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| Ceviche: Fish in marinade |
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Superb fresh fish and seafood from the near Atlantic |
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| Balmy summer evenings, a cool glass of sparkling “Vinho Verde” in your hand, and a gentle sea breeze laden with the enticing odours of freshly caught fish being grilled on street-side barbecues. A truly unforgettable experience that brings visitors back to the Algarve time after time |
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Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato
Clams Bulhão Pato |
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| This regional favourite, and the most common method of cooking clams, can be sampled in most restaurants. The clams are simply cooked with onions, garlic, coriander, olive oil and white wine. This classic dish is normally served with a generous helping of crusty white bread. |
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Arroz de mariscos
Seafood rice |
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“Arroz de mariscos”, a succulent dish of rice, tomatoes and shellfish, is surely a highlight. This risotto style dish also comes in octopus or even conger eel varieties. Shellfish, in their many forms, figure greatly in the Algarve’s cuisine.
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Strangely enough the nation’s most beloved dish is made from a fish that is a foreigner to its waters. “Bacalhau” or salted dried cod, once obtained in great expeditions to northern waters but now imported from Norway, is the major ingredient in “hundreds” of popular dishes and even served up with potatoes, eggs and vegetables as the main Christmas meal.
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The theme of excellent fish and shellfish stews continues with the tasty “caldeirada”. This traditional “fisherman” style stew often contains several sorts of fish and shellfish, and when well prepared is a veritable joy to fish lovers.
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Camarao etc
Prawn varieties
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Let’s not forget the Algarve’s prawn varieties. “Gambas”, “Carabinheiros” and “Camarão Vermelho” can all be boiled, fried or when large enough even grilled.
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“Carapaus alimados” is a versatile and simple yet tasty way of preparing horse mackerels. After salting the gutted and beheaded fish over night they are quickly boiled and then skinned. Served with potatoes, sweet potatoes, or tomatoes depending on the season, they make a simple yet delicious meal
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The dish that really represents the gastronomic art of the region is “Cataplana”, an aromatic dish of clams (or other shellfish), bacon and sausage cooked in a “cataplana” pan, a copper pan with a fixed lid of Moorish origin that is peculiar to the region. This simple method of steam cooking results in one of the region’s tastiest dishes
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“Chocos” (cuttle fish) or in their smaller form “choquinhos” make an interesting dish when fried in their own ink with garlic, or even as part of a salad, and certainly shed a different light on what we normally consider a treat for our pet budgie.
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“Estupeta” is a particularly interesting local speciality of raw tuna, thinly sliced and served with salad. The best choice of tuna dishes is available in restaurants in Vila Real de Santo António and Monte Gordo and especially in August when the annual “Rota de Atum”or tuna route gastronomic festival celebrates the region’s much-loved fish.
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"Lagosta” or crawfish is surely the gem of Algarve waters and so you should be ready to pay as such. Simple to prepare by boiling live, it can be eaten hot or cold, as to your preference.
To be completed: where they come from (Sagres?)
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Lulas grelhadas
Stuffed squid |
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| The common squid, has a conical body and an astronomically high price tag, a fact that corresponds to its out-standing taste. This is the best of all edible squid, stuffed with its own ten finely chopped tentacles or served simply poached. A transparent, feathery sort of thing that experts would call a gladium – though it resembles anything but a sword – stabilizes these boneless deep-sea dwellers from within, thus contributing to their torpedo-like propulsion. Their tender flesh has a distinctive, slightly sweet flavor, reminiscent of crab. |
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| stra (Ostrea edulis), the flat or plate oyster, is rarer than its Lusitanian counterpart, the cupped oyster or Portugaise (Crassostrea angulata), but feels nevertheless at home in the Algarve. Compared to all the French and British varieties of the Ostrea species, their Portuguese cousin is longer, deeper, and has a smoother exterior. Contrary to popular belief, all oysters are most delicious during months without an ‘R’ in them, in other words from May to August, when the water temperatures are above 21° C - at this time, the oysters are ready to spawn, and like fish at this stage, are fat and succulent. According to American food writer and Brillat-Savarin-translator M. F. K. Fisher, the idea of the R’s as a gastronomic rule was created by oyster-farmers, who are reluctant to see oysters removed from circulation just when they are ready to birth some twenty million eggs. |
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“Perceves” or goose barnacles are the strangest looking of molluscs, but looks can be deceiving, and these West Coast delicacies, certainly merit a try, especially when served with their traditional companion, sweet potatoes. Fishermen collect the barnacles from hard-to-reach rocks, risking much more than just a wet pair of trousers in the process. The town of Aljezur is particularly known for this delicacy and celebrates its Goose Barnacle Festival each November
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Peixe do dia
Catch of the day
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The catch of the day, grilled on hot charcoals, seasoned with little more than a sprinkling of sea salt and a squirt of lemon and served with a fresh salad and rice can satisfy the most demanding of palates. Local fishermen come ashore with nets bursting with snapper, scabbard fish, swordfish, sea bass, red mullet, bream, sole, grey bream and many other local fish breeds.
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Another popular salad is octopus salad “salada de polvo”. Squid is equally appreciated and like the “chocos” can be fried in their ink with garlic or simply grilled.
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Porco com amêijoas à Alentejana
Pork loin with clams
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“Porco com amêijoas à Alentejana” is a very popular dish combining pork loin and clams, which may originate from the Alentejo, the province immediately to the north of the Algarve, but has since been embraced by the whole nation
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"Santola” or spider crab is a tasty alternative to crawfish and should also be boiled in salted water and in the Algarve is usually served hot.
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During the summer there is one fish that figures on restaurant menus and local dinner tables more than any other, and that is the humble sardine. This unsuspecting little fish has become something of an emblem for Algarve cuisine, and although it is agreed that they are best eaten in the summer months when fully mature, they are available at most times of the year and best sampled fresh off the grill with salad and bread. Many restaurants serve sardines but the city of Portimão has cashed in the most on tourist demand and at the “sardine dock” next to the old bridge you’ll find several restaurants specialising in grilled sardines. The town even boasts a Sardine Festival, which is held each year in August
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"Tuna" is usually served as a grilled steak with either onion or tomato sauce, but the region’s long tuna fishing history has meant that many recipes using all parts of this huge fish still exist. Tuna can be prepared in various ways, being baked, boiled, and served in soups and stews. The best choice of tuna dishes is available in restaurants in Vila Real de Santo António and Monte Gordo and especially in August when the annual “Rota de Atum”or tuna route gastronomic festival celebrates the region’s much-loved fish.
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The Algarve also offers some slightly more exotic dishes. Xarém, a dish made from maize-meal, fish, shellfish and herbs, is a delicious reminder of the region’s Moorish past.
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