{ Adventure Is Out There! }: Sabores de Portugal

Sabores de Portugal: Flavors of Portugal

There are so many things I love about Portugal: the cobblestone roads, the red roofs, the down-to-earth people, the fado, and the FOOD! When we leave, I think I'll miss the food the most.

Whenever we plan out a trip somewhere, I like to look at lists of the top foods that place has to offer (top in quality and culture), so here's a list that I've made. We haven't tried everything there is to eat here. For example, I haven't been brave enough to try octopus, and we can't drink the world-famous vinho verde ('tis the life of a sober Mormon), but we have tried some of the treats Portugal has to offer. Here's a list of the foods and our experiences with them.

1. Batatas Fritas
Fried potatoes. Potato chips (or sometimes fries). Almost all restaurants serve these on the side, and most of the time, they're the kind of chips you pick up from the grocery store. If you go to the right place, they'll make them from scratch. Everything is always better from scratch. We tried our first homemade batatas fritos at Sabores de Coruche after our tour at the Armorim cork factories.

blogdomarcosbassi.blogspot.pt

2. Roast Veal and Other Red Meats

The Portuguese know how to make meat, especially red meats like sausages, pork, beef, etc. My favorite meat platter was served (again) at Sabores de Coruche. We were given a sampler of roasted pork and veal.

facebook.com/pages/Sabores-de-Coruche/205200959499810

3. Roast Chicken

When Eric and I first arrived in Lisbon, we were picked up from the airport by one of Eric's soon-to-be coworkers. When we asked him what food he liked best here in Lisbon, he answered, "Roast chicken, fore sure," without hesitation. Just a few days later, we were able to have lunch with people from the embassy at a nearby restaurant known for its roast chicken. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was very good. Moist and flavored just right with piri-piri.

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4. Balcalhau

While we're on the subject of meats, we'll move onto to Portuguese salted cod...actually Northern European salted cod...brought down to Portugal. So not really Portuguese, but we see it everywhere. The cod is presented in sooooo many ways: in cakes, in pastries, in soups, in rice, and so on, and so on. It's offered at all the restaurants and some pastelarias, so when I hadn't had any at this point, I was feeling a hole in my cultural being. To fill it, I picked up pasteis de balcalhau (cod) from the grocery store and fried them up at home. They were definitely delicious.

5. Coxinhas

Coxinhas aren't actually Portuguese. They're Brazilian, but since Brazil plays such a huge role in Portuguese history and culture, it's easy to find the South American cuisine here, especially in large cities like Lisbon. One day, on our way to the Feira da Ladra, a flea market in the Alfama, we passed by a little restaurant named Sol Brasil. Eric, feeling nostalgic of his mission days, decided to buy a few conxinhas for us to snack on. They're a teardrop-shaped savory pastry filled with shredded chicken. The Brazilian way to eat them is with lots of ketchup, so that's what we did.

6. Queijo da Serra

Cheese from the mountain. It's cheese made from sheep milk that has a hard, waxy shell and a gooey, buttery middle. We had this one night on a cheese platter I made for Eric.

7. Francesinhas

Francesinhas, literally "little French girls," are a Porto staple. A good way to describe them is as a sandwich filled with different meats covered in cheese, smothered in a sauce (usually tomato), and sometimes topped with an egg. The best way to describe them is mmmmmmmmm....

An okay francesinha we had in Lisbon

A much better one in Porto at Cafe Santiago.

8. Arroz Doce

Sweet rice. It's a lot like rice pudding or tapioca with cinnamon on top. We had some that our landlord's mother-in-law made for her birthday. It's a pretty common dessert found in Portuguese homes.

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9. O Melhor Bolo de Chocolate do Mundo

The Best Chocolate Cake in the World. With a title like that, we had to try it and see if it really was the best chocolate cake in the world. Within walking distance of our apartment, in the Campo de Ourique neighborhood, is one of the restaurants in this prideful chain of cake shops. On a date, I took Eric there. Inspired by the Food Channel shows, I made judging sheets that we used to judge the cake on presentation, taste, and memorability. We ordered a dark chocolate and a milk chocolate cake and were surprised to find that they weren't the typical spongy dessert we're used to. Rather it was chocolate-smothered layers of chocolate wafers with chocolate filling in between. It was a lot like a Kit Kat except bigger and more chocolatey. Was it the best chocolate cake in the world? No, solely because I wouldn't call it a cake. Was it the best chocolate-overdose Kit Kat pie? Probably.

10. Queijadas

These tiny pastries filled with creamy, sweet cheese are usually found in Sintra, a romantic, fairy tale town just outside of Lisbon. We had these when we visited Sintra on a surprise date. Here's a little SAT prep: Sintra is to queijadas as Lisbon is to _______ (see answer at #11).

The queijadas are the small, round tarts.

11. Pasteis de Nata

Last, but most definitely not least. We've been on a mission since arriving in Lisbon to find the best pastelaria for these little pastries. Eric prefers Pasteis de Belem. I prefer Aloma from Campo de Ourique. What we usually get are a pack of four for 1.70 euro from the grocery store. They're usually a euro each in cafes or pastelarias. That's a little above our college student-sized budget for pastries.