Slitting Mill: A Circular Walk, The 1st FGC Memorial F&C Walk

The Start of a New Era

Staffordshire

This walk, like all real Fish and Chip walks, took place on Cannock Chase, at 68 km² (26 sq miles) one of the smallest of England’s 33 designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Once a Royal Forest, it is now managed by Forestry England

It may be small, but it is perfectly formed and, most importantly, it is on our doorstep.

AONBs in England, Cannock Chase ringed
work of DankJae © Natural England copyright 2021. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.

The Gathering

On one of the mildest days of a distinctly cool winter, 5 participants gathered on the Car Park of The Horns Inn at Slitting Mill. Alison C, who had nobly the made the journey from Cheltenham, Lee and Sue, Mike and Alison T, and some worried looking bloke with only half his face in the picture.

Left to right, Sue, Alison C, Lee, Mike, Alison T and me, struggling withy the camera

Anne had cried off on the morning. She is a new grandparent and had been called upon for urgent grandparenting duties, so not only did we miss her company, we missed her skills at taking mass-selfies. I have little experience, short arms and arthritic fingers - and that’s my excuse.

The date of the very first Fish and Chip Walk – originally three teachers talking a country walk to celebrate the end of the Christmas Term – is known only to the celestial scorer, if there is one (and if there is, it is Bill Frindall, as every cricket fan of sufficient maturity knows).

The proto-chip walks were not always on Cannock Chase, and did not necessarily involve fish and chips but over time they settled into that pattern and that name. Brian and I were two of the three originals, the other, the actual progenitor of the Chip Walks (and the 11-year South West Odyssey and much more) was Francis, about whom, more later.

Getting Started

Our walk started and finished at Slitting Mill. A ‘slitting mill’ slits iron bars into rods as part of the nail making process. The first such mill was built here in 1611 and was followed by several others. The mills are long gone, but the village has appropriated the name. Slitting Mill today has 250 inhabitants and looks a pleasant place to live.

The mills were powered by water and the source, Horns Pool, is just behind the pub. It is now used by Staffordshire Match Fishing Club who charge other humans to fish the pool…

Horns Pool

…but kingfishers use it for free. ‘Look, there’s a kingfisher,’ said Alison C standing, behind me as I took the photo. By the time I was able to follow her pointing finger, it had, of course gone. I have still never seen a Common Kingfisher, though I have spotted and photographed white-throated and pied kingfishers in more exotic locations.

We followed the mill stream as it flows beside and a little above a field – which always looks slightly odd. We passed a row of houses, the last always has somebody on guard and at this time it is, inevitably, Father Christmas.

Father Christmas on guard duty.

On to the Chase

Here we turned our back on the open fields typical of most Staffordshire countryside…

Staffordshire farmland

….and made our way onto Cannock Chase.

Lee, Mike, Alison C On Cannock Chase

Mike had organised the route, and supplied us all with a nice map. The OS map from which it is derived shows the footpaths and the forestry tracks, but not the more recently created cycle tracks which cater for the large mountain biking community. We inadvertently found ourselves on one such track and a passing cyclist stopped to point out our error. He was polite and reasonable and at the next opportunity we found a new path a little to the north which headed in the right direction. There is never a shortage of paths on Cannock Chase, the problem was always knowing which one you are on. GPS has simplified such matter and we easily found our way down too at the visitor centre on Marquis Drive.

Slitting Mill is at the northeasterly corner of the route in red

The Brindley Valley

The Tackeroo

From the visitor centre we found our way into the Brindley Valley.

The Alisons inspect a pool in the Brindley Valley

Cannock Chase was a busy place during World War One with two large army camps, one of which later became a prisoner of war camp. To move in all the necessary equipment and keep the camp supplied a narrow-gauge railway was built. The Tackeroo, as it was called (nobody knows why) branched from the West Coast Main Line at Milford, just north of the Chase, made its entry through a cutting (now known as The Cutting), ran through Brocton Camp on the high ground west of the Sherbrook Valley across Penkridge Bank and through Rugeley Camp and the Brindley Valley, eventually reaching Hednesford where it joined the Rugeley-Walsall line.

Several of these walks have started through The Cutting on to the Chase, but this was the first along the Brindley Valley and the southern part of the Tackeroo. Our path ran close to the old rail line though it is no longer visible to the casual observer.

Through the Brindley Valley - the line of the Tackeroo was somewhere to our right.

Brindley Village

After the war the camps were dismantled and the rail tracks removed, though finding chunks of concrete among the trees that can only be explained as war-time remnants as not uncommon.

The hospital on Brindley Heath remained in use until 1924 and was then purchased by the West Cannock Colliery Company to house miners working at the West Cannock No. 5 pit near Hednesford. A community known as Brindley Village grew around it and a school was built. In 1953 the residents were relocated to council housing more conveniently situated in Hednesford. The village was demolished leaving only the occasional foundation and the odd fencepost.

Towards Fairoak Lodge

Before Penkridge Bank Road we turned right across Tackeroo Camp, a modern campsite, deserted in January, and towards more wooded country.

Across the Tackeroo Camp

Some way beyond Marquis Drive we encountered a metal barrier across our path, bearing a line-drawing of a man in a hard hat holding up his hand and saying ‘stop’ and the phrase “Forestry Work, Danger of Death.” These are not uncommon on the Chase, and the ‘danger of death’ is a little overstated. The hazards presented by large vehicles manoeuvring on rough ground, falling trees and men with chain saws are real enough, but they usually work only in a small area of the ground cordoned off. Even so we were reluctant to climb over such a barrier. A short distance away, however, another barrier had been moved aside, whether by forestry workers or an anarchist walker we did not know, but it gave access to path going in the right direction.

We found ourselves on another well-made cycle path, but this time cyclist-free.

Along the cycle path

In places it was steep and the mud was slippery. In theory, I think, Lee was helping Alison T down a slippery section, but a minute or so earlier it was Lee who had had found his footing sliding swiftly downhill followed by an unintentional, though relatively decorous, descent into the mud.

Mutual assistance on a perilous descent, Lee and Alison T

Eventually we sighted the forestry work a couple of hundred metres ahead. Turning left up the side of the valley, we found the next path up which took us away from any danger and delivered us to the access road to Fairoak Lodge.

Back to The Horns

From Fairoak Lodge we decided not to follow the planned route which dropped down to the pools, but keep instead to the higher ground which took us to Birches Valley visitor centre.

On the High Ground approaching Birches Valley

We walked through the visitor centre and Lady Hill Coppice beyond, emerging onto the minor road just outside Slitting Mill. The Horns, where Lynne would join us for the traditional fish and chip lunch was only a short step away.

The Horns, Slitting Mill

We had booked a late lunch, and as the light fades early in late December there was no afternoon walk. The route had been shorter than the traditional walk. Although Lee and Sue are still in (or at least not unadjacent to) their prime and could walk much further, some us (well me) are beginning to feel their age and find 11km quite long enough. Thanks to all for your patience, thanks to Mike for the route planning and to Alison C for making the effort to come so far to be part of it.

I mentioned Francis, the originator of these walks at the start. Last year he joined us for lunch and in the spring moved into sheltered accommodation in Oxfordshire nearer to his daughter. He died suddenly of a heart attack in June. For more, see updates to Dr Francis Gibbs Crane MBE.

Francis lunching at the Ship Inn, Danebridge many years ago

I first blogged about these walks in 2010, and that walk was indisputably the Nth of the series. Last year’s was the (N + 12)th and I feel it is time for new, and more definitive numbering. So, without consulting anybody, and solely for the purpose of this blog, I have named this the First Francis Crane Memorial Fish and Chip Walk. Blog titles are best kept short so, as you can see at the top, abbreviations have been necessary.

The Annual Fish and Chip Walks

The Nth: Cannock Chase in Snow and Ice (Dec 2010)
The (N + 1)th: Cannock Chase a Little Warmer (Dec 2011)
The (N + 2)th: Cannock Chase in Torrential Rain (Dec 2012)
The (N + 3)th: Cannock Chase in Winter Sunshine (Jan 2014)
The (N + 4)th: Cannock Chase Through Fresh Eyes (Dec 2014)
The (N + 5)th: Cannock Case, Dismal, Dismal, Dismal (Dec 2015)
The (N + 6)th: Cannock Chase Mild and Dry - So Much Better (Dec 2016)
The (N + 7)th: Cannock Chase, Venturing Further East (Jan 2018)
The (N + 8)th: Cannock Chase, Wind and Rain (Dec 2018)
The (N + 9)th: Cannock Chase, Freda's Grave at Last (Dec 2019)
The (N + 10)th: Cannock Chase in the Time of Covid (Dec 2020)
The (N + 11)th: Cannock Chase, Tussocks (Dec 2021)
Dec 2020 - no walk
The (N + 12)th: Cannock Chase, Shifting Tectonic Plates (Dec 2023)
The 1st FGC Memorial Walk: Cannock Chase. Slitting Mill, a Circular Walk (Dec 2024)

The Curse of Costa Rica?

Originally entitled Not Going to Costa Rica this post was first published on 13-March-2023. Since then more material has attached itself to the tale; this is the updated version.

A Tale of Woe (Mainly)

Costa Rica 2021

Costa Rica

We had booked a Cuban trip for March 2020 but as departure approached, so did a new and as yet unnamed Corona Virus. I was expecting imminent government action that would cause a cancellation, but it didn’t come, so we went.

It came two days later. Our travel company wanted to bring us straight home, but I demurred and we eventually lost only one day of our holiday. The airline industry was shutting down and we had to fly Havana-Paris-Amsterdam-Birmingham, arriving home the day after the first lockdown had started.

Where are they all?
Driving home from the airport after the start of the first lockdown. March 2020

By summer the prolonged lockdown had worked, the number of cases was much lower and stayed low even after restrictions were lifted. I was no Covidiot, unlike the Prime Minister, Lynne and I had obeyed the rules meticulously, but I was throughout a hopeless Covoptimist. By the end of August, I thought Covid was over and the world would start opening up. We booked a trip to Costa Rice for February 2021.

But of course, it wasn’t over, autumn came and cases rose. The Prime Minister promised a ‘normal Christmas’ even though he was in possession of the facts and projections, but he was, as usual, saying what he thought people wanted to hear. The second lockdown came, I contacted the travel company and we rescheduled for 2022.

Where Were We (not) Going?

Costa Rica has become a popular destination and I was surprised by how many people I have spoken to recently have been there. No doubt, they know where it is, but others seemed less sure. They know its not one of the Spanish Costas, so it must be across the Atlantic somewhere, but where? Confusion with Puerto Rico is common, and understandable, but Puerto Rico is an island, Costa Rica isn’t, it is a slice across central America.

Costa Rica's position in Central America

It is not large, 150 km from the Atlantic to Pacific coast and 400 km north to south. Our plan was to cherry-pick the best of Costa Rica, stopping at five locations across the country.

Flying Gatwick to San José, we would look round the capital and then journey by bus and boat to Tortuguero, a National Park on the Atlantic coast. It was the wrong season for the turtles (never mind, see Oman (2): Sur and Turtles), but we were guaranteed howler monkeys, sloths in the hotel garden and an early morning boat trip to see what we could find. From there we would travel to La Fortuna at the base of Arenal, an active volcano, for lava walks and a dip in a thermal pool.

Costa Rica with our intended stops marked in red

Stop 3 was the cloud forest at Monteverde, with walkways through the canopy – as featured in the Paddington movies, even though it is not ‘darkest Peru’. Then down to the beach at Sámara on the Pacific coast before returning to San José and home.

Costa Rica in 2022

Little did we know it but the 2022 plan started unravelling in September 2021.

Intended Stop 1: Tortuguero National Park (photo: Peter)

Lynne was suffering from a persistent and very unpleasant cough and extreme tiredness. Coughing fits regularly left her retching, but when one brought up a little blood, it was time to consult the medical profession. A series of blood tests, an x-ray and an CT scan failed to throw light on the cough, which by January had gone away on its own, but they did flag up a potential heart problem. We were not worried, Lynne had major heart surgery in 1954 and as the heart/lung machine was yet to be invented the surgeons had only minutes to perform the operation to avoid brain damage. Looking inside the chest now, is alarming – to those who understand these things - but the experimental operation was a complete success and she has been able to live a normal life for the last 70 years.

Long-billed Curlew, Tortuguero (photo: Peter)

We were to travel on Thursday Feb 24th. On the Monday evening a cardiologist phoned us, saying he needed to see Lynne immediately. She said we were going to Costa Rica in two days. He sounded sceptical. Lynne gave him a brief history and he asked if she had regular check-ups. She told him she used to, but was signed off in 2002. ‘They wouldn’t have signed you off if they had seen what I have just seen,’ he replied. And that sentence effectively finished of Costa Rica 2022.

Intended Stop 2: Arenal (photo: Peter)

A week or two later Lynne had an ECG and we walked into his consulting room. He looked surprised, I think he had been expecting an invalid. To be fair, he had been checking her history; we knew (and he discovered) that parts of Lynne’s notes have gone walkabout, but he had clearly done some extra digging and was well informed. He showed us the apparent massive aneurysm, ‘larger than those we operate on’ on his screen. He listened carefully, asked a few questions and suggested Lynne have a MRI scan in a few months’ and if nothing had changed, he would accept it was stable, meanwhile he would support our insurance claim. In June Lynne had her scan, nothing had changed and she will have another in a year. Our travel insurance paid up in full and reinstated Lynne’s cover.

American crocodile, Arenal (photo: Peter)

What Makes Costa Rica Special

Costa Rica – The Rich Coast – was so called because the conquistadors claimed to be impressed by the gold ornaments worn by the natives. They were lying.

From 1609 to 1821 Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Being a long way from the capital and forbidden to trade with its southern neighbour (Panama was part of the rival Viceroyalty of New Grenada) it was remote and sparsely populated. In 1719 a Spanish Governor described Costa Rica as the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America.

Coat of Arms of Costa Rica

At independence in 1821 the Captaincy General became the Federal Republic of Central America. Fighting between the constituent provinces doomed the Federation from the start. Costa Rica withdrew in 1838 and proclaimed itself independent, but by then it was unclear if there was anything to withdraw from.

One major reason for Costa Rica's early poverty was the lack of a significant indigenous population available for forced labour. In the mid-19th century this disadvantage turned into an advantage as the lack of a substantial oppressed community enabled greater social cohesion and political stability. Economic expansion loves stability, and coffee, first planted in 1808, became, and remains the most important crop.

Laura Chinchilla President 2010-14
CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

Being Latin American, Costa Rica had to have at least one military coup; in 1948 a disputed presidential election led to an armed uprising and a bloody 44-day civil war. The would-be military junta lost and to make sure it never happened again Costa Rica abolished its army. Since then, 18 presidents have served single 4-year terms and their successor has been chosen by free and fair elections. President Laura Chinchilla, served 2010-14, was Costa Rica’s first female president.

Rodrigo Chaves, President since 2022
CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

Costa Rica is today by far the most prosperous of the 5 republics that made up the Guatemala Captaincy, its per capita GDP is almost three times that of Guatemala the second most prosperous. Costa Rica’s Human Development Index, which takes account of life expectancy, education and income is rated 'Very High'.

Costa Rica 2023

We rebooked for February 23rd 2023 - surely nothing could go wrong this time. Early February all seemed well, but as departure approached that cough, the one that had led indirectly to last year’s problem, returned, but I convinced myself it would get better. 24 hours from departure I checked in and then we drove down to my sister’s in Sussex. She had generously offered to put us up for the night, provide car parking and drive us to and from the airport.

Caterpillar of one of the Leucanella family of moths, Arenal (photo: Peter)
If nature has anything more like a decorated turd, I don't want to see it

I was confident we were going when we sat down to dinner. Lynne ate, but did not do justice to an excellent meal. She started coughing when we went to bed and coughed solidly all night. I might have had 60 minute’s sleep, but probably less. At some time in the small hours she said quietly ‘I can’t get on that plane like this.’ My mind had been so set on going, that was the first time I realised the trip was in jeopardy. Removing my head from the sand, I could see it was impossible.

Intended Stop 3: the Monteverde Cloud Forest

Instead of being driven to Gatwick, I drove us home. Lynne went to bed with a lung infection and stayed there for most of the next fortnight. The cough subsided, but the tiredness lingered.

In Conclusion

The first cancellation was just Covid, it was not the only trip we cancelled that year. The second was, I am sure, unnecessary but looking at it from the point of view of the doctor I cannot see what else he could have done, and he left us with no real choice but to cancel. With hindsight it was clear that from the moment Lynne was sent for a chest x-ray the consequences had to play out, but instead of foreseeing the problem we just sleepwalked into it – and the timing could not have been worse. Cancellation three was just unlucky.

Will there be a fourth attempt? Who knows?

Costa Rica 2024

My In Conclusion was a bit too quick. On my birthday in September, I received a communication from my sister, Erica. It was a birthday greeting of the kind you would expect between siblings who live 200 miles apart and so do not see each other often. The final paragraph read I think it is time to fess up that our main holiday this year is to Costa Rica. I did not say anything previously as we did not want to appear as though we were doing a one-upmanship thing on you. I do know that you are far more mature than to think that… and of course I am. I wished them (Erica and husband Peter) well and was glad that one of us would get there, even if it was not me.

My sister Erica and her husband Peter

They booked with a company well-known for sending people to far-flung places. Initially they told them they would fly to San José, the capital of Costa Rica, from Heathrow via Montreal – considerably less of a detour on a globe than it looks on a flat map. A little later they changed this to Heathrow – Frankfurt – San José and then to Heathrow – Miami - San José.

At American airports, unlike all other airports, the segregation between airside and landside only happens at the gate, so once disembarked they cannot separate those who have reached their final destination from passengers in transit. Consequently, everybody must go through the whole rigmarole of entering the USA, and transit passengers must then exit again. To enter, even for an hour, you require a visa or at least a visa waiver.

Side-striped palm-pit viper, Monteverde (photo: Peter)
Good news, a bite is nasty but not fatal to humans (usually)

To receive a visa waiver you must apply by ESTA (U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization.) This takes time and costs money, so Erica did not do it immediately in case the company changed their minds again. Once that seemed unlikely, she sat down to complete the on-line form. All went well until the question have you entered Iran, Syria, North Korea or Cuba since 1st March 2011. She spent a week in Iran as a tourist in 2017. Since then, she has acquired a new passport and a new surname, so would a little fib be appropriate? She was tempted, but the consequences of being caught out would be serious - who knows what sources of information governments might have - and one visit, that long ago? Would it matter? She did what I would have done and told the truth - and it did matter. Within the hour she and Peter knew their applications had been rejected.

A bird-feeder in Monteverde is visited by two of the 366 species of hummingbird tentatively identified as:
left a female purple throated mountain gem (the males have the purple throats) and right a green-crowned brilliant

By then it was too late to apply for a full visa – and would it be granted, anyway?

The curse of Costa Rica was striking again.

The travel company were unsympathetic. A cancellation at that stage would mean no refund from the company and their travel insurance would not cover it.

Intended stop 4: The Beach. We intended to stay Sámara, thus photo is of sunset at Tamarindo, 50 km to the north.
I doubt they are very different. (photo: Peter)

But why cancel when there are any number of ways of getting from Sussex to San José. Erica did some research and went back to the company. Eventually they offered four choices, two involved leaving on the wrong day for their pre-booked tour and one was a direct flight from Gatwick to San Jose on the right day. They live 30 mins from Gatwick Airport, so not a difficult choice. BA fly three times a week from Gatwick to San José, they would have to return via Madrid (BA and Iberia are essentially the same company) but that was a minor inconvenience.

So, everything was solved, but still Erica said she would not believe they were going until wheels met tarmac in San José.

Teatro Nacional, San José

And the curse of Costa Rica is not so easily sidestepped. The belated end of the rainy season brought a deluge of biblical proportions. Costa Rica closed down and the Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel.

Just in time the flood abated, the waters receded and a dove was seen flying eastward across the Atlantic with an olive branch in its beak. The curse of Costa Rica was finally lifted.

Erica and Peter enjoyed their holiday, if it was at times a little damp,...

Erica enjoying the rain

... and I am grateful to them for this story and the wildlife photos above.

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, easy 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) status, 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.

Other Alentejo Posts

Évora (2016)
Mértola and Alcoutim: Strongholds by the Guadiana River (2017) - also under Algarve
Beja, Capital of Baixo Alentejo(2018)
Castro Verde (1): Surrounding Villages (2022)
Castro Verde (2): Castro Verde and Ourique (2022)
Serpa (2023)

Santiago do Cacém (2024)
The Alentejo, Eating and Drinking (2024)