Wednesday 30 October 2024

Romania (5): Rupea and Brașov

This is a new post though it covers the events of the 29th of June 2023
It will be moved to its appropriate chronological position shortly.

A Fortress on a Hill and a Major City

Where are we Going Today?


Romania
Vlad appeared after we had breakfasted, ready to drive us south from Sighișoara to Brașov via, Rupea, a small town overlooked by a castle. Brașov (in German, Kronstadt) is Vlad’s home town and the third - after Sighișoara (Schäßburg) and Sibiu (Hermannstadt) - of the Siebenbürgen, the seven great fortresses cities of the Transylvanian Saxons, that we would visit on this tour.

Romania with Sighişoara, Rupea and Braşov underlined

Saschiz


Mureş County
20 minutes from Sighișoara and just before we left Mureș County, we passed through the small town of Saschiz. Once a town of the Transylvanian Saxons - who still make up 5% of the population - its Romanesque Basilica was replaced by a late Gothic fortified church (built 1493-6). The large hall-style church was dedicated to St Stephen of Hungary (Transylvania was part of Hungary until the end of World War I.) and surrounded by a curtain wall with several towers. Originally Roman Catholic, it became an Evangelical Lutheran Church during the Reformation.

Only one of the towers remains. It acquired an impressive spire in 1677 and was presumably further refurbished in 1832 as the date is prominently displayed. The angle of the photograph makes it look like the tower is part of the church, but it is actually 10 metres in front of it.

Saschiz Evangelical Lutheran Fortified Church

In 1999 Saschiz joined Biertan and its surrounding villages as part of the ‘Transylvanian Villages with Fortified Churches’ UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rupea


Braşov County
From Saschiz we continued in a general southerly direction and some 7km later crossed into Brașov County. The county has largely the same boundaries as the Brassó County of the Austro-Hungarian Empire but underwent many changes after being incorporated into Romania in 1920. For a time after World War II, it was part of a larger area known as Stalin Region (0 out of 10 for originality, 10 out 10 for toadying), but Brașov County was restored in 1968 when newly anointed leader Nicolae Ceaușescu wanted to show his independence from the Soviet Union.

The county's population is about half a million, some 60% of whom live in and around the city of Brașov. The north of the county is thinly populated and we drove through a large green plain where cereals swayed in the breeze.

The fields of northern Braşov County

Rupea is only 20km south east of the county boundary, and it was not long before we could see a rocky outcrop in the distance. The outline slowly resolved itself into the shape of Rupea Fortress.

Rupea Fortress on its rocky outcrop

The Fortress

The strategic importance of a rocky outcrop with extensive views in all directions was obvious to the earliest humans. Stone tools and pottery from the palaeolithic and neolithic eras have been found here and in the first century CE The Dacians built a settlement on the summit. According to legend, Decebalus, the last Dacian king, committed suicide here in 106CE to avoid capture by the Romans.

Later people felt safe enough to moved down to the flat land beside their fields, provided there was a refuge in times of trouble. The Transylvanian Saxons built the first fortress on the summit in the 13th century, and expanded downward over the next 500 years, their tiered walls exploiting the natural contours of the hill.

Unlike the builders, we had to start at the bottom. The lowest level was added in the 18th century and was mainly used for living quarters and storage.

Rupea fortress - starting at the bottom

From there we worked our way upwards following the curve of the walls.

Inside Rupea fortress

From the middle level, a 15th century downward extension, we had a good view over the town of Rupea. Vlad pointed out that the houses are built ‘sideways on’ to the road with gaps between the buildings. When a hoard of Tartars, Mongols or Ottomans (depending on era) hove into view, the residents could quickly retreat through the town and take refuge in the fortress.

Rupea - for most houses along the main two streets, the gable end faces on to the road

Building at the top of the hill started in the 13th century, but development continued throughout the life of the fort. Of a hundred 16th and 17th century dwellings, one group of three remains intact. Only the upper floor was residential, the ground floor was used for workshops and warehouses.

Dwellings, Rupea fort

At the very top is the Peak House. From here the garrison could communicate with nearby towns...

Peak House, Rupea Fort

and keep watch for trouble approaching across the green hills and valleys of Transylvania.

The hills and valleys of Transylvania, My apologies for blocking out so many of them

The fortress was abandoned in 1790 after a storm destroyed the roof. It was never rebuilt and the fortress gradually fell into disrepair. Restoration started early in the 21st century. With the authorities keen to develop a tourist circuit, Rupea neatly filled a gap between Sighișoara and Brașov. Digi24.ro claims (in Romanian) that there were 150,000 visitors in 2015, but I can find no later figures. Presumably the promoters of Transylvanian tourism would be pleased we did exactly what they planned, but less happy that we (almost) had the fortress to ourselves.

Brașov

From Rupea it took an hour to drive the 65 km to Brașov.

A Little History


Braşov City
Once one of the great fortress cities of the Transylvanian Saxons, the walled city of Brașov, tucked into a valley below Mount Tâmpa in the Southern Carpathian Mountains, was destroyed by fire in 1685. Rebuilding was a long project but by 1859 the city had 20,000 inhabitants, 40% of them German, 40% Romanian and the rest mostly Hungarian. By 1910 the population had doubled, but the greatest increase came in the years after World War Two as Romania’s communist leadership oversaw rapid industrialisation. The metropolitan area is now home to some 350,000, making Brașov Romania’s 6th largest city.

The factories and new residential areas grew on the flat land north of the old centre. Many of these factories closed in the economic crash that followed the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989, but the city has slowly worked its way back to some level of prosperity.

The old centre may now be on the edge of town, but it still conducts itself like a city centre, with the large Council Square fringed with the tables and umbrellas of umpteen restaurants and cafés. To help the lost and bewildered, the city fathers have erected a large sign on Tâmpa Mountain, letting us know where we are. I don't think Hollywood need feel threatened.

Council Square, Restaurants below the Braşov sign

Șcheii Brașovului

But we did not start in Council Square, Vlad first drove us a kilometre south to Șcheii Brașovului. Romanians have been the largest ethnic group in Transylvania since before records were kept, but despite providing a couple of Hungarian kings (see Part 3: Hunedoara and Alba Iulia) Romanians were (prior to the First World War) the poor relations of the ruling Hungarians and prosperous Transylvanian Saxons. From the 13th to the 17th century, Romanians were not allowed to live within the city walls and so settled in the Șchei district.

Saint Nicholas is Braşov's oldest Romanian Orthodox Church, or at least, the wooden original was. Built sometime after 1292 it it was replaced by a Gothic style stone church in 1495 which has since enjoyed a Baroque makeove.

St Nicholas Church, Braşov

The first school teaching in Romanian was founded here when the stone church was constructed. A new school building beside the church was opened in 1760.

Romanian School, Brașov, 1760

It is now a museum showing the old classrooms,…

Old Romanian School, Braşov

…an early printing press and various books, manuscripts and icons.

Printing Press, Old School Museum, Braşov

In front of the church, in Union Square, is The Unknown Soldier. Commissioned by the local authority in collaboration with veterans' associations the statue commemorates those who died in WW1 and have no known grave. Ironically it was unveiled in 1939, just in time for another round of blood-letting. The internet has many photos of this statue, and the apparent vigour of the bayonet thrust varies enormously depending on the photographer’s angle.

The Unknown Soldier, Union Square, Braşov

Council Square

Back in Council Square we checked into our hotel and then ate lunch in the square. In this land of soups and ciorbe that was what we had, though I cannot remember which. Then we set off on a walking tour.

Soup, or possibly ciorba

The Old Town Hall

The square gets its name from the old Town Hall.

The Old Town Hall, Braşov

In 1420, the Farriers Guild permitted the County Council to build a room for public meetings and trials on top of their guild house. The ‘Trumpet Tower; was added in the late 16th century. From here watchmen surveyed the whole town and warned of fire, invasion or any other problem by blowing a trumpet.

Growing prosperity led to the addition of a spire, a clock, many more chambers and eventually a new building elsewhere. The Old Council House was retired in 1950 and is now a museum.

The Catherine and Schei Gates

To the east of the square are two city gates. The Catherine Gate was built by the Tailors’ Guild, in 1559, replacing a gate destroyed by a flood thirty years earlier. The tower is 16th century but the rest is later. The gate was the only access point for Romanians, who could enter the city at permitted times but had to pay a toll to sell their wares.

Catherine Gate, Braşov

Later the Șchei Gate, built in 1828, gave free access for all.

The Şhei Gate, Braşov

Beth Israel Synagogue

Brașov’s Jewish community settled here in the early 19th century. It grew steadily and was flourishing when the Neo-Moorish Beth Israel Synagogue was built in 1901. ChatGPT informs me the community faced periods of hardship, especially during World War II – an epic understatement, I suspect. There is however still a Jewish community, it is small but sufficient for Beth Israel to remain a functioning synagogue.

Beth Israel Synagogue, Braşov

The Black Church

At the south end of Council Square, hemmed in by other buildings is the Lutheran Cathedral of St Mary. Built 1383-1476 by the Transylvanian Saxons, it started as a Catholic Church and became Lutheran during the Reformation. Its walls were blackened during the great fire of 1698, hence it is known as the Black Church, though all signs of charring are long gone.

The Black Church, Braşov

The statue outside is of Johannes Honter (1498–1549) a cartographer and one of the founders of Lutheranism in Romania.

The building is 89m long and tower 42m tall making this the largest Late Gothic church in south eastern Europe. The clock is worth a closer look.

Clock, the Black Church, Braşov

The surrounding buildings make the church difficult to photograph. Wikipedia have a drone picture, which I won’t borrow, you can click this link, or make do with my efforts.

Inside, like most Lutheran Cathedral, it is not overly ornate.

Inside the Black Church, Braşov

The 4,000 pipe organ was built by Carl August Buchholz in 1839.

Organ, Black Church, Braşov

There is a fresco of the Nativity, with the emblems of King Matthias Corvinus (ruled 1458-90) and his wife Beatrix of Aragon in the corners (see Hunedoara). Corvinus was a Romanian King of Hungary, and definitively not a Transylvanian Saxon

Nativity, Black Church Braşov

And a couple of carved memorials to large men with huge beards, both apparently preparing to sneak out of their stone imprisonment.

Big men, big beards, Black Church Braşov

1848 was the Year of Revolutions in Europe, with nationalist pressures within both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. The bullet holes in a pillar, the consequence of an 1848 skirmish have been carefully preserved as a reminder of the turbulence from which Romania emerged.

Bullet holes, Black Church Braşov

The building work was done by Bulgarian masons. Like the Romanians they were not the sort of people the Saxons wished to mix with and, so, like the Romanians, their accommodation was outside the city walls in Schlei. There is a story that a Saxon boy was annoying the Bulgarians workers, so they threw him off the roof and then immured his body in the cathedral walls. Or, the best apprentice was showing so much promise he threatened to eclipse his master, and in a fit of jealousy, the older man pushed him to his death. Or a young man working on the roof observed by chance some technique the master masons wished to keep secret leaving them no choice but to kill him.

Looking up from beside the building, you see a stone effigy of the victim fearfully confronting his fate.

The unfortunate, if mythical victim confronts his fate, Black Church Braşov

Without evidence, I imagine it was once a nasty little story spread to denigrate the Bulgarians – ‘well you know what they’re like’ as people too often say of those they don’t know. But even today workers die on major construction projects, so is there a grain of truth somewhere? Maybe somebody fell without obvious cause and the rumour mill decided they were pushed. Nobody will ever know.

Dinner and Manoeuvres

During the afternoon soldiers gathered on Council Square, areas were marked out and there were preparations for some sort of display.

Going out for dinner, we found the tables and chairs outside may of the restaurants, including the one we had earmarked earlier, stacked up out of the way of the soldiers. The day had been warm, but overcast, and there was room inside, so we stuck to plan A.

We were pleased our aperitif țuică (Romanian plum ‘brandy’) was served in a tumbler rather that the strange conical flasks favoured elsewhere, but there was little else to recommend the meal. My duck and pickled cabbage was alright, but could have done with something else on the plate and ,,,

Duck and Cabbage, Braşov

…Lynne’s pork with stuffed cabbage and sauerkraut disappointed her. The pork she described as ‘bits of ham,’ and she disliked both the stuffed cabbage and the accompanying yellow dome of polenta, though she enjoyed the sauerkraut and sour cream. You win some, you lose some, but we eaten sufficient, drunk a good bottle of local red and not paid much, so we were happy enough as we left.

Pork and Sauerkraut,Braşov

Outside (sunset in June is well after 9 o’clock) we found soldiers getting into position. I wondered briefly if they were forming a firing squad for the chef, but I should not be so mean. June the 9th is the feast of St Peter and St Paul – hardly an excuse for a military display – and, I have learned, the Day of the Romanian Military Police. All over the country there are ceremonies, and events showcasing their skills and celebrating their service at home and abroad.

The army forms up, Council Square, Braşov

We returned to our hotel, not quite interested enough to find out what they were doing. Whatever it was, they did it reasonably quietly and had it all packed away by morning.

Epilogue

Our sojourn in the land of the Transylvanian Saxons was nearly complete and we would soon return to Wallachia. We have seen the works of these industrious people everywhere, but we have not met a single Transylvanian Saxon.

What Happened to the Transylvanian Saxons?

Since the 12th century, Hungarian kings periodically invited Germanic settlers to help defend their southeastern border against the Cumans and later the Ottomans. These people became known as ‘Transylvanian Saxons,’ though few were actually Saxon.

They performed their defensive duties, as Rupea’s fortress and Biertan’s fortified church testify, while interpolating themselves as a middle class of artisans and merchants between the Hungarians landowners and the Romanians peasants.

In 1800 Transylvanian Saxons living in self-governing communities comprised 10-12% of Transylvania’s population

Despite political upheavals the creation of Romania in 1856, the First World War destroying the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Transylvania becoming part of that Romania in 1920 - the Transylvanian Saxons lost some of their autonomy, but little else changed.

Romania kept out of WWII until 1941 when the Germans marched through to attack the USSR, conscripting many Transylvanian Saxons on the way. In 1944 they retreated chased by the Red Army. The Russians rewarded many surviving Saxons with a few years in Siberia. Not all returned. By 1950 Transylvanian Saxons made up only 4% of the population

Romania under Communism was no fun, but getting in and out was difficult. In 1989 everything changed,

Given freedom of movement, almost all remaining Saxons, some of whom had been in Transylvania for 30+ generations, returned to Germany where the constitution granted immediate citizenship. Their dialect, an old-fashioned German with abundant Hungarian and Slavic loan words, was indecipherable to other Germans, but they adapted quickly. At first, they spoke the old dialect among themselves, but now Transylvanian Saxon is considered endangered.

Thursday 17 October 2024

The Alentejo: Eating and Drinking 2024

Good Food with Regional Character at Reasonable Prices


Portugal
Our first visit to the Alentejo in modern times (1980s camping trips don’t count) was to Évora in 2016. The resulting blogpost was overlong, so the pleasures of the local cuisine were hived off into a separate post called ‘Two Dinners in Évora’. Eight years, five more visits and quite a few dinners later that post has morphed into this annually updated companion to Eating the Algarve.

The Alentejo: Where and What is it?


Portugal's Modern districts
Alentejo Province
The Alentejo was one of Portugal’s traditional seven provinces and as the left-hand map suggest it was by some way the largest (and the most sparsely populated). In 1933 it was hacked in half, the northern Alto Alentejo with its capital at Évora and the southern Baixo Alentejo centred on Beja.

After the 1974 Carnation Revolution (the military coup from which Portugal emerged as a modern parliamentary democracy) the provinces were replaced by 18 districts (right-hand map). Beja district is the old Baixo Alentejo minus a coastal chunk (the Alentejo Litoral) which is now in Setubal District, the Alto Alentejo is split between the Districts of Évora and Portalegre. This post is based in meals eaten in Évora, Beja, Mértola, Castro Verde, Serpa and Santiago do Cacém – I have marked and ringed these as precisely as I can. The Alentejo may no longer officially exist (except to the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional about whom more later) but the concept of the Alentejo remains strong and the word is in everyday use.

A Confession

Before getting on with the food, a confession: I have spent far more time in the Algarve than the Alentejo and my knowledge of the Alentejo cuisine, having progressed through infancy, still lingers in the stroppy teenager stage. This post, then, is far from comprehensive – and may even, despite my best efforts, contain errors!

Meat

The Alentejo has only a small section of coastline and the districts of Portalegre, Évora and Beja are as far from the sea as Portugal can be, so meat is more important here than in the fish-eating Algarve. With that information, I will start with lamb and work my way up to pork, the most important meat in the region...

Lamb

Lamb in Portuguese is called Borrego or Cordeira. What the difference is, if any, remains a mystery. In Serpa, the Restaurante O Alentejano was recommended by the friendly staff at our hotel. We found their meat dishes a little heavy, but ate there twice, largely because we could not find anywhere else open on the Wednesday.

On the first evening I had leg of lamb, a dish with a single word Portuguese name, which was much lauded in Trip Advisor reviews. I cannot remember the name, nor can I now find the reviews, but I was disappointed. The lamb seemed to have been roasted, then cut up and dropped into a garlicky broth. The lamb was not the best, or had not been treated well, and the broth seemed underpowered.

Leg of Lamb, O Alentejano, Serpa 2023

On our second visit, Lynne had lamb cutlets. There was little to go wrong here, and the quantity of meat was enormous.

Lamb chops, O Alentejano, Serpa 2023 This was the quantity on the serving plate when Lynne paused for a second wind. 

Rabbit (Coelho)

Great Britain is an island hopping with rabbits, but despite this natural resource it is easier to find rabbit on a Michelin starred menu than in a supermarket. Lean and well-flavoured, it should be among the most popular and cheapest of meats, but it isn’t. Restaurant Migas in Mértola (photo: scroll down some way) has no pretentions, but in 2017 it offered Lynne a welcome opportunity to eat a well-cooked rabbit.

Wild Boar (Javila)

At the similarly unpretentious Tamuje, in the same small town, I enjoyed wild boar; the choicest morsels, simply cooked and moistened with the rich garlicky cooking broth and served with salad and potatoes.There was more chew than you get with a regular pig, and with a slightly different, slightly stronger flavour. I liked it very much.

Lynne's Porco Preto, my Javila (wild boar) and a bottle of Herdade dos Lagos, Tamuje, Mértola, 2017

Lynne, meanwhile, enjoyed porco preto cooked and served the same way, which introduces the most important beast in Alentejo cuisine...

Black Pork

The finest pork comes, indisputably, from the Iberian black pig (porco preto).

Iberian black sow, from the 2019 post Pigs, Ham and Tapas (Andalusia)

The pigs – believed to be a cross between domestic pigs introduced by the Phoenicians and wild boar - have been raised in central southern Spain and Portugal for millennia. They live a pampered life roaming in herds among the sparse oak forests feeding mainly on acorns.

Porco is Portuguese for ‘pig’, there is no word for ‘pork’, menus always refer to pig meat, Carne de Porco Preto. It is, of course, the pig that is black, or at least its trotters, not the meat which is normal pork colour.

The Spanish make a big fuss over the Jamón Iberico produced from these pigs, the finest of which fetches astronomical prices. We enjoyed three days in Andalusia in 2019 on an Iberian Ham extravaganza (three blogposts, for the first click here). The Portuguese produce ham, too, but this post concentrates more on the regular pork.

I first encountered Porco Preto in 2016 at Restaurant Malagueta in Évora and from the very first forkful I realised that there was something special on my plate.

Menu, Casa do Alentejo, Castro Verde, 2022

The precise cuts of Porco Preto are important in both Spain and Portugal, The menu tells me I had magro, abanico e cachaço (lean, fan and neck). I don’t know which was which but they were all excellent. Under Talho (Butcher) I could have chosen lagartos (lizards), secretos (secrets) presa (plunder) or plumas (feathers) wonderfully descriptive words even if I would not know one from another.

Migas is the usual accompaniment to porco preto, and is often named first, Migas de Espargos c/ Carne de Porco Preto as it says in the Casa Alentejo menu above. Migas is made from leftover bread (or sometimes potato) mashed and seasoned and mixed with garlic and olive oil and either tomato or asparagus. It is very heavy; the first time I ate migas and porco preto there were also chips on the plate and I dutifully scoffed the lot. I did not immediately realise how much I had overeaten, but 48-hours passed before I could face more food. This time I took a small portion from the slab on the serving plate – and was better for it.

Just a little migas with Carne de Porco Preto, Casa Alentejano, Castro Verde, 2022

Bochechas de Porco em Vinho Tinto

Pork cheeks stewed in red wine may not be unique to the Alentejo, but they are very much at home here.

I have seen recipes that use porco preto, but after it has marinated in red wine for several hours and then stewed in the same wine for several more, I suspect a special pork – or a high-quality wine – would have lost its finesse. This is hearty, rustic food; the wine-dark slabs of porky loveliness need only a salad, maybe a few chips and a jarra de vinho tinto to be totally satisfying.

Rabbit (Lynne) and Bochechas (me), Restaurant Migas, Mértola, 2017

In 2018, at the Beja Pousada (Pousadas are relatively upmarket hotels specialising in regional dishes) the attempted elevation of the dish by adding a poached pear, cinnamon-ed close to inedibility, just seemed odd. Bochechas are fine as they are, they are not supposed to be 'haute cuisine' they are comfort food.

This year, the Restaurant O Arco, set back from the road beside a petrol station on the edge of Santiago do Cacém did not look immediately attractive, but the hotel receptionist had tentatively suggested it as it was Sunday, a day many other restaurants close. They opened at seven and when we arrived at ten past we were not the first. By 7.30 the place was packed. From the decor, or rather lack of it, and the nature of the menu, we deduced they specialised in the food your granny used to cook - if you had a Portuguese granny. I think of comfort food as being immensely satisfying, but rather a guilty pleasure, but when it is someone else's comfort food, that little act of exploration cancels the guilt leaving only the pleasure.

Bochechas de Porco em Vinho Tinto, simply cooked, simply served. O Arco, Santiago do Cacém, 2024

Soft, unctuous pork cheeks, the fat mixing with the vinous, garlicky cooking liquor, leaving the diner no choice but savour it and smile.

Carne de Porco à Alentejano

As in the Algarve the link between meat and fish is provided by pork and clams, though the clams go unmentioned in the dish’s title. In the Algarve pork and clams are cooked in a cataplana, in the Alentejo the pork and potatoes are pan fried and then join the clams in a rich brown, garlicky sauce.

Carne de Porco à Alentejano, Casa Aletejano, 2022, Castro Verde

The dish is occasionally available in the Algarve, the finest I have ever eaten was at Dois Irmão in Faro. Lynne was disappointed with her Carne de Porco à Alentejano at the Casa Alentejano in Castro Verde, there were only seven clams, and four of those seemed to be cockles, a related but different animal. I did better in 2023 at the O Alentejano (there is a theme merging with these names!) in Serpa. I had 12 clams, and they were all clams.

Fish and Seafood

For centuries - or millennia, the districts of Beja, Évora and Portalegre were too far from the sea for fresh fish to be transported. There are no natural lakes and most rivers only run for a few months a year, so there was no tradition of fish eating - except for....

...Bacalhau.

'Bacalhau' is Portuguese for cod, but when used on its own means 'salt cod', fresh cod is always bacalhau fresco. Portuguese fisherman were catching cod on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland as early as the 1500s. To get the fish home in edible condition it was landed and salted in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia or, later, Iceland.

Salt cod, cheap, to transport and with an almost infinite shelf-life, soon became the Portuguese peasantry's main source of protein Soaking is the first step to making it palatable, and resourceful and imaginative people developed a range of recipes - there are said to be 365 - so they could eat bacalhau everyday but still enjoy variety. In time the wealthier classes realised they were missing something, and bacalhau gradually became the national dish of all Portuguese people.

Salting cod is no longer necessary, but the Portuguese love affair with it continues. Every corner shop and supermarket has rustling sheets of salt cod - loose, not pre-packed - for shoppers to sort through and select what they want. We no longer have to cure ham to preserve pork, or make cheese to preserve milk, but we still do because we enjoy the products. And similarly the Portuguese still have salt cod - as well as ham and cheese.

Pataniscas de Bacalhau. Last year (2023) I ate Pataniscas de Balcahau in Restaurante Molho Bico in Serpa.

Pataniscas de Bacalhau with rice and beans, Restaurante Molho Bico, Serpa, 2023

The patanisca was made by frying shredded salt cod with onion in a wheat flour and egg batter. It was served with a bowl of rice and beans and a good salad (not photographed). This is comfort food, not haute cuisine, and like all great comfort food it is rich, savoury and very satisfying.

Bacalhau Espiritual

This year (2024) at O Arco in Santiago do Cacém, Lynne ate Bacalhau Espiritual. Unlike most Bacalhau recipes its origin is known and fairly recent. In 1947 Countess Almeida Araújo was a consultant for a new restaurant in the Queluz Palace near Lisbon, and gave this name to her adaption of the French dish Brandade Chaude de Morue. The dish involves salt cod, shredded carrot, dry bread soaked in milk, béchamel sauce and a cheesy crust.

Bacalhau Espirtual, O Arco, Santiago do Cacém, 2024

Despite its aristocratic origins, the use of a French sauce and an Italian cheese (Parmigiano in the gratin) it is difficult not to see this as also being comfort food. Lynne enjoyed it very much but could not finish it all. A young man who came in after us and sat alone at an adjacent table, ate a mountainous salad, the whole bowl of Bacalhau and a dessert and left before we had finished our one course. We could have done that 50 years ago, but now we eat less, but savour more (it was never a choice, it just happened).

Other Fish and Seafood

The age of the refrigerated lorry arrived many decades ago, so inland Portugal has all the fish it wants, though it can never be as fresh as it is beside the sea. In 2022 we both ate Polvo à Lagareiro (Octopus Lagareiro -see Eating the Algarve for more details) at the oddly named Planície Gastronomia Criativa (Plain Creative Gastronomy) in Castro Verde and in 2023 Lynne ate Chocos (cuttlefish) at Molho Bico in Serpa. Enjoyable as they were, neither are essentially Alentejo dishes, so I will move on.

Cataplana Alentejano

This may not be an Alentejo dish, either, as the Cataplana is a traditional Algarve cooking vessel, but it was on the menu at Mr Pickwicks in Évora in 2017. Opened at the table, it produced a waft of inviting odours. Inside were huge chunks of deeply flavoured stewed pork, tiger prawns (of Thai origin?), mussels, crab claws and, of course, clams. Everything was steeped in a broth of the usual Portuguese suspects, tomato, peppers, garlic and coriander with chunks of potato boiled in the broth.

Inside the cataplana, Mr Pickwick's, Évora, 2016

It was wonderfully messy – getting your hands in is the only way to deal with prawns and crabs - and in every way delightful. The clams had a yellowish shell with a distinctive black edge. A week later we bought and cooked some identical clams in the Algarve and discovered they originated in Vietnam. In November 2017 we ate the same clams in both Hong Kong and Macau. Algarve clams have long been over-exploited, these are good, cheap and (for the moment) plentiful.

Cheese

Portugal has eleven cheeses that have been awarded PDO (Product of Designated Origin), three of them, Évora, Serpa and Nisa come from the Alentejo. All three are made from unpasteurised sheep's milk and curdled using an extract from the cardoon thistle making them suitable for vegetarians.

Nisa is a small town in the Portalegre District, about as for north and east as the old Alto Alentejo province reached.

Nisa Cheese is classified as 'semi-hard,' has a dense texture and is (usually) yellowish white with a subtle flavour and an acidic finish. I found the flavour relatively mild, but complex. The Wine Spectator cheese edition ranked Nisa among their 100 Great Cheeses.This may overrate it a bit, but it is reasonably priced and fairly easy to find (at least in Portugal) and is always enjoyable.

Nisa Cheese

Serpa comes from a small city in the Beja District near the Spanish border. The Cheese is not as easy to find as the other two and we went to Serpa (partly) to buy it. It looks similar but is a little stronger than Nisa. It is softer, too, in a style known as amanteigado meaning buttery. Forever Cheese describe it as strong and complex with sheepy, sour and buttery notes. That seems about right and it is my favourite of these three

Queijo de Serpa

Évora is the administrative centre of the Évora District. It produces a semi-soft cheese which becomes harder and crumblier as it matures and the rind darkens. It is described as being rich and robust with a salty tang. My example seemed a little drier than I would have liked. My plan is to check out another version next year.

Évora cheese

Other Cheeses

DOP cheeses are not very expensive, though they do command a premium price. The Alentejo produces a large quantity of less exalted cheeses, most of which are cheaper and some of which are very good. As they tend to look very similar choice can be difficult. The price is usually a guide to quality (mostly you get what you pay for) but the only guide to strength/mildness is experience. The two below come from large and reliable Herdade Maia in Évora. One plain, one dusted with pimento, they are well made cheeses which would suit most palates,

Herdade Maia cheese

Cheeses are almost universally made from sheep's milk. With rare exceptions, rinds are edible, and cheeses are cut across, not into segments.

Wine

Alentejo may no longer exist for purposes of local government, but the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional recognises an Alentejo Denominação de Origem Controlada that covers large parts of the Évora and Portalegre districts. Eight subregions (Borba, Évora, Granja-Amareleja, Moura, Portalegre, Redondo, Reguengos, and Vidigueira) can use their own name as well as ‘Alentejo’ on the label.

Borba Tinto

The reds are soft, juicy and easy drinking. Borba is the largest sub-region (by production) and I have always enjoyed the wines from the local co-operative which are inexpensive, widely available and guaranteed to bring a smile to the face.

Encostas de Serpa, Vinho Regional

The whites tend to be more austere. They don’t win prizes in blind tastings, but paired with the right food they have a way of opening out and complementing the flavours of the dish. This is what they were designed to do, and they are very good at it. The Reguengos we drank with the cataplana Alentejano in Évora and the Vidigueira with the polvo in Castro Verde were particularly satisfying.

There is much DOC Alentejo wine, but there is even more Vinho Regional Alentejano, a classification for more basic wines, or for winemakers reluctant to follow the strict rules of DOC. I tend to go by cost rather than precise appellation, at any price point up to €10-12 Alentejo, or Alentejano wines can be relied upon for excellent value

And Finally

Light lunches in small cafés are rarely gastronomic, and not always light. The toastie is universally popular, the word 'tosta' was long ago incorporated into Portuguese. Sometimes a ‘sharing toastie’ can look….

It's a sandwich, Jim, but not as we know it, Café 7arte, Castro Verde 2022

….immense.