1. Peixe grelhado
Peixe grelhado, grilled fish, is a staple in most Portuguese restaurants. Locals prefer theirs grilled over charcoal because this gives a nice crispy texture to the skin.
Depending on the season you’ll see carapau, oily mackerel with high levels of Omega-3, robalo, white flesh seabass and dourada, mild-tasting golden bream.
However, the two most often eaten fish types are sardinahas and bacalhau. They’re so popular they get their own entries.
)
2. Sardinahas assadas
Sardinahas (sardines) are so popular in Portugal they even have their own festival. Well almost.
The Festos dos Santos Populares in Lisbon is held every year in the first two weeks of June. It’s a Catholic celebration of the feast days of various saints, culminating in a street party to honour Santo António.
Saint Anthony was a 12th-century Catholic priest born to a wealthy Lisbon family. He took a vow of poverty and because sardines were the food of the poor, they’re considered his symbol.
On June 12, the longest day of the year, people line Avenida da Liberdade to watch the Marchas Populares parade. Then they flock to Lisbon’s tiny squares and narrow backstreets where the air is thick with the pungent smell of sardines cooking on outside grills.
Revellers eat them hot off the coals wrapped in slices of white bread and washed down with beer, before joining in the throng to dance to upbeat Pimba music with its double entendre lyrics nonstop until to dawn.
)
3. Bacalhau
Depending on who you believe, Portugal has a different bacalhau recipe (that’s cod), for every day of the year. Other people say the number runs to more than a thousand.
Either way, you’re bound to see bacalhau on the menu everywhere in the country and in the supermarkets. Portuguese women shake and knock on dried salted sheets of cod, often longer than they are themselves tall, before deciding which one to buy.
They use it to make Bacalhau à brás. In this dish the cod is sautéed with onions then shredded, mixed with potatoes and cooked through with eggs until it has a velvety texture, and finished with the addition of olives and chopped parsley.
Pastéis de bacalhau are another favourite. Once again the fish is shredded and cooked with potatoes, eggs, parsley and onion, but this time the mix is shaped into a ball and fried.
It’s served as a petisco, a type of savoury snack the Portuguese eat at a tasca, bars traditionally serving house wine and brandy accompanied by edibles to graze on.
These days many tasca now serve up a wide range of petisco to consume as a complete meal.
)
1. Peixe grelhado
Peixe grelhado, grilled fish, is a staple in most Portuguese restaurants. Locals prefer theirs grilled over charcoal because this gives a nice crispy texture to the skin.
Depending on the season you’ll see carapau, oily mackerel with high levels of Omega-3, robalo, white flesh seabass and dourada, mild-tasting golden bream.
However, the two most often eaten fish types are sardinahas and bacalhau. They’re so popular they get their own entries.
2. Sardinahas assadas
Sardinahas (sardines) are so popular in Portugal they even have their own festival. Well almost.
The Festos dos Santos Populares in Lisbon is held every year in the first two weeks of June. It’s a Catholic celebration of the feast days of various saints, culminating in a street party to honour Santo António.
Saint Anthony was a 12th-century Catholic priest born to a wealthy Lisbon family. He took a vow of poverty and because sardines were the food of the poor, they’re considered his symbol.
On June 12, the longest day of the year, people line Avenida da Liberdade to watch the Marchas Populares parade. Then they flock to Lisbon’s tiny squares and narrow backstreets where the air is thick with the pungent smell of sardines cooking on outside grills.
Revellers eat them hot off the coals wrapped in slices of white bread and washed down with beer, before joining in the throng to dance to upbeat Pimba music with its double entendre lyrics nonstop until to dawn.
3. Bacalhau
Depending on who you believe, Portugal has a different bacalhau recipe (that’s cod), for every day of the year. Other people say the number runs to more than a thousand.
Either way, you’re bound to see bacalhau on the menu everywhere in the country and in the supermarkets. Portuguese women shake and knock on dried salted sheets of cod, often longer than they are themselves tall, before deciding which one to buy.
They use it to make Bacalhau à brás. In this dish the cod is sautéed with onions then shredded, mixed with potatoes and cooked through with eggs until it has a velvety texture, and finished with the addition of olives and chopped parsley.
Pastéis de bacalhau are another favourite. Once again the fish is shredded and cooked with potatoes, eggs, parsley and onion, but this time the mix is shaped into a ball and fried.
It’s served as a petisco, a type of savoury snack the Portuguese eat at a tasca, bars traditionally serving house wine and brandy accompanied by edibles to graze on.
These days many tasca now serve up a wide range of petisco to consume as a complete meal.
1. Peixe grelhado
Peixe grelhado, grilled fish, is a staple in most Portuguese restaurants. Locals prefer theirs grilled over charcoal because this gives a nice crispy texture to the skin.
Depending on the season you’ll see carapau, oily mackerel with high levels of Omega-3, robalo, white flesh seabass and dourada, mild-tasting golden bream.
However, the two most often eaten fish types are sardinahas and bacalhau. They’re so popular they get their own entries.
2. Sardinahas assadas
Sardinahas (sardines) are so popular in Portugal they even have their own festival. Well almost.
The Festos dos Santos Populares in Lisbon is held every year in the first two weeks of June. It’s a Catholic celebration of the feast days of various saints, culminating in a street party to honour Santo António.
Saint Anthony was a 12th-century Catholic priest born to a wealthy Lisbon family. He took a vow of poverty and because sardines were the food of the poor, they’re considered his symbol.
On June 12, the longest day of the year, people line Avenida da Liberdade to watch the Marchas Populares parade. Then they flock to Lisbon’s tiny squares and narrow backstreets where the air is thick with the pungent smell of sardines cooking on outside grills.
Revellers eat them hot off the coals wrapped in slices of white bread and washed down with beer, before joining in the throng to dance to upbeat Pimba music with its double entendre lyrics nonstop until to dawn.
3. Bacalhau
Depending on who you believe, Portugal has a different bacalhau recipe (that’s cod), for every day of the year. Other people say the number runs to more than a thousand.
Either way, you’re bound to see bacalhau on the menu everywhere in the country and in the supermarkets. Portuguese women shake and knock on dried salted sheets of cod, often longer than they are themselves tall, before deciding which one to buy.
They use it to make Bacalhau à brás. In this dish the cod is sautéed with onions then shredded, mixed with potatoes and cooked through with eggs until it has a velvety texture, and finished with the addition of olives and chopped parsley.
Pastéis de bacalhau are another favourite. Once again the fish is shredded and cooked with potatoes, eggs, parsley and onion, but this time the mix is shaped into a ball and fried.
It’s served as a petisco, a type of savoury snack the Portuguese eat at a tasca, bars traditionally serving house wine and brandy accompanied by edibles to graze on.
These days many tasca now serve up a wide range of petisco to consume as a complete meal.
