Portugal

Bacalhau à Brás

Salt cod shredded with onion, straw potatoes and egg, folded until just set.

Pastel de nata

Custard tart in flaked pastry, scorched on top, eaten warm with cinnamon.

Francesinha

Porto's sandwich of steak and sausage under melted cheese and a beer-and-tomato sauce.

Caldo verde

Potato soup with shredded kale and a slice of chouriço, poured at every festa.

Cozido à portuguesa

Meats, sausages and vegetables boiled together and served on a vast platter.

Sardinhas assadas

Whole sardines grilled over charcoal on the street through June, eaten on bread.

Arroz de marisco

Soupy tomato rice loaded with shellfish, brought to the table in its pot.

Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato

Clams opened in olive oil, garlic, coriander and white wine, the juices mopped up.

Polvo à lagareiro

Octopus roasted with smashed potatoes under an indecent quantity of olive oil.

Bifana

Thin pork marinated in garlic and wine, piled into a bread roll with mustard.

Alheira

Bread-and-poultry sausage invented by Jews feigning pork-eating, now fried with an egg.

Leitão da Bairrada

Suckling pig roasted with garlic and pepper lard, crackling served separately.

Açorda

Bread soaked in garlic, coriander and oil into a thick porridge, often with egg.

Feijoada

Bean stew with pork cuts, older and lighter than its Brazilian descendant.

Queijo da Serra

Sheep's cheese set with thistle, so soft the top is cut off and spooned out.

Presunto

Dry-cured ham from black pigs raised on acorns in the Alentejo.

Pastéis de Tentúgal

Wafer-thin pastry around egg-yolk cream, one of hundreds of convent sweets.

Vinho verde

Young, low-alcohol northern wine with a prickle of gas, drunk cold and fast.

Porto

Fortified Douro wine aged in lodges across the river, from ruby to forty-year tawny.

Ginjinha

Sour cherry liqueur knocked back in a chocolate cup at a doorway bar.