Portuguese pastry, Lisbon, artisan craftsmanship
Pastel de bacalhau: the salt cod shaped between two spoons
It comes out of the oil golden, with three sharp ridges and a soft centre. Behind the pastel de bacalhau lies a fish Portugal does not catch in its own waters,…
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Pastel de Vouzela: the recipe nobody ever wrote down
Very thin pastry, a cream of egg yolks, a veil of icing sugar. The pastel de Vouzela came out of a Porto convent, is still made by hand, and its recipe has…
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Bolo de mel: the Madeira cake you break by hand, never with a knife
A low, dark, dense disc studded with almonds and walnut halves. On Madeira it is baked on 8 December so that it is ready for Christmas, and it is never sliced:…
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Pinhoada: the honey and pine nut diamond from Alcácer do Sal's roads
A brown diamond, hard as a tile, folded two by two into thick white paper. The pinhoada from Alcácer do Sal is made of just two things: honey and the nuts of…
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Batata-doce de Aljezur: a legend three centuries too early
It comes out of the ground still wearing its sand, heavy and oddly fragrant. In Aljezur they say it won a battle in 1249. The trouble is that the calendar says…
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Malassada: the Azorean doughnut that became a Hawaiian icon
The sugar sticks to your fingers before the first bite. No hole in the middle, no glaze: just a golden ball, still warm, rolled in sugar. The malassada looks…
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Portokali: the orange named after Portugal, from Athens to Tehran
Ask for an orange at a market in Athens and you will be handed a portokali. In Istanbul, a portakal. All across the eastern Mediterranean, the fruit still…
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Castanhas de ovos: the chestnuts of Viseu made from egg yolks
Small golden chestnuts, ridged, a little scorched on top. None of them has ever seen a chestnut tree: in Viseu they are shaped by hand from egg yolks and…
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Pão de rala: the fake loaf of Évora that the nuns offered a king
It has the shape of a country loaf and the name of a poor man's flour. Under its crust, though, there is nothing but almond, egg yolks and doce de gila: pão de…
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