to end a meal Portuguese-style.
Land of the cabbage: the Portuguese garden
The choice of vegetables is relatively limited. When you travel through the countryside, fields of cabbages and corn alternate with vineyards and olive groves. But the Portuguese are associated above all with cabbage. Here cabbage is paired with pork and spicy sausage to make feijoada. In the markets, saleswomen dressed in black sell cabbages whole or finely chopped, the ribs removed, sold in bags to make the famous Caldo Verde, a traditional cabbage soup, emerald-colored like the Minho province where it originated.
Artichoke
Cabbage
Chickpea
Corn
Onion
Potato
Pumpkin
Tomato
Cooking in the Portuguese style also involves knowing how to add a handful of olives or capers to a dish. It also includes lemons, whose juice is used to enliven fish dishes. At the end of a meal, a housewife will pour boiling water over lemon zests to make a simple perfumed infusion that aids digestion after a rich dinner.
Lisbon – Cuisine with a distinctive accent
In most countries, eating in a national capital means encountering a cosmopolitan international cuisine unless you head into the remoter neighborhoods – but Lisbon has its own distinctive gastronomy, rooted in its history as a river city and revealed in its shrimp soup, clams “Bulhao Pato” (named for a 19th century poet and gastronome) and stuffed spider crabs. But the city’s defining dish is its fish soup.
Also typical are fried octopus, shrimp-stuffed sole and “canoas,” fish cooked and served in a terra cotta dish. The cod traditionally associated with Portuguese cooking is served as “meia-desfeita,” a mixture of cod and chickpeas, or “à la Bras,” named after a tavern owner from the Bairro Alto neighborhood who had the brilliant idea of combining flaked cod with fried potatoes and scrambled eggs.
When night falls, women haul their chairs down to the doorway for a chat, wiping their hands on their aprons after a hard day’s work, while the men head for the cafés to play dominoes over cups of strong coffee, accompanied by a shot of aguardiente that has an instant warming effect, or maybe a Sagres, the national beer.
Wines and Spirits
First and foremost, there’s Port, white or red, Tawny or Vintage
Vinho Verde – a young low-alcohol wine with a distinctive taste
Red wines from Dao, smooth and flavorful
Colares, renowned since the 13th century
Very flavorful table wines
Sagres, the national beer – unlike other beers, this one doesn’t make you feel bloated
Aguardente, an eau-de-vie drunk straight from little glasses – I remember in Sao Miguel in the Azores, when I found this drink too “manly,” they offered me a whole range of syrups to smooth it. Delicious!
Ginjinha, cherry liqueur
Portugal - Regional Cuisine
Regional Cuisine - Algarve
When it comes to gastronomy, Algarve offers visitors wonderful dishes made with products from the sea: beautifully fresh fish and seafood are exactingly cooked in restaurants offering international cuisine and in small regional bistros.
The city of Olhao is famous for its lively fish market, while in Albufeira, fishermen mend their nets sitting on the sand, in the shade of their brightly-colored boats.
Specialties here include shellfish soup, little snails with oregano, cataplana of pork and clams, tuna steak with onions, razor clam stew, braised dried octopus Lagos-style, grilled squid, etc.
The region’s sweets are famous. We must mention the fig candies, marzipan fashioned into animal and fruit shapes, flaky pastries from Olhao, almond and egg candies and caramel from Tavira. And finally we must add the wines of Lagos, Lagoa and Tavira… and to end a good meal an arbutus berry eau-de-vie or honey liqueur.
Regional Cuisine - Costa Verde
Caldo verde com broa
Convent Sweets
Port Wines
When discussing the regional cuisine of Portugal, we can’t forget the gastronomy of Costa Verde, one of the country’s purest. The sea plays a big part in it, supplying exceptional fish and seafood.
But the rivers too provide delicious shad, salmon, trout and lamprey. This famous northern Portuguese cuisine also includes “sarrabullho” from Viana, cod à la Narcise, “rojoes” (potted pork pâté), duck with wild rice and “caldo verde com broa” (cabbage soup with corn bread).
We can add some typically local recipes to the list as well:
Rice with octopus and cod à la Marguarida de Praça in Viana do Castelo
conger, whiting and sea bream in court-bouillon in Caminha
cod à la Miquelina in Parades de Coura
roast kid, shad and lamprey in Monçao
smoked ham from Melgaço
the famous tripe of Porto
Sweets are equally famous, all from ancient convent recipes:
Doce de ovos (egg-based candies) from Amarante
pudding from the Abbey of Pirscas
rice pudding (arroz doce)
pao-de-lo (Sponge cake) from Margarido
sonhos y mexidos (fritters and doughnuts)
egg and almond candies
aletria, rabanadas
S. Gonçalo and papos from Anjo
It is in Porto, more precisely in the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, that Port wine, born in the mountains, comes to age to perfection for many years before being shipped throughout the world. Tourists setting out in search of port will find in the Douro valley the famous vineyards where this delicious nectar is produced.
An other wine experience: vinhos verdes, “green wines,” which have such a distinctive flavor.
Convent Specialties - Sweet God-Given Treats
Eggs for Dessert
The Portuguese are great sweet-lovers and, for them, nothing compares to an egg pastry or egg candies piled into a little blue and white cone. This national love of sweets can be traced back to the Moors, and was later given a boost with the introduction of sugar cane to Madeira in the 15th century. Then in the 17th and 18th centuries in Portugal, as in Spain, pastries became the monopoly of the convents and monasteries. The affluent religious communities maintained vast henhouses and had the rights to export goods. With their stores of eggs, sugar and almonds, the religious houses stuffed the daughters of royal or noble descent who were educated in these convents with sweets – as well as their august parents under whose protection they obtained their own patents of nobility.
It was the nuns who taught the daughters of the common people how to satisfy their mistresses’ greed by making “monk’s bellies, angel’s breasts, fat of heaven” and delicacies of many other names that seemed to have come straight from heaven.
Leading the list of these egg-based sweets are ovos moles from Aveiro. A staple of Portuguese pastry-making, they can be found in little pots, as pie or cake fillings, or as garnish, sprinkled with cinnamon and adorned with toasted walnuts or almonds. There are also the famous convent cakes from the Beja region, little almond and egg cakes from Tavira and Morgados, pudding from the Abbey of Priscas made with sugar syrup, eggs, and milk, greased with lard and flavored with Port. A dessert that draws more inspiration from Pantagruel, perhaps, than from the divine!
And other sinful treats…
Every town and village offers its particular specialties. In this dessert-lover’s paradise you can let yourself be tempted by the infinite variety of pao de lo (Sponge cake) or perhaps the delicious palha d’Abrantes, like a tuft of golden hair; delicious pasteis de nata de Belém; wonderful marzipan and fig cakes from Algave; “Dom Ridrugos” from Portimao and Lagos; sweet potato candies from Melgaço, Quejadas de Sintro or pao de rala from Evora, all made with almond paste with a center of candied white squash.
On the other hand, the national dessert is a simple rice pudding, which may seem a bit plain when compared to all the other riches!
Port
When Prince Henry of Burgundy was placed in charge of the Portuguese lands in the 12th century through a combination of love and luck, he played the farmer by planting some vines from France on his lands between Douro and Minho. There, thanks to the grape variety and the favorable climate, port came into existence.
In the early 18th century, the English who had come to buy local wines fell in love with this velvety warming nectar. It was the Baron de Forrester who had the idea of using the Douro river to transport the numerous barrels after the wine harvest. Flat-bottomed barges arrived by river directly from Alto Douro, 150 km upstream.
With an alcohol content of between 19 and 22 percent, this wine is subject to strict production regulations and is classified according to grape variety, sugar content, the amount of alcohol added, and the age and type of wood used in the barrels.
It’s an after-dinner wine to be enjoyed with a cigar, or paired with certain cheeses.
Appellations
„X Tinto – red, young, sweet, rich in color
„X Tinto Aloirado – ruby; aged for several years, burnished red, sweet with a noticeably fruity scent
„X Aloirado – golden blond; older wine made from a mixture of several vintages, burnt topaz color, medium-dry and sweet; it can achieve the highest quality
„X Aloirado-Claro – light blond; the final step of cask-aged wine, when the wine is at is peak; old gold color; dry and extra-dry
Regional Cuisine - Lisbon Coast
Specialties
Pastries from Beléem
Ameijjios – clams from Bulhao Pato
Caldeirada – fish stew
A paradise for seafood lovers, this region offers sea bass, cockles and mussels from Ericeira and Cabo da Roca; red mullet, clams and oysters from Setubal; swordfish from Sesimbra and crustaceans from Cascais.
Among the region’s specialties are Sobral goat and sheep milk cheeses from Monte Agraço and Azeitao; candies from Malveira and pao-de-lo from Loures; nuts and egg sweets from Cascais; zimbros, juniper-flavored cakes from Sesimbra; and quejadas, cheesecakes from Sintra.
While the muscatel from Setubal is internationally-renowned, wines from Colares, Bucelas, Setubal and Carcavelos are also very enjoyable.
Regional Cuisine - Lisbon – Cuisine with a distinctive accent
In most countries, eating in a national capital means encountering a cosmopolitan international cuisine unless you head into the remoter neighborhoods – but Lisbon has its own distinctive gastronomy, rooted in its history as a river city and revealed in its shrimp soup, clams “Bulhao Pato” (named for a 19th century poet and gastronome) and stuffed spider crabs. But the city’s defining dish is its fish soup – caldeirada a fragateira, a symphony that originated with the crews of the frigates and sailing ships that used to descend the Tage to load the port’s cargo until the 1970s. The dish includes mullet, whiting, “tambourines,” fresh and salt-water eel, red mullet, lobster, shrimp and clams.
Also typical are fried octopus, shrimp-stuffed sole and “canoas,” fish cooked and served in a terra cotta dish. The cod traditionally associated with Portuguese cooking is served as “meia-desfeita,” a mixture of cod and chickpeas, or “à la Bras,” named after a tavern owner from the Bairro Alto neighborhood who had the brilliant idea of combining flaked cod with fried potatoes and scrambled eggs.
Everywhere in the city, through the esplanades paved in white and black stone, are the scents of flowers and warm chestnuts wrapped in newspaper. And when night falls, women drag their chairs down to the doorway for a chat, wiping their hands on their aprons after a hard day’s work, while the men head for the cafés to play dominoes over cups of strong coffee, accompanied by a shot of aguardiente that has an instant warming effect, or maybe a Sagres, the national beer.
Regional Cuisine - Costa da Prata
On the coast, in the fishing town of Nazaré, men in checkered shirts and the women wearing seven layers of skirts tend the nets, devoted to the sea and what it provides.
The food is outstanding all along the coast. The delicious fish dishes, caldeiradas (fish stews), eel, seafood from Peniche, clams and cockles from Lagoa de Obidos and the famous grilled sardines are a gourmet’s delight.
If you prefer a meat dish, spit-roasted suckling pig from Bairrada, kid “chanfana” from Coimbra and stewed chicken from Alcobaça are regional staples.
Sweets here have an excellent reputation, whether pao-de-lo from Alfeizerao, arrufadas from Coimbra and Aveiro, delicious pastries from Tentugal or cavacas, trouxas de ovos from Caldas da Rainha – not forgetting the ovos moles from Aveiro, bread from Sao Bernardo and almond candies from Arouca, brisas do Lizz, torta d’Aljubarrota, bean cakes from Torres Vedras and dried fruits and compotes from Alcobaça.
Sparkling wines from Bairrada, reds and whites from Bucaçao, Cantanhede, Tomar, Gaeiras, Obidos, Rio Maior, Bombarral, Torres Vedras and Arruda are perfect quaffs to accompany the cooking of the Costa da Prata. To end your meal, try ginginha, cherries in eau-de-vie, from Alcobaça.
Regional Cuisine - Montanhas
In this region, the cooking is rich and substantial, as attested to by alheiras (pork and bread sausages) from Brabança eaten in winter, the pot-au-feu from Vila Real, feijoada à transmontana, or the famous bôla de carne, a meat loaf from Lamego. When talking about mountain cooking, we should also mention charcuterie products like cured and smoked hams.
You can sample Pinhel partridges here, as well as eel and trout from Sabugal. In the regions south of the mountain, you’ll find roasted kid served on a bed of rice moistened with the cooking juices, sausages called “morcelas,” and maranhos, sheep offal and chicken giblets with rice, from Serta.
The unique characteristics of its pasture lands allow the incomparably-flavored mountain cheese called Queijo da Serra to be produced in a limited area.
Yet the meals here are rather frugal and leave little room for desserts. The best-known are breads called bolas and folares and tortas from Beira Alta.
Close to Viseu, Dao wine is produced which is a good complement to roast kid, cod or veal, and further north the vineyards stretch out in terraced fields, producing the wonderful wines of Porto.
Regional Cuisine - Plainicies
In Alentejo, gastronomy is a major draw: pork, lamb, kid, açordas (bread soup), “migas,” “ensopados” and charcuterie are traditional dishes. Try the region’s delicious bread which accompanies sheep’s milk cheese from Portalegre, Nisa and Serpa or goat’s cheese from Alandroal that goes wonderfully with the region’s excellent red and white wines, whether from Borba, Reguengos, Redondo, Cartaxo, Almeirim or Vidigueira. You’ll also find richly flavored eel stew, lamprey from the Tage, sausages from Castelo de Vide, Nisa and Arronches, charcuterie from Arraiolos, kid stew, rabbit with red beans or fried in oil, Alentejo-style.
The National Agricultural Fair is well-known. The Santarem Gastronomy Festival highlights wine-producing and gastronomic regions. Among the dishes you can sample are sopa de pedra, fish stew, mouthwatering sweets including imperial cakes from Almeirim, almond and egg cakes from Evora and desserts from the convents of Portalegre and Beja.
And we can’t forget fruit: the melons from Almeirim and Alpiarça are renowned.
