A Guide to the Food and Drink of the Algarve…

Discovering the extent of the Algarve’s culinary range is a pleasure for anyone visiting the region. Simultaneously rich in flavours but unpretentious in preparation, the Algarve cuisine reflects both roots set deep in realities long since gone and a diverse set of influences, as is the case with so much of this region’s heritage.

In a land of fishermen residing on the fringes of the Atlantic, fish and shellfish have always played a leading role in the kitchen. In many cases, the best recipes are those of fishermen who, over the centuries, have perfected the best means of sealing in all the natural flavour – ever so slow charcoal grilling. But yet there is much more. There are many recipes in which the best of the sea’s produce is cooked along with herbs, spices and other ingredients. The most famous is Clams cooked in the Cataplana, a copper utensil. Islamic in origin, the Cataplana is particularly effective in preserving delicate flavours.

However, the influences have come from all over. The inland region has also contributed to the Algarve cuisine with some wonderful recipes based on the local agriculture, wild herbs and plants, and the meats culled from the hillside pastureland. Now internationally famous, the cakes and desserts are the sweetest of delights! There is no holding out against the divinely produced specialities featuring their lavish dash of sugar and eggs in addition to the almonds, figs, oranges or carobs grown across the Algarve. And, to accompany all this, there is the famous distilled spirit known as “Aguardente de Medronho”, many fruit liqueurs and some fine regional wines. This is the richest of legacies and one well cared for at any one of the many restaurants or traditional tasquinhas dotted across the region.

The Algarve cuisine is a culinary art developed over many years of history and with long traditions, which is unique in the world of Portuguese gastronomy. A tasty treasure that can be divided into three distinct regions in the Algarve: the coastal region, the plains of the “Barrocal” region and the hills. These regions’ respective activities of fishing, livestock breeding and agriculture directly influence the eating habits of the local inhabitants and have allowed for the development of very particular gastronomic tastes.
Along the Algarve coast, the main dish is normally one based on fish, most notably sardines, tuna and shellfish – clams and cockles – since the proximity of the sea makes it possible to combine both diversity and quality. This is a region inhabited by fishermen, who every morning bring ashore fresh fish and seafood, as well as by excellent cooks, highly skilled in the art of preparing tasty dishes from these ingredients. The recipe of amêijoas na Cataplana provides one of the most traditional and also one of the most widely appreciated dishes in the Algarve. Its secret lies in its making, for these are clams cooked in a special copper pan that is of Arab origin.

Silver sardines, sea-bream or red mullet, grilled slowly over hot charcoal, carapaus alimados (boiled and skinned mackerel shad), soups made of fish, skate or shrimps, rice cooked and served with conger, razor clams or octopus, squid cooked in its ink, cuttlefish fried in its ink, bean-stew with whelks, fish-stew and a garlic-and-bread stew with seafood, these are just some more examples of the appetising dishes that are available all along the Algarve coast.

The intermediate strip of land marking the transition between the coast to the south and the hills to the north, known as the “Barrocal” region, has a more varied menu, for, in addition to fish, the ingredients commonly used are the locally grown vegetables and the meat from the cattle reared in the pastureland here. This is a typically rural cuisine, guaranteed to whet your appetite whenever there is mention of broad beans cooked in the Algarve style or cherry-coloured chicken, a leg of lamb cooked in the casserole, chick-pea stew or Algarvian cabbage stew, pickled carrots or snails cooked with aromatic herbs.

Because of its geographical limitations, the Algarve’s stretch of hills and mountains, a barrier running from west to east between the Alentejo and the “Barrocal” region, has also adapted its cuisine to the possibilities of the local produce, without however losing any of the tasty flavours to be found in the south. Amongst the most widely appreciated delicacies are the pork dishes, home-made sausages, the gruel made form corn-meal and the water in which the morcelas (blood sausages) were prepared, and the dark-coloured smoked ham. The hunting season also adds the delicious hare soup and stewed partridge to the menu.
Because of its great variety, the Algarve cuisine has its own special aroma, arising from the many different condiments and spices that grow naturally in the region and offer local cooks the chance to create these subtle differences in taste. This is the case, in particular, with the healthy Mediterranean olive-oil and the locally grown oregano, penny-royal, rosemary and coriander. In short, the cuisine of the Algarve is a simple and practical art, but one that nonetheless produces dishes that are very rich and flavoursome, of the kind that no one can resist.

Benefiting from the establishment of a demarcated wine region, endowed with a typically Mediterranean climate, and using traditional grape varieties to produce quality wines with a definite fruity taste, a low level of acidity and a high alcohol content resulting from the effects of the sun, the wines and brandies of the Algarve have become an important part of the region’s gastronomic traditions.

The importance of the grapevine in the south of Portugal dates back to the time of the Moorish occupation of the area, a period when this plant was already being grown and the tasty liquid produced from it was already being exported. Nowadays, high quality wines are still produced in the region, taking advantage of the southerly location and the protection that is guaranteed against the cold northern winds by the mountainous barrier of the Serra de Monchique. This situation affords the vine exposure to the sun on the slopes of the south-facing amphitheatre and makes this the perfect climate for its cultivation.

Currently, the Algarve’s wine-growing region is divided between Lagos, Portimão, Lagoa, Albufeira and Tavira, where new brands of wine have appeared on the market in recent years, the most original of which is the one produced by Sir Cliff Richard. There is a great variety of different wines, yet the ones most recommended as an accompaniment to the delicious dishes of the typical Algarve cuisine are Vida Nova, a wine originating from Albufeira, Balsa from the area around Tavira, Alvor Vinho Regional Algarve or Tapada da Torre, produced in the municipality of Portimão. To help you digest the appetising snacks and traditional sweets and desserts of the south of Portugal, we recommend the Convento de Arade table wine.

And whilst the different wines, red or white, table wines or sweet wines, are to be regarded as an essential contribution towards a good, satisfying meal, the end of this moment of pure pleasure is not complete without a taste of medronho (the typical Algarve brandy made from arbutus-berries) or any other of the region’s traditional liqueurs made with fruit and honey. The hills around Monchique are the region where this Algarve brandy has a most special taste. Distilled in copper stills in accordance with age-old ancestral methods, it is normally sipped by men sitting around a table, serving as a symbol of conviviality, fraternisation and friendship. The liqueurs are produced in keeping with ancient recipes that teach us the great mysteries of their preparation, and these necessarily include the use of the famous medronho brandy as a basic ingredient, to which are added wild aromatic herbs, such as penny-royal, mint, fennel, star anise or such different fruits as oranges, strawberries or almonds.

Another flavour-filled tradition of the Algarve is to be found at the magustos, special parties held in autumn at the beginning of November to mark the period often referred to as “St. Martin’s Summer”, the Portuguese name for the Englishman’s Indian summer, when freshly-picked chestnuts are roasted and the first tasting is held of the água-pé, the light wine made by adding water to the grape husks of the newly-produced wine.

They sweeten the mouth, calm the soul and charm the eye… Made from the almonds, figs and carobs that are grown all across the Algarve, these regional sweets and cakes offer all the irresistible tastes of mouth-watering temptation. There is nobody capable of resisting the ‘Dom Rodrigo’, ‘morgados’ and ‘morgadinhos’, the stuffed figs, fig ‘cheeses’, figs with almond and chocolate, Aljezur sweet potato cakes and so many other traditional sweets and cakes. A kingdom of fantasy that traces its roots back to the Moorish heritage of these lands.

The legendary almonds and figs play key roles in such works of art, given that the subtle taste of their aromatic fruits contributes to the very best in the regional deserts. Almonds provide the sweet smell of the ‘Dom Rodrigo’, the egg-based cakes or ‘chapelinhos’, the extraordinarily sweet eggs of the ‘ovos-moles’, as well as all the ‘vieiras’, ‘alcofinhas’, ‘queijinhos’, nuts and chestnuts, to which chocolate is then added. The more refined forms of pastry include the almond ‘morgado’ and the ‘maçapão’, hard almond pastry seals filled with sweet eggs and a form of sweet pumpkin, which have traditionally been painstakingly decorated in regional patterns and adorned with almond flowers.

Sweet figs are another regional speciality and may be served in any one of many different fashions, being created from entire or crushed figs or, alternatively, ones that have been simply dried and oven roasted. Whole figs are the main ingredient of the cakes known as ‘estrelas’ and there are also whole figs stuffed with pieces of almond, sugar and chocolate paste. Crushed figs, with ground almond, chocolate, sugar and those special “mystery” ingredients provide the basis for the wonderful fig ‘cheeses’. In order turn this mixture into its famous fish, chicken or book shapes, both ground and whole figs are used simultaneously before being cut with scissors.

The ‘folares’ (Easter cakes), ‘empanadilhas’ and the fried Christmas specialities are just some of the richly flavoured cakes made in accordance with the respective seasons. Across the entire Algarve region, the ‘folar’ cinnamon cake is a traditional favourite, and is to be found on every family dinner table throughout the Easter period. All these sweets and cakes are bound to set even the most puritan mouth watering and ensure that the stomach cries out for a return to the Algarve, long before their flavour has faded, if only to be given a second chance to taste and try them!