Eating in Portugal is an extremely rewarding and inexpensive experience, even when eating out in places of quality do Portuguese cuisine draws influences from many cultures and yet seems to have a strong Mediterranean theme. The national dish is Bacalhau, a dried-salted codfish cooked in a variety of ways, in fact they say that there is a different method for every day of the year.
Fish and Seafood unsurprisingly make up a large part of Portuguese cuisine; you can still see the traditional small fishing boats in operation all along the Silver coast and you can even help pulling in the nets, if like me you can’t keep your nose out of traditional methods of living! These small boats sell their catch directly to the local restaurants and the variety of shellfish, crab, grilled sardines, hake, prawns and lobster are a mouth watering delight for the
fish lovers amongst you. My personal favourite is the Caldeirada which is a stew consisting of the chefs selection of fish and shell fish plus tomatoes, onion and potatoes.
The vegetables used here are largely familiar, Onions, Garlic, Tomatoes, Carrots, leeks, Cabbage; a bitter cabbage is a particular favourite and grows profusely here, as do sprouts.Vegetables for a lot of the older Portuguese are the main-stay of their diet. Many traditional dishes incorporate local produce, for example, the traditional Portuguese soup, Calde Verde.Potatoes and rice are the most common carbohydrate part of a meal and they have many ways of cooking them that put our English ‘normalities’ to shame !
Meat dishes too are varied and delicious, roast chicken and pork are the most popular dishes, perhaps price driven but a good steak or ‘bife’ is easily found. You will find the best ones disguised in the menu as vitela or veal but if you are an objector to veal have no fear, it simply means young cow rather than any process the animal goes through, the steak itself is very red and does not have the pale characteristics of the veal that we know in England.
The wide variety of spices used in the Portuguese kitchen is testament to their once vast empire. They find their way in to a variety of cured sausages, stews and fried meats.A very common meal, the ‘Bitock’ consists of a fillet of pork served with rice, chips and a fried egg which at first seems a bit of a mix but it works well as a working lunch. My favourite meat dish by far is the black pork or Porco Preto and is a crossed breed of wild boar and the domestic pig and in the hands of a good chef makes a superb meal full of flavour and succulent juices.
Snacks are changing in the resturaunt industry towards the fast food genre; however it is still possible to buy a bowl of soup with bread or the Bifana, which is a slice of pork often fried in garlic and other spices in a bread roll. Toasted sandwiches are very popular, but by far the most commonly seen snack is cake ! The Portuguese really like cake; With a variety of deliciously naughty but nice treats on every street corner and in most cafes and bars it does make resistance futile.
Portuguese cheeses are varied, strong flavoured and fragrant, predominately made from the goats milk they are generally eaten separately rather than part of the dish, if you can find home made goats cheese do try it, it is fabulous.
Breakfast is very light, often a piece of toast and coffee more often a piece of cake or
croissant in the cities. Not a dish of bacon and eggs to be found outside of tourist-Ville.