Portuguese Food and Wine
An introduction to the Food and Wine of Portugal
Seafood platter
Enjoying good food and wine is considered an essential part of every Portuguese household and the Portuguese are notoriously fussy about the quality of the food that they eat. For most visitors to Portugal the restaurant will be the place to experience the dishes of the country.
We offer several pieces of advice for those looking for a good meal - the cheaper the restaurant the better the food, look first at the Pratos do dia (dishes of the day), order the Vinho de Casa (the house wine) and don't be afraid to send it back if its not to your taste, and most importantly, forget about dieting!
The dishes that are traditionally served up illustrate the result of being at the crossroads of the world for so many years. The Romans introduced wine and olives to the countries cuisine and from the Arab invasion came the casserole and the art of frying. The Portuguese explorations of the far East brought Indian pepper and spices into the national dishes. Hot chillies and coffee were brought from Brazil. African influences from Mozambique and Cape Verde can be tasted in variations of Portuguese feijoada (a stew made with pork and beans).
Bacalhau (salt cod) has long been the favourite Portuguese dish refering to it as fiel amigo (old friend). The salt cod shops offer different grades of salt cod ranging from miudo (the offcuts) to especialidade of the highest quality. The salt cod then needs to be soaked for between twelve to eighteen hours before being scaled and cooked in any of a multitude of different ways. There are literally hundreds of different recipies for this dish, with every region, and many individual towns, having their own unique variations.
Lisbon Street Festival
José Manuel
For lovers of charcoal-grilled food, Portugal is a paradise. Barbequed squid, sea bass, hake and sardines are available at every restaurant and meat eaters are more than adequately catered for, whether your tastes are for grilled beef and chicken, or sucking pig and wild boar.
The Portuguese are also enormously fond of their puddings and virtually every cafe has a selection of cakes, mousse de chocolate, pudim flans and many other very sweet indulgences.
Lisbon was once the western capital of the Roman empire and from the Romans the Portuguese have inherited a love of wine. One Euro can buy you a bottle of genuinely good local wine in the stores, and you'll pay only a few Euro's extra for the same bottle in a restaurant. Portugal has twelve denominated wine producing areas refered to as Denominacao de Origem Controlada. These are regarded as the finest wine producing regions and include Bairrada, Bucelas, Carcavelos, Dao, Douro, Lagoa, Lagos, Portimao, Setubal, Tavira and Vinho Verde.
Thanks to the history of Treaties and allegiances Portugal's port wine has long been familiar to the British. It is claimed that in 1676 two wine shippers from Liverpool were attempting to stablize Portuguese wines for shipping to England and so added brandy - thus creating Port. For a time the English dominated the port-wine trade and formed the association of shippers that led to the now well known labels of Cockburn, Croft, Graham, and Taylor, amongst others. There now exists a wide range of Port wines made under Portuguese labels and fans of this wine should keep an eye open for Ferreira who although not well known outside of Portugal are the largest port wine makers.