Europe Planeo About a destination World cuisine
La rédaction du Blogue du voyageur 26 October 2021
A stay in Portugal will inevitably lead to discovering new flavours and experiencing unforgettable culinary experiences. During your stay, make it a priority to try these six local classics. Your taste buds will be thankful!
The Portuguese will confirm, the world’s best olive oil comes from Ferreira in the Aletenjo; nothing less! Olives are hand-picked and pressed with love to give Portuguese olive oil a rich and unique taste and a beautiful green colour. It’ll be love at first taste!
Originating from Belém (once a city, now a district of Lisbon), the well-known Portuguese tarts will please all travellers with a sweet tooth! You’ll be able to enjoy this typical and delicious Portuguese pastry when exploring the capital’s iconic district. Now widely commercialized all around the country, pastéis de nata is best enjoyed lukewarm with cinnamon or powdered sugar.
The world-famous Port wine is a fortified wine with a protected designation of origin that is usually consumed as an aperitif or a digestif. The most popular ones are Ruby and Tawny (red Port wines), but white and rosé ones also exist. The Port wine gains its round and opulent taste from mutage, a process that consists of adding eau-de-vie to the wine during the fermentation stage. During your stay in Porto, you’ll have the chance to visit a winery and have a wine tasting in the Vila Nova de Gaia neighbourhood. Also, don’t forget to plan a stop in the mythical Douro valley where the different grape varieties are harvested. The extreme heat this region experiences in the summer is ideal for wine production.
Cod, or bacalhau in Portuguese, is a classic of Portuguese cuisine. This great love story started over 500 years ago, dating all the way back to the Age of Discovery. Cod fritters, grilled cod, cod with bouillabaisse, cod au gratin… legend says there would be more than 365 ways to cook cod in Portugal, enough to try a new recipe every day of the year! In many Portuguese families, cod is even served on Christmas Day. Throughout your stay, you’ll have the chance to discover several ways this delicious fish is prepared in Portugal.
Portugal isn’t only known for Port wine; many other great types of wine can be enjoyed there. Vinho verde (green wine) doesn’t get its name from its colour, but from the region it comes from and the label that produces white, red and a few rosé wines. The latter come from the Minho region, in the north of the country, where the different grape varieties result in wines of varied flavour profiles. In the summer, Vinho verde is highly popular with locals and visitors for its refreshing taste and low alcohol content.
You’ll discover several varieties of this smoked pork-based sausage. As opposed to the spicier Spanish chorizo, the chouriço is less fatty and is usually seasoned with paprika, garlic, cumin and white wine. You’ll find it in meals such as caldo verde—the green cabbage soup—and potato stew. During your stay, you’ll probably notice that chouriço is often served in a special clay dish. It gets flambéed with eau-de-vie before being served and enjoyed.
Ready for a treat? See you in Portugal! You’ll fall for this country’s charm and gastronomy, that’s for sure.
Bom apetite!
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