Food — Portugal

Portuguese gastronomy is one of Europe's most honest and generous food cultures — a cuisine built on raw ingredients, sea and land, carried by simple techniques and bold flavours that need no sophistication to convince. It shares with its Iberian neighbours a love of convivial, long-table dining, but distinguishes itself through a deep devotion to the sea and a richness of sweets and pastries that betrays the country's Moorish and tropical heritage.

Bacalhau (salted cod) is the national dish — something close to a religious obsession. It is said there are 365 ways to cook bacalhau in Portugal, one for each day of the year, and the figure is not far off. Bacalhau à brás (shredded with scrambled eggs and olives), à lagareiro (oven-baked with abundant olive oil), com natas (creamed and gratinéed), à Gomes de Sá (with potatoes and hard-boiled eggs), cozido com grão (with chickpeas) — every region, every family, every restaurant has its own version. The cod is imported from Norway and Iceland, salted, dried and then desalted for 24-48 hours before cooking.

The pastel de nata is Portugal's most famous culinary export. This small, custard-filled tart with a flaky pastry shell and a caramelised, lightly scorched surface was invented in the 19th century by monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém — hence the name of the original shop, Pastéis de Belém (since 1837), whose recipe remains a closely guarded secret. Today every bakery in the country serves its own version — warm, dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar, best eaten at the counter with a bica (espresso) at your elbow.

Grilled sardines (sardinhas assadas) are the other pillar of Portuguese summer cooking. In June, during the Festas dos Santos Populares, outdoor grills invade the pavements of Lisbon and Porto: the acrid smoke of sardines over charcoal, served with crusty bread and piri-piri sauce, is the smell of summer in the capital. Atlantic seafood is of exceptional freshness along the coast: percebes (goose barnacles, a rare local delicacy), amêijoas à bulhão pato (clams with garlic, olive oil and white wine), gambas grelhadas.

Portuguese wines deserve serious attention. Vinho verde from the Minho — fresh, low-alcohol and lightly sparkling, with the finest cuvées made from alvarinho grapes — is the ideal partner for seafood. Port wine — tawny, ruby, LBV or vintage — is produced exclusively in the Douro Valley and matured in the lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia: a guided visit with tasting at Taylor Fladgate, Graham's or Ramos Pinto is unmissable in Porto. The Alentejo produces full-bodied, sun-drenched reds from aragonez (local tempranillo) and trincadeira, often at outstanding value. The Douro itself yields remarkable table wines — Quinta do Crasto, Niepoort, Ramos Pinto — that rival the finest of southern Europe.