Portugal: The Cookbook Review

Portugal: The Cookbook

Over the last four years, we have reviewed amazing cookbooks from incredible chefs and talented cooks. However, the review we are sharing today is one of the most special reviews we have ever shared - this will be the first review of a book dedicated to our country's cuisine.

‍Portugal: The Cookbook is the definitive and largest collection of traditional Portuguese recipes translated into English for home cooks.

Among the hottest travel destination for food lovers with over 22 million visitors per year pre-Pandemic, Portugal boasts an incredible culinary legacy forged by centuries of world exploration.

Portuguese cuisine takes the country’s natural bounty and weaves in techniques and ingredients discovered along its pioneering 16th-century trade routes – South America, Asia, and Africa – showing that the nation’s gastronomy is every bit as rich, flavourful, and varied as that of neighboring France and Spain.

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Portugal's Vibrant Food Culture

Portugal: The Cookbook celebrates Portugal's vibrant, globally-influenced – and influential – food culture. The book includes recipes encompassing breads, soups, vegetables, fish, shellfish, poultry and game, pork, beef and veal, savory cakes and rice dishes, and desserts.

Each recipe indicates its regional origin, from the mountainous north to the southern beach resorts of the Algarve and the island outposts of Madeira and the Açores. There are perennial favorites such as Salt Cod with Eggs, Onions, and Potatoes to lesser-known but just as easily prepared Chocos com Tinta or Cuttle-fish with Ink.

Other highlights include Partridge with Mushrooms, created from natural wild bounty; desserts with locally-grown almonds like Cornmeal, Sweet Potato, and Cinnamon Cookies; and Portugal's iconic Pasteis de Nata or Custard Tarts.

Each recipe is accompanied by a short introduction describing the dish's history, its place in a region's cuisine, or advice on regional ingredients or cooking techniques. Like all precious Phaidon's Cookbooks, each recipe has icons indicating whether dishes are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan, can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, and use five or fewer ingredients.

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A Remarkable Cookbook

We already said this mutiplite times in our reviews Phaidon has done a remarkable job with this series of books devoted to a specific culinary region of the world. In our opinion this is of the best collection of books you can find on the market.

This collection has incredible books such as The Latin American Cookbook by Virgilio Martinez and The Turkish Cookbook by Musa Musa Dagdeviren, ‍Portugal: The Cookbook by Leando Carreira is just another brilliant step for this series.

Initially, Leandro found the task of detailing Portugal's cuisine daunting, but eventually came to accept and enjoy the nearly three-year project of diving into his Portuguese identity and reconnecting with his home country.

As with other food titles in Phaidon’s international food bible series, this book similarly spotlights the contributions of guest chefs – Portuguese culinary stars from acclaimed restaurants – many of whom are established cookbook authors with global name recognition, including José Avillez, Vasco Coelho Santos, George Mendes, Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng, and Nuno Mendes. 

The book’s gorgeous cover design draws from traditional Portuguese tilework, reflecting the country’s openness and simple beauty, while Portuguese maps inspired the book’s font. Portugal: The Cookbook is a stunning tome for home chefs and travelers alike that captures the country’s diversity of cuisine that has been a well-kept secret for far too long.

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Final Thoughts

There is no way we can't love Portugal: The Cookbook. This book offers one of the best collections of Portuguese recipes we have ever seen.

Leandro and Mário Ambrózio and Rafael Rodrigues, the two Portuguese photographers that provided sumptuous photography for this book, were able to truly capture the essence of Portuguese cuisine.

Thanks to its recipes and authentic photos,  Portugal: The Cookbook will take anyone on a journey through one of the world's hottest travel destinations for food lovers.