7-Day Portugal
Itinerary

Pastel de Nata

Portugal's most famous pastry and one of the world's great baked goods — a crisp, caramelised tartlet shell of laminated puff pastry holding a custard of egg yolk, cream and sugar that blisters and chars in a 300°C oven into dark leopard spots of caramel; invented by monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém before 1837; the original recipe remains a secret held by three people; eaten warm with cinnamon.

Bacalhau (Salt Cod)

Portugal's defining ingredient and its greatest culinary obsession — dried, salted Atlantic cod rehydrated over 24 to 48 hours and cooked in the '365 ways' (one for every day, the Portuguese boast); the canonical preparations include Bacalhau à Brás (shredded with eggs and fried potato), Bacalhau com Natas (in béchamel) and Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá (with potato and egg); Portugal uses more salt cod than any other nation.

Francesinha

Porto's magnificent excess — a sandwich of cured ham, linguiça sausage and beef between slices of white bread, covered in melted cheese, then drowned in a dark, spiced tomato and beer sauce that is the dish's defining element; served with fried egg on top and chips alongside; the sauce recipe is a state secret of every Porto restaurant; Porto's most iconic and untranslatable dish.

Caldo Verde

Portugal's most beloved soup — thinly shredded kale (couve galega) in a potato broth enriched with olive oil and a slice of chouriço; the shredding of the kale into ribbons as thin as chiffonade is the cook's skill test; served at every family gathering, baptism and wedding; the Minho region's kale has a sweetness that lowland varieties cannot replicate.

Bifanas

Lisbon's greatest street sandwich — pork loin steaks marinated and braised in white wine, garlic, paprika and piri-piri sauce until tender, stuffed into a crusty papo-seco roll with the cooking juices pooled inside; eaten standing at a tasca counter; the Cervejaria Ramiro and the Saturday morning queues at Lisbon's market stalls are the benchmark.

Grilled Sardines

Lisbon's summer ritual and its most emotive food — whole fresh sardines (sardinhas) salted and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters and chars and the flesh steams in its own fat; eaten head to tail on bread with a roasted pepper salad during the Santo António festival in June; the smell of charcoal and sardines is the smell of Lisbon in June.