Portugal - Kings of the spice trade
A cuisine of comfort food
My weeks spent focused on China allowed a brief insight into the influence of Portuguese traders, from the introduction of chiles from the Americas to egg tarts in Hong Kong, all via their trading port in Macau. The Portuguese were prolific explorers, setting up colonies all over the world, from South America to Africa, to India and Asia. For almost two centuries, they dominated the world spice trade. This global exposure created a cuisine that borrows from everywhere the Portuguese settled.
This week I worked primarily from two cookbooks, My Lisbon and Portuguese Home Cooking. While I enjoyed both, I found myself greatly preferring My Lisbon and highly recommend it if you find your interest piqued. I borrowed mine from the library, but do think I will likely end up with a copy on my shelf.
Portuguese food was a big change from the previous few weeks. I found the cuisine to be quite rustic, in a good way. Every dish hit that comfort food button that instantly makes you feel like you are home, no matter where you are physically. There is a heavy reliance on olive oil, seafood, and pork. Sausages are also very common, as a great way to utilize the entire animal.
The first dish I was excited to make was corn bread. Being from the American South, I know corn bread, or at least I thought I did. This version uses flour to give the bread structure and is yeast risen. The result is a dense bread with the flavor of cornbread, but with the texture reminiscent of an Irish soda bread. This was a PERFECT match with another aspect of Portuguese cooking, a tendency toward soups and stews. Best of all, the corn bread lasted all week at room temperature.
I matched the cornbread with what is likely the most popular Portuguese soup, caldo verde. The cornbread is turned into buttered croutons and served in the soup. I was surprised at just how well they held together.
The next dish I did was pork with mussels. It’s a fairly simple dish, starting with marinating the pork in white wine, garlic, and pork fat. Then it is sauteed and finished with more white wine tossed in with mussels, steamed covered until until they open. The recipe said to serve it with orange slices. I had forgotten just how simple cooking mussels and clams can be. It’s a quick way to make a fancy dish with very little effort and sure to impress.
That brings us to the first dessert I attempted, bolo de balacha. This cake is made by layering coffee-dipped Maria biscuits (cookies) with buttercream. The flavor and structure reminds me of tiramisu. In this case, I messed up the butter cream by having the butter too cold. The sugar crystals didn’t dissolve well enough, so the final result was grainy. In My Lisbon, the author creates a custard instead of buttercream. I wanted to try a more traditional version first, but next time I may lean toward trying that custard.
One of the dishes I will show was a transplant from Portugal to China, but first I want to talk about one that went the other direction. If you followed the posts on China, you know I “discovered” congee. My only exposure having been the Chinese versions, I was super excited to try a Portuguese one. This version, called canja de galena do campo, uses chicken and is flavored with fennel, garlic, and lemon. Finally it is topped with fresh cilantro and a piso, a lemon, garlic, and cilantro olive oil mixture. I’m in love with this dish, pure and simple. It’s so hearty and filling while at the same time refreshing from the bite of the cilantro and lemon.
The final stew I made was a pork, sausage, and cabbage stew. This was relatively simple and big on flavor. The original recipe called for blood sausage, but generally have a distaste for blood sausage and I had Linguiça that needed to be eaten anyway.
The final savory dish I made was arroz de bacalhau. While I am an admitted rice fanatic, this was my least favorite dish of the week. It wasn’t bad, but I don’t love the flavor of salt cod. I added some hot sauce for a boost of flavor so it didn’t go to waste, but this isn’t something I would make again.
Wrapping up the week, I made the iconic pastèis de nata, the egg custard tart. I underbaked them a touch and I think the custard was a little too thin, but they were good enough that ate 3 of them in about 5 minutes. These little things are BIG on flavor and I completely get the obsession. These were pretty easy to make using store-bought puff pastry and a muffin tin. While simple, you could spend a long time perfecting these.
With that, we wrap up our time in Portugal. This cuisine makes me yearn for family time around a fireplace, comfort food at its best. If you enjoyed this look at Portuguese food, subscribe to my newsletter (free) below so you don’t miss where our adventures take us next.