Offal
Portuguese consume twice the recommended calories !
Some foods in Portugal still feature a ‘snout-to-tail’ culinary tradition, a practise of cooking that utilizes every edible part of the animal. Organ meats like liver, heart, kidney, tongue, tripe (stomach) are often hidden in sausages or served in specific regional varieties.
Iscas com Elas is iconic to Lisbon, where it was brought by the Galicians, who arrived in the 18th century to work in the capital. A traditional dish consisting of thinly sliced liver marinated in garlic and wine and cooked with onions. They are served with boiled potatoes (referred to as ‘elas’, meaning ‘them’).
Arroz de Cabidela – rabbit or chicken rice cooked with the animals blood and vinegar -is a traditional speciality from the northern Minho region of the country and documented since the 16th century.
Tripas à Moda do Porto is a thick stew of white beans, sausages and pork stomach, famously associated with the city of Porto but widely known across the country, where it is called Dobrada.
Sarrabulho, a traditional northern Portuguese stew or thick soup – when thickened with flour called Papas de Sarrabulho – made from pork offal (liver, heart and kidney), and seasoned with cumin and animal blood.
Chicken feet is a traditional ingredient in the Portuguese cuisine, used to make rich broth for soups, such as canja de galinha (chicken soup) or stewed with garlic, onion and spices.
Moelas is a spicy dish made with tender chicken stomachs, slow cooked in a rich sauce made of tomato, onion, garlic, white wine and piri-piri peppers.
—>The perfect accompaniment to Portuguese meals are cheese and bread.
According to the Taste Atlas the Alentejo bread is part of the Top 10 best breads in the world. Its ‘rustic and thick crust that contrasts with the soft and airy crumb inside’ earned it 7th place on that gastronomic platform last year.
The top cheese from Portugal – Queijo da Estrela – was two years ago called the best sheep cheese in the world. A semi-soft cheese made from the milk of Bordaleira Serra da Estrela and Churra Mondegueira breed of sheep. Milking is done by hand, after which the milk is heated, salted and curled using thistle extract.
The cheese has a creamy interior, yellowish-white in color, while its flavor is sweet and slightly sour. It is the country’s oldest traditional food product with international acclaim. In the 13th century, the king of Portugal opened the first cheese market in Celorico da Beira, in the Serra da Estrela mountain range, where the cheese is still produced today.
The Portuguese are among those who spend the most on food in the EU. Eurostat data – reported by the weekly newspaper Expresso – show that the country ranks 1st among the 27 member states, if the costs of living were the same all over Europe.
One wonders if all that eating has any relation with the fact that 6 in every 10 Portuguese are missing teeth?
Enjoy the week Aproveite a semana (pic Tasteatlas)
