For a Portuguese it is unthinkable to drink only, the food comes always first and it´s always the queen. It is no wonder that in this country everything that is important resolves around the table. When I say everything is everything even (ok, let´s stop here)
Nothing boasts more Portugal, more Sea, more Mediterranean flavours than a steaming "just off the stove" pot of Portuguese Seafood Rice.It is my all-time favourite dish of the Portuguese Culinary selection, and one which I regularly cook for friends to show them what Portugal is all about.
The basic ingredients for caldo verde are potatoes, collard greens, olive oil and salt.Additionally garlic or onion may be added. The soup is usually accompanied by slices of chouriço and with Portuguese broa cornbread for dipping.
If there is one thing the Portuguese never stint on, it’s olive oil (azeite). ‘À lagareiro’ means ‘in the style of the olive oil producer’, or rather, the person who had a whole tank (lagar) of olive oil at their disposal. For this dish, octopus tentacles are roasted in lashings of olive oil, with plenty of garlic and salt, and served with ‘batatas a murro’ (punched potatoes). The spuds are boiled, then finished off alongside the octopus in its oil, having first been punched to break the skin. This is also a common way of cooking salt cod.
Salt cod is famously cooked in hundreds of different ways. It can be flaked or shredded without becoming a mush, like fresh fish might. Bacalhau à brás is made with flaked salt cod, pan-fried with finely cut potato chips, then enveloped in creamy scrambled eggs and topped off with black olives and parsley. It is supreme comfort food, and just another way of eating eggs, something the Portuguese are very fond of.
Ovos mexidos (scrambled eggs) with farinheira is, on one hand, a delicious starter, and on the other, a gentle introduction to the farinheira, which is one of the Portuguese sausages that needs to be eaten in small quantities. This smoked sausage is made with flour, pork fat, paprika and white wine.
Apart from eating a lot of meat, Portuguese people take advantage of the country's 800-kilometre coastline and eat beautifully fresh fish and seafood. The best way to eat fish is simply grilled over charcoal. Many fish are eaten throughout the year, such as robalo (sea bass), dourada (sea bream), garoupa (grouper), cherne (wreckfish, a wonderful meaty kind of grouper), atum (tuna) and salmonetes (red mullet).
Seafood is also best eaten simply steamed or boiled, or in very simple concoctions such as dressed sapateira/carangueijo (crab), amêijoas à Bulhão Pato (clams with garlic, coriander and lemon juice) or gambas al ajillo. The purest taste of the sea comes in the form of percebes (gooseneck barnacles) that look like dinosaur claws.
A mixture of cured sausages – chouriço, farinheira and morcela (blood sausage with cumin) – join short ribs and belly pork in this slow-cooked broad bean stew. Mint and coriander are sometimes added to the stew in good quantities and give it a deep, interesting flavour not found in other meat stews.
Like many traditional Portuguese dishes, cozido isn’t pretty. Its name literally means ‘a boil-up, Portuguese style’ and that's exactly what it is. To make it, various sausages are placed in the base of a huge deep pan: chouriço, farinheira and morcela are the the basics. Cuts of pork and beef (some lean meat, but usually plenty of belly, ribs and chunks of ears, feet and noses) are placed on top of the sausages. Above that is a layer of peeled potatoes, and then cabbage, carrots, green beens and sometimes turnips. The pan is topped up with water and boiled.
Usually made from chicken or game mixed with bread and fat, alheira has a slightly vinegary, smoky taste. It’s one of the few Portuguese sausages meant to be eaten as a sausage and not chopped up into other things. When cooked at home, they're grilled or baked. In a restaurant, they are usually deep-fried and served with lovely homemade chips with a fried egg popped on top – a good budget-friendly filling meal
Torresmos come in many different forms – there's even a kind of sliced ham version, which looks like those bars of soap made from soap offcuts. The one to look out for is torresmos from the Alentejo, usually found in tascas. Just like pork scratchings, they are made from fried pork skin and fat, but in this version much of the lard is sealed into the torresmos. Worth nibbling on for the intense pork flavour.
The Portuguese are crazy about cheese. Most cheeses are small bundles of sheep, cow or goat's cheese, ranging from dry and extremely salty to buttery and stinky. Go for a pure white Requeijão (ricotta), a crumbly Niza, or a gooey Serra da Estrela or Azeitão. Eat them with the wonderful jams such as pumpkin, tomato and fig that they are typically served with.
