Portuguese Food & Drink
Briony Stephenson introduces the hidden delights of Portuguese
cuisine.
Despite the lasting influence it has had on food in such far-away places
as Macau and Goa, Portuguese cuisine is hugely underrepresented outside
Portugal. Often confused with Spanish cooking, it is, in fact, quite
distinct.
At its best, Portuguese food is simple ingredients impeccably prepared.
Based on regional produce, emphasising fish, meat, olive oil, tomato,
and spices, it features hearty soups, homemade bread and cheeses, as
well as unexpected combinations of meat and shellfish.
For a relatively small nation, Portugal has surprising gastronomic variety.
The Estremadura
region, which includes Lisbon,
is famous for its seafood - the fish market at Cascais,
just outside the capital, is one of the largest in the country - while
the production of sausages and cheese elsewhere adds another dimension
to the national cuisine.
The Algarve, the last region of Portugal to achieve independence from
the Moors, and situated on North Africa's doorstep, contributes a centuries-old
tradition of almond and fig sweets.
 Indeed,
the Portuguese have a long history of absorbing culinary traditions from
other peoples. The age of discovery was propelled by the desire for exotic
spices and ever since Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India
at the turn of the sixteenth century, they have proved enormously popular.
Peri-peri, a Brazilian spice transplanted to the former African colonies
is used to flavour chicken and shrimp. Curry spices from Goa are common
seasonings. These spices are typically used very sparingly, adding subtle
flavour and depth to dishes.
It is these influences that have helped make Portuguese food so markedly
different from that of other Mediterranean countries and in Lisbon today
there are scores of restaurants specialising in the cuisines of the old
empire as well as Brazilian-style juice bars, offering drinks and ice-cream
made from exotic fruits.
If there is one thing that typifies traditional Portuguese food, however,
it is fish. From the common anchovy to swordfish, sole, sea bream, bass
and salmon, markets and menus reveal the full extent of Portugal's love
affair with seafood. In Portugal, even a street-bought fish burger is
filled with flavour.
Bacalhau, salted cod, is the Portuguese
fish and said to be the basis for some 365 recipes, one for each day
of the year. Two dishes are particularly notable. Bacalhau à Gomes
de Sá, essentially a casserole of cod, potatoes and onion,
is an Oporto speciality and considered perhaps Portugal's greatest bacalhau
recipe. From Estremadura comes bacalhau á bràs,
scrambled eggs with salted cod, potatoes and onions.
Shellfish, including clams (amêijoas) and mussels (mexilhões)
are also of a high quality. Crab and squid are often stuffed, and lulas
recheadas à lisbonense (stuffed squid Lisbon-style) is a great
example of Portuguese seafood. Visitors to Lisbon can find traditional
shops by the docks selling snails (caracóis).
There are plenty of options for the meat-lover too. Espetada, grilled
skewers of beef with garlic, is popular, as is suckling pig (leitão). Cozido à portuguesa,
a one-dish meal of beef, pork, sausage and vegetables, reflects the resourcefulness
of traditional cooking.
A rather more unusual combination is the pork and clams of porco à alentejana (pork
Alentejo-style). Pork is also cooked with mussels na cataplana,
with the wok-like cataplana sealing in the flavours.
Meanwhile, the city of Oporto boasts tripa à moda do Porto (Oporto-style
tripe), supposedly a legacy from the days of Prince Henry the Navigator,
when the city was left with nothing but tripe after providing the Infante's
ships with food. To this day Oporto natives
are known as tripeiros, or tripe-eaters.
Broiled chicken (frango grelhado), seasoned with peri-peri, garlic,
and/or olive oil, is one of the few things that has made its mark outside
Portugal, where it can be found in cities with a large Portuguese population.
The highly aromatic peri-peri chicken is often served in specialist restaurants.
 Soups
constitute an integral part of traditional cooking, with all manner of
vegetables, fish and meat used to create a variety of soups, stews and
chowders. Caldo verde (literally green broth), made from a soup
of kale-like cabbage thickened with potato and containing a slice of salpicão or chouriço sausage,
originated from the northern province of Minho but is now considered
a national dish.
Along with canja de galinha (chicken broth), caldo verde is a
filling, comforting and ubiquitous favourite. For the more adventurous, caldeirada
de lulas à madeirense (squid stew Madeira-style) features
a characteristically Portuguese combination of seafood, curry and ginger.
Another typical dish is the açorda where vegetables or
shellfish are added to thick rustic bread to create a 'dry' soup.
Those with a sweet tooth may be interested to learn that one of Portugal's
best-kept culinary secrets is its vast and distinctive range of desserts,
cakes and pastries. A staple of restaurant menus is chocolate mousse
- richer, denser and smoother than foreign versions, while other favourites
include arroz doce, a lemon and cinnamon-flavoured rice pudding.
The most famous sweets, however, are the rich egg-yolk and sugar-based
cakes, influenced by Moorish cooking and perfected by Guimerães
nuns in the sixteenth century. For a uniquely Portuguese experience,
the visitor should head for a pasteleria (or confeitaria),
where the many varieties of cakes and other confections, as well as savoury
delicacies like bolinhas de bacalhau, cod balls, are served. The
Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, where the legendary pastéis
de nata, delicious custard-filled tarts, are baked, is a Lisbon highlight.
Nearby Sintra has
its own traditional pastry, queijadas de Sintra (a type of cheese
tart), which street vendors sell in packs of six.
The Portuguese attitude to food is simple and imaginative, traditional
and inventive. Above all, enjoying good food and the social aspects of
eating out is an esteemed part of everyday life. From informal cafes
to world-class restaurants, all budgets and occasions are catered for.
Tiny cafes and tascas, often no more than holes in the wall, abound.
The opportunity to sample this largely unknown cuisine in all its variety
is one of the real rewards of visiting Portugal.
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