Portuguese cuisine

Garlic and onions are widely used, as are herbs; bay leaf, parsley, oregano, thyme, mint, marjoram, rosemary and coriander are the most prevalent.

[citation needed] Many of today's foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, chilli, bell peppers, maize, cocoa, vanilla or turkey were unknown in Europe until the post-Columbus arrival in the Americas in 1492.

A Portuguese breakfast often consists of fresh bread, with butter, ham, cheese or jam, accompanied by coffee, milk, tea or hot chocolate.

A common Portuguese soup is caldo verde, which consists of a base of cooked, then pureed, potato, onion and garlic, to which shredded collard greens are then added.

[16][17] Fish is served grilled, boiled (including poached and simmered), fried or deep-fried, stewed known as caldeirada (often in clay pot cooking), roasted, or even steamed.

Cod is almost always used dried and salted, because the Portuguese fishing tradition in the North Atlantic developed before the invention of refrigeration—therefore it needs to be soaked in water or sometimes milk before cooking.

Other popular seafoods includes fresh sardines (especially as sardinhas assadas),[19] sea bass, snapper, swordfish, mackerel, sole, brill, halibut, John Dory, turbot, monkfish, octopus, squid, cuttlefish, crabs, shrimp and prawns, lobster, spiny lobster, and many other crustaceans, such as barnacles, hake, horse mackerel (scad), scabbard (especially in Madeira), and a great variety of other fish and shellfish, as well as molluscs, such as clams, mussels, oysters, scallops and periwinkles.

Caldeirada is a range of different stews consisting of a variety of fish (turbot, monkfish, hake, mussels) and shellfish, resembling the Provençal bouillabaisse, or meats and games, together with multiple vegetable ingredients.

These stews traditionally consist of (rapini) grelos,[20] and/or potatoes, tomatoes, peri-peri, bell peppers, parsley, garlic, onions, pennyroyal, and in some regions, coriander.

Canned sardines or tuna, served with boiled potatoes, black-eyed peas, collard greens and hard-boiled eggs, constitute a convenient meal when there is no time to prepare anything more elaborate.

A Portuguese Renaissance chronicler, Garcia de Resende, describes how an entrée at a royal banquet was composed of a whole roasted ox garnished with a circle of chickens.

A common Portuguese dish, mainly eaten in winter, is cozido à portuguesa, which somewhat parallels the French pot-au-feu or the New England boiled dinner.

Tripas à moda do Porto (tripe with white beans) is said to have originated in the 14th century, when the Castilians laid siege to Lisbon and blockaded the Tagus entrance.

Food prices rose astronomically, and small boys would go to the former wheat market place in search of a few grains on the ground, which they would eagerly put in their mouths when found.

One of the theories as to why the plate may belong to the Algarve is that pigs in the region used to be fed with fish derivatives, so clams were added to the fried pork to disguise the fishy taste of the meat.

So, when the deadline arrived, he announced that no ships were available for those who refused conversion—the vast majority—and had men, women and children dragged to churches for a forced mass baptism.

In 1878, Macedo Pinto described the bísaro pig as an animal belonging to the Typo Bizaro or Celta, with the morphological characteristics mentioned above, distinguishing two varieties within the breed, according to the corpulence, color and greater or lesser amount of bristles.

[43] Portuguese cold cuts and sausages (charcutaria and enchidos, respectively) have long and varied traditions in meat preparation, seasoning, preservation and consumption: cured, salted, smoked, cooked, simmered, fermented, fried, wrapped, dried.

Further pork (and other meats) charcuterie products include toucinho, paio, morcela, beloura, bucho, butelo, cacholeira, maranho, pernil, salpicão and others.

Wine (red, white and "green") is the traditional Portuguese drink, the rosé variety being popular in non-Portuguese markets and not particularly common in Portugal itself.

From the distillation of grape wastes from wine production, this is then turned into a variety of brandies (called aguardente, literally "burning water"), which are very strong-tasting.

Monks of the military-religious Order of Christ lived in a church on the same location and provided assistance to seafarers in transit since the early fourteenth century, at least.

The names of these desserts are usually related to monastic life; barriga de freira (nun's belly), papos d’anjo (angel's double chin), and toucinho do céu (bacon from heaven).

Some examples are leite-creme (a dessert consisting of an egg custard-base topped with a layer of hard caramel, a variant of creme brûlée) and pudim flã.

Examples are Albanian portokall, Bulgarian portokal [портокал], Greek portokali [πορτοκάλι], Persian porteghal [پرتقال], and Romanian portocală.

Related names can also be found in other languages: Turkish Portakal, Arabic al-burtuqal [البرتقال], Amharic birtukan'’ [ብርቱካን], and Georgian phortokhali [ფორთოხალი].

[76] The Portuguese "canja", chicken soup made with pasta or rice, is a popular food therapy for the sick, which shares similarities with the Asian congee, used in the same way, indicating it may have come from the East.

In Australia and Canada, variants of "Portuguese-style" chicken, sold principally in fast food outlets, have become extremely popular in the last two decades.

[87] One of the major events on the road to revolution in which Madeira played a key role was the seizure of John Hancock's sloop the Liberty on 9 May 1768 by British customs officials.

[88] It was used to toast The Declaration of Independence and George Washington, Betsy Ross,[89] Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams are also said to have appreciated the qualities of Madeira.