Portuguese pastry, Lisbon, artisan craftsmanship
Rabanadas: the slice of bread Portugal served to new mothers
Day-old bread, milk, an egg, a pan. In Portugal the Christmas rabanada is also called fatia de parida: the slice for women who have just given birth. Here is…
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Filhós and sonhos: two fried balls, two doughs, one Portuguese Christmas
A golden ball dusted with cinnamon, picked up with your fingertips from the Christmas table. In Portugal it is a filhó or a sonho, and the difference comes…
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Pudim Molotof: the egg-white dessert named after a fortress
A cloud in a mould, caramel running down the sides, almost nothing under the spoon. Pudim Molotof has two stories: the egg whites nobody wastes, and a name…
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Aletria: the dough threads the Moors left on the Christmas table
First you look: cinnamon draws diamonds across a tender yellow. Aletria is made of dough threads that came from al-Andalus and became a Portuguese Christmas…
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Broa de Avintes: the bread women rowed across the Douro to sell
It comes out of the oven dark, damp and almost crustless. Broa de Avintes, made of white corn and rye, once crossed the Douro by rowing boat to reach the quays…
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Água-pé: the water poured on the grape skins, served on St Martin's Day
It is poured into a plain glass, a hot chestnut in the other hand. Água-pé is the water poured on the grape skins after the harvest, and the drink of 11…
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Pão por Deus: the Portuguese children who knock on doors on 1 November
A small cloth bag and a phrase called out at every door: on 1 November, Portuguese children ask for « Pão por Deus ». Where does this custom come from, and…
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Medronho: the rough little fruit of the Algarve that ripens as autumn begins
At the end of September, in the hills of the Algarve, a small rough fruit turns from yellow to orange, then red. The medronho looks like nothing else, and it…
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Bolo do caco: the Madeiran bread named after its stone
Cooked on a slab of volcanic basalt, kneaded with sweet potato for want of wheat, spread with garlic butter: Madeira's bolo do caco is a bread that goes by the…
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