Quick answer
What is bacalhau?
Dried, salted cod that Portuguese cooks soak before cooking to draw out the salt. It's baked, stewed, and fried — they say there are as many recipes as days in the year.
Portuguese
Portuguese cooking lives by the sea. Salt cod bacalhau — dried cod prepared a hundred ways — is the national classic, alongside grilled sardines and piri-piri chicken. Good olive oil, garlic, and coriander tie it together. Then pastéis de nata, crisp custard tarts. Pick what to cook.
Best recipes
Frequently asked questions
What if I can't find bacalhau?
Salt fresh cod yourself — cover a fillet in coarse salt, leave it in the fridge for a day, then rinse. It won't have the depth of the long-cured original, but it does the job in most recipes.
What is piri-piri?
A hot sauce of small African chillies, garlic, and lemon. Portuguese cooks marinate and baste grilled chicken with it, so it comes off the grill fragrant and fiery at once.
What are pastéis de nata?
Small puff-pastry cups filled with custard and baked until crisp. They come out with dark scorched spots on top and taste best still warm, dusted with cinnamon.