A picture guide to Portuguese food

in #portugal7 years ago (edited)

Starters

You want to try the "tapas" (petiscos). These are not Spanish tapas, mind you. Portions slightly bigger, consider 2/3 per person. I liked the smoked (actually fired) sausage and the polvo verde.

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Main course

Bacalhau (codfish) is EVERYWHERE. Cooked in every possible way or sauce. In general, any kind of fish in Portugal is very good (salmon, clams, prawns).

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In addition to fish, a traditional Portuguese dish is Francesinha, a sandwich with, like, 5 different kinds of meat, cheese, a fried egg on top, drowned in a beer sauce and surrounded by fries. If this won't give you a heart attack, I don't know what will.

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As a wise Portuguese said,

Everybody can make a sandwich;
the sauce is what makes the difference.

So I went to THE sauce place, where the sauce is supposed to be spicy as hell (they call it "the men sauce". Sexist, uh?).
TL;DR: wasn't spicy; didn't love it.

Dessert

A famous (and cheap) pastry is pasteis de nata, made with custard cream. If they ask you for more than 1 euro per piece, you're in a tourist trap! Don't buy it.

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Finish your meal with a good Port wine (I personally like ruby, but tawny is always a good choice) and an espresso.

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(and since you're in Portugal, add a wine tasting tour. For good measure.)

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This looks delicious! My suggested beer pairing is a Lager. Try it out and let us know what you think!

Thank you for the suggestion! I'll try it out tomorrow when the weather should be a little better. It has been cold and rainy for the past week, my pairing even involved hot tea! lol