Imagine looking into the distance Atlantic Ocean while enjoying the warm climate and picturesque landscapes. The sun sets behind the endless horizon...What is missing for complete perfection? Of course, delicious, aromatic, gourmet dishes and good wine! This is what Portuguese cuisine will delight you with in abundance.
Portugal, Sintra. Azenhas do Mar. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickmayon/
Many see Portugal as a continuation of Spain. In terms of attractions, perhaps, but not in terms of food and drinks. For example, the use of small hot peppers (Piri piri) in many Portuguese dishes is inspired by African traditions. And in the south, the influence of Italian cuisine can be seen - they also love pasta and add garlic everywhere. In general, the Portuguese are partial to all kinds of spices and know how to use them correctly.
Due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal's cuisine is replete with fish and seafood dishes. They are prepared in whatever ways: fried, boiled, stewed, and baked over coals. Portugal ranks among the first in Europe in terms of fish consumption per year.
Piri-piri pepper. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anamnesiss/
"Card" of Portugal
Bacalhau - dried salted cod - is the main national product of the country. The history of bakalau is very extensive. Cod has been cooked in this way since the times when there were no refrigerators, and in order to preserve the fish, sailors kept it in salt and then dried it.
Portuguese dish - bacalhau. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65886131@N08/
At first, this dish was considered common among the people. And now bakalyau is a delicacy and an indispensable attribute of any holiday. It is served on Easter, Christmas and other special occasions.
There are a great many variations of cod dishes. The Portuguese claim that it can be prepared 365 days a year, without ever repeating itself.
First and second Portuguese courses
Traditional national soup - Caldo verde. Prepared from green cabbage, potatoes, onions, garlic with the addition of olive oil and chorizo (chouriço). Chorizo is a spicy pork sausage. The main spice in it is paprika, which gives the sausage a reddish color and pungency. It is thanks to Chorizo that Caldo verde acquires a unique piquant taste.
Traditional Portuguese soup - Caldo Verde. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/weareneverfull/
Fans of spicy foods should also definitely try the famous Portuguese dish Piri-Piri Chicken (Frango Piri-Piri). Chicken pieces are pre-marinated in piri-piri sauce and then baked or fried.
Portuguese dish - piri-piri chicken (Frango piri piri). Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48458903@N08/
In general, the Portuguese cannot imagine their menu without piri-piri sauce. The main ingredients of the sauce: hot piri-piri pepper, citrus zest, garlic, wine vinegar or lemon juice, oregano, basil, olive oil. Many dishes in Portugal are accompanied by this original hot sauce.
Portuguese dish - Feijoada. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlaarena/
Also traditional for this sunny country Feijoada food. Stewed beans with various types meat and cassava flour. It is served in clay pots with cabbage, rice, pepper sauce, chorizo and other accompaniments, depending on the region. Each locality prepares feijoada differently.
Portuguese dish - Carne de Porco à Alentejana. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezbasilic/
Another famous Portuguese dish is Carne de Porco à Alentejana. It's a combination of fried pork and shellfish. Pork is marinated in a sauce made from white wine, pepper, garlic, coriander, and bay leaf. Then it is fried until golden brown, then shellfish are added, and all this is cooked for two minutes. Served with baked or fried potatoes.
Portuguese desserts
After the meat and fish dishes have been tasted, it is time for dessert. Many traditional Portuguese desserts are based on eggs and sugar. large quantities. Often, spices are also used in sweets, such as cinnamon or vanilla.
Portuguese pastry - Pastel de Belém. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cronicaonline/
An iconic confectionery from Portugal is Pastel de Belém. These are dough cakes in the form of baskets with custard, sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. They have been prepared at the Pasteis de Belém confectionery since 1837. It is located in the Lisbon area. To this day, the exact recipe for this cake is kept secret and is known only to three employees of this pastry shop.
Portuguese pastry - Pastel de Nata. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/portobaytrade/
In many cafes and pastry shops in Portugal you will find an analogue of this cake - Pastel de Nata. But for tourists, a visit to the old pastry shop Pasteis de Belém is a must to enjoy the taste of those real Pastel de Belém cakes.
Portuguese drinks
Where else can you taste real port wine if not in Portugal, the birthplace of this drink. Port (Porto) is a dessert wine with an alcohol content of 20%, produced in the city of Porto, in the north of Portugal, as well as in other areas where its production is regulated by law. A small amount of port is usually drunk before meals, as an aperitif.
Portuguese wines. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59651391@N04/
Also no less popular is Vinho Verde - green wine. But “green” does not mean the color of the drink, but its short aging. Verde can be white, pink or red. This type of wine is not produced in any other country except Portugal. It has a rather specific taste and should be tasted in combination with seafood, fish or meat dishes.
For strong wines, try the well-known Portuguese wine Madeira, which is produced on the island of Madeira. There are dry and dessert wines. The variety of Madeira depends on the grapes and the aging period. The longer it is, the richer and juicier the taste of the wine. By the way, in a wine shop or restaurant, if you want to try Madeira, you need to say “vinho da Madeira”, otherwise they won’t understand you when they say “Madera”.
Portuguese Madeira. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dubes/
Portuguese cuisine will tempt any gourmet with its superb delicacies, as this sunny country is known for its eternal love for wine and food. Enjoy your meals slowly, savoring every piece of aromatic, spicy food and tasting amazing wine. Bom apetite! (Bon appetit!)
National cuisine Portugal, over many centuries, was created by peasants and fishermen. Therefore, most dishes are easy to prepare, satisfying and mainly consist of fish, seafood, and vegetables. It is worth noting that the Portuguese are very proud of their national cuisine and are very responsible when it comes to eating. Just look at the fact that from 12:30 to 13:30 practically all institutions and offices close, and the whole country sits down to have lunch. And after two o'clock in the afternoon, in restaurants and cafes, you can only see tourists and foreigners. In addition, each region has its own local recipes for preparing dishes that are quite unusual for us. And now, a little more about what tourists and travelers who are in this beautiful and hospitable country need to taste.
Since ancient times, the main source of income for local residents was fishing and navigation. This is not surprising, because half of the country’s territory is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, the favorite dishes of the Portuguese are prepared from fish and seafood. From just one cod, local chefs can prepare 365 delicious dishes (one dish for every day of the year). Interesting fact: each Portuguese eats 16 kilograms of cod per year, although it is not found in local latitudes; it is brought from Norway. Also used for cooking are sardines, perch, trout, tuna, mackerel, octopus, shellfish, crabs...
Here are just some fish dishes from Portuguese cuisine:
- "Bacalhau" - dried salted cod, with a side dish of Turkish peas. In addition, bacalhau is a component of many dishes.
- “Bacalhau a bras” - fried pieces of salted cod with potatoes, onions and eggs.
- "robola" - fried wolf perch.
- “Caldeirada” is a fish soup puree.
- "lapas" - fried shellfish.
- "crab croquettes".
- "crab pate".
- « Captain Vidal's crying fish"- fish soup, which is cooked from still living fish, with the addition of butter, onions, peppers, and potatoes.
- “Cataplana” is a fish soup made from several types of fish and seafood.
- Tamboril is a dish made from monkfish.
- « Arroche de Marisco"- rice prepared in a special way, with seafood (similar to Spanish paella).
- « kreme de marishkush» - thick seafood soup.
- « ameijoas a ballao pato"(kiss with a shell) - a dish of boiled mussels, coriander, olive oil, garlic and white wine.
- "Salada de polvu" - octopus salad.
But Portuguese cuisine is famous not only for fish dishes. I bring to your attention a few more dishes that clearly characterize the national cuisine:
Portuguese cuisine is rich in sweet desserts. Tourists from all over Europe come to taste Portuguese sweets. Numerous confectionery shops and coffee shops offer a wide selection of desserts made from milk, sugar, eggs, rice, cinnamon, vanilla, figs, almonds, coconut... Do not deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying such “goodies” as:
- « almond cookies with sour cream.”
- "almond nougat"
- "sweet almond balls"
- "nun cookies"
- "grandson's treat"
- "heavenly cake"
- "Belensky cake"
- “egg yolks in powdered sugar” (“ovos moles”).
It is impossible to imagine the national cuisine of Portugal without the famous port wine, of which it is the birthplace. This is a fortified wine that is produced in the north of the country, in the Douro River valley. Port wine goes well with any national dish. In addition, the wines of the island of Madeira have long gained worldwide fame - “ Verdelho", "Sercial", "Blandy", "Bual", "Miles", "Likosh". Such wine-growing regions of the country as Vinho Verde, Bairrada, Colares, Alentejo, Dan and others are famous for their high-quality wines. For stronger drinks, it is worth trying Almendo Amarga liqueur «
, cherry liqueur "Ginjinha" «
and vodka made from the fruits of the strawberry tree - “ Aguaridiente de metronho«
. For beer lovers, I recommend the excellent Portuguese beer “Coral” «
.
Welcome to hospitable Portugal and bon appetit everyone!
When leaving for Portugal, I naively believed that I would lose weight, because the country is seaside! “So I’ll have lunch with light dishes of fish and shellfish, and dinner with fruit and wine,” I thought. Who knew that here, in addition to seafood, a hundred varieties of cakes and puddings were insidiously waiting for me in every cafe window and hearty portions of meat dishes and potatoes in the restaurant? In general, the range of dishes turned out to be much wider and more multifaceted than I could have imagined.
Kitchen features
If I were asked to briefly describe Portuguese cuisine, I would say that it is simple and intricate, sweet and salty, healthy and unhealthy. In general, really contrasting. For example, dishes made from healthy boiled or baked meats are equally popular. sea fish with a fatty and high-calorie stew of sausages, pork and beans.
Another example is Portuguese puree soups. They take only 20 minutes to prepare and are much healthier than our cabbage soup or borscht. At the same time, another national dish, cod in cream sauce, takes more than a day to prepare! But calling this high-calorie fish and potatoes dish healthy is unlikely to be correct.
Portuguese cuisine is Mediterranean. It is based on wine, bread and olive oil. The Portuguese are proud of these products, and in any supermarket and at any price they will be of the highest quality.
To the kitchen in different times influenced other countries. For example, in the famous era geographical discoveries it included tomatoes and potatoes. In addition, the Portuguese love Indian spices.
Most of all dishes, of course, are fish. The fish here is very tasty and fresh, it is prepared in different ways: in the oven, in a frying pan and on the grill. The most beloved fish among the people is cod. There are so many options for its preparation that in Portugal they say that you can cook cod every day for a year without ever repeating it. I don’t think even the Portuguese know exactly how many options there are for preparing it.
Traditional dishes on the continent
Traditional Portuguese dishes are widely known, if not throughout the world, then certainly in Europe. This, of course, is cod, which here is called bacalhau, in hundreds of its culinary incarnations, stews with beans, giblets and sausages, cod pies, pasta de nata cakes.”
However, I advise you to take into account that different regions of Portugal have their own special dishes. To be honest, for me traditional dishes are... good way learn the history and culture of the Portuguese people. For example, the love for grilled sardines in the capital of Portugal, Lisbon, was not born by chance.
The preparation of this fish is a special tradition on All Saints' Day, Santos Populares. And the most famous dish in the city - a stew of pork and beef offal tripash - gave its name to the entire city population. Residents northern capital called “tripeirush”, that is, “lovers of tripe”.
Baked cod bacalhau
As I already said, this is the most typical fish for Portuguese cuisine and its symbol. Unlike, for example, Japanese sushi, which, contrary to stereotypes, is not the everyday food of the Japanese, cod is a truly folk fish. I understood this immediately when I entered the first Lisbon supermarket. In a place of honor in any Portuguese “supermercado” hang huge salted cod carcasses, which people eagerly take apart.
By the way, the tradition of preserving fish in this way comes from ancient times, when fishermen salted their catch in order to bring it to the continent as edible. Before cooking, the fish must be soaked in water for a day.
Some of the most popular types of cod are cod in creamy bacalhau de nata sauce, cod with cornbread, cod a brasse with potatoes and olives, and cod Braga.
Grilled fish
Another national dish, grilled fish is loved throughout Portugal. However, as I have already said, Lisbon residents have a special love for this fish. It was a rare summer day in the center of Lisbon without one of my neighbors frying this fish on an electric grill or coals.
Food in Portugal is rich and colorful dishes, combining sweet and salty, intricate and simple, healthy and unhealthy. The favorite food of the descendants of the great Discoverers combines the exoticism of root seasonings, the variety of oriental spices and the purity of taste of fresh products. The basis of local cuisine is vegetables, meat and fish, which are rich in the Atlantic Ocean washing the country's shores.
For gourmets planning a trip to the homeland of Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan, we have prepared a selection of the 10 most popular traditional dishes Portugal: from rich soups to delicious desserts.
Bacalhau à Brás
The first food thing you need to try in Portugal is the national cod dish. They say that the country's residents know 365 ways to prepare this sea fish. The most popular version, Bacalhau à Brás, is named after the recipe's author, a Lisbon innkeeper named Braz.
The basis business card Portuguese cuisine includes boiled cod, sautéed onions and fried potatoes. All this gastronomic splendor is poured with beaten eggs and stewed. The appetizing dish is garnished with olives and parsley and served with a glass of good old fashioned.
The Portuguese's favorite fish, popularly called fiel amigo (faithful friend), is imported into the country from Norway and Iceland, where it is caught, salted and dried. There is no cod fishing in the Atlantic Ocean.Caldo verde
Among national dishes Soups occupy a special place in Portugal. A striking example of this is the aromatic stew native to the northern province of Minho. The thick dish consists of vegetable broth, onions, potatoes, garlic and olive oil. Spicy chorizo pork sausages add a spicy note and piquant taste, and the rich green color comes from couve gallega cabbage.
Connoisseurs of Portuguese cuisine claim that the best Caldo Verde can be tasted at the Lisbon restaurant Restaurante Duque. The fragrant soup is served with wine: aged fortified Madeira or young, refreshing Vinho Verde.
Feijoada
The creation of a typical dish of Portuguese cuisine dates back to the 15th century - the time of the colonization of African lands and the enslavement of the local population. Slaves taken to Lisbon, subsisting on bread and water, invented a kind of stew. It included products that plantation owners disdained: beef tripe, pig ears and black beans.
Today, Feijoada is made from spicy sausages, smoked pork, a mixture of beans and cabbage. The hearty dish is served with white rice. In different regions of Portugal, the traditional recipe is enriched with new ingredients. The most original version can be tried in the Algarve - here cuttlefish meat is added to the dish.
Arroz de marisco
In terms of the number of fish and seafood dishes consumed, Portugal ranks third in the world, behind Japan and Iceland. And it is not surprising that one of the most popular local recipes is the delicious dish Arroche de marisco, often called “Portuguese”.
The basis of the dish includes squid, shrimp, mussels, scallops and crabs. Fresh gifts from the ocean are boiled, and the resulting broth is used to stew rice mixed with a sauce of tomatoes, garlic and onions. Then the prepared mixture is combined with seafood, saffron and coriander are added - and the dish, one of the seven masterpieces of national cuisine, is ready!
Açorda
When you are in Portugal, be sure to try the simple and delicious soup, which is an iconic dish of the southern Alentejo region. The national cuisine owes the appearance of thick stew to poor peasant families. A frequent guest on their table was a dish consisting of stale bread soaked in boiling water, eggs, garlic, olive oil and cilantro.
Like hundreds of years ago, today the main ingredient of modern Asorda is the rustic “Karkasas” - bread with a crispy brown crust and a grayish porous crumb. Chefs often complement the classic soup with chorizo sausages and seafood.
Francesinha
Anyone who calls a banal piece of bread with sausage a sandwich is deeply mistaken! A real sandwich consists of toasted slices of toast, beef steak, pork belly and ham. A delicious multi-layer “pyramid” is generously filled with tomato-beer sauce and melted cheese. This is exactly what an authentic Portuguese Francesinha looks like.
The recipe for a high-calorie sandwich, the name of which translates as “little French girl,” was invented in the middle of the last century by Daniel da Silva, a chef in love with gastronomy and the women of the Fifth Republic. The simple dish has become so popular that a festival is dedicated to it, held annually in the city of Porto.
Cozido a Portuguesa
Fans of hearty meals traveling around the country should definitely try the cold cuts Cusido a Portuguesa, seasoned with vegetables, the name of which translates as “brew in Portuguese.”
The secret of the unique taste of this unique hodgepodge is in the sequence of adding ingredients. In a huge saucepan, they first cook different types of meat, then put smoked sausages and vegetables into the container: cabbage, potatoes, onions and carrots. By changing this strict order, instead of the authentic Cozido à Portuguesa, you will get a banal stew.
In restaurants in Portugal, this calorie bomb is prepared only on Thursdays. When ordering a dish, remember that a plate filled with a delicious mixture is enough for two.Frango piri-piri
Fans of spicy food will surely enjoy the classic Portuguese dish – marinated chicken Frango piri-piri. The main ingredient of the dish - the Angolan fiery sauce piri-piri - appeared in Portugal during the era of geographical discoveries. It is this seasoning, consisting of crushed chili peppers, garlic, lemon zest and spices, that gives the familiar bird a unique spicy aroma and “fiery” taste.
A savory dish with a pleasant sourness is traditionally grilled over charcoal and served on a bed of white rice, complemented by French fries. Frango piri-piri goes perfectly with light ones: green Vinho Verde or pink Porto Cruz Pink.
Cataplana
A popular national dish, the aromatic Cataplana is the first thing to try in southern Portugal. The thick stew got its name from the special container in which this dish is cooked.
A copper container similar to a wok pan, consisting of two hemispheres connected by locks and a loop, was invented by artisans of the Algarve region in the 8th century.
Classic Cataplana is prepared from seafood and wine, but modern chefs enrich the recipe with tomatoes, onions, paprika, fish and even meat. To fully enjoy the magnificent taste, the dish is eaten directly from the frying pan, snacked on crispy warm bread and washed down with dry white port.
Pastel de Belem
The most famous one is known far beyond the country's borders. In the 19th century, novices of the Jeronimos monastery began baking flaky crispy baskets with sweet custard hidden inside. They say that in order to preserve the recipe for Pasteix de Belem, the monks took a vow of silence. Since then, the ancient technology for producing cakes has been kept secret.
Today you can try this delicate dessert in any confectionery shop in the country. But if you want to know what an authentic delicacy tastes like, head to Lisbon on R. de Belém, where the Pasteis de Belem café, opened in 1837, is located. The popular establishment is easy to find by the long line of sweet lovers lined up at the entrance.
The national cuisine of Portugal cannot boast of being refined or luxurious. However, do not underestimate the traditional dishes of this sunny country: aromatic, rich and surprisingly varied. Each region presents its gastronomic delights and “specialties” to gourmets.
In the north, hot, savory Chorizo sausages, Arrepiadush almond protein cakes and Sardinhas grelhadas charcoal-grilled sardines are popular. Central Portugal is famous for its whole-roasted pig Leitão assado, the rich stew Açorda de Marisco and the wine-cooked lamb Chanfana.
Travelers to the southern part of the country should try Carne de Porco à Alentejana, a wine-stewed pork with spices and shellfish, Perceves poached seafood seasoned with a salty sauce, and Xerém de conquilhas, a corn porridge with shells.
