Chloe

Certainly, I wasn't aware of that Galician's tradition, perhaps because I'm more familiar with the unsophisticated side of Galician's cooking, based on excellent raw products with little human intervention. Well, I know of a restaurant called Chocolate ... Chloe

I use a John Lewis (UK) own brand version of this type of peeler Victorinox - click on the Victorinox link above the knives. Very simple, and peels almost everything beautifully. Chloe north Portugal

I can't really compete either, except that I eat Eric's blood dishes pretty often as I live in one of the Blood Dish Capitals of the World! And lots of lovely pig's ear! I have had cockscomb grilled on the hotplate of a solid fuel cooker. It was yummy! Apart from that, almost all parts of most common meat and fish. And my 6-year old now helps me chop up the whole kids and lambs that we get given regularly, and she and little brother admire the live chickens/cocks that are going to become their favorite chicken soup. abraço Chloe north Portugal

As far as I know, what the Europeans call limas are known as limões in Brazil, and what the Europeans call limões (i.e. lemons in English) are the ones that are difficult to find and known by various different names, sometimes "limões galegos", i.e. Galician lemons (Galician as in north-west Iberian, not east European), but this name can also be given to what non-Brazilians would call limes. And the Brazilians have lots of different limes (and lemons) and every different Brazilian city/state seems to have different names for each variety. Chloë north Portugal

This page has some eggy/almondy recipes Algarve Recipes - a pity that only the Algarve page of the Roteiro Gastronómico has been translated (and slightly idiosyncratic translations ). It's a preserve made with from the spaghetti-squash-like Cucurbita ficifolia - see Chila jam Photo of the squash at Cucurbita ficifolia Chloe north Portugal

I've eyed "Festas e Comeres" many a time, but the price has never been quite right These I do have and they are beautiful, but I have certainly got the impression that the recipes are a little bit lackadaisical. A pity that such an effort has gone into producing fine (and not ostentatious) books, without due care with the recipes. Excellent book! Hardly shows its age. Chloe north Portugal who had "fusion" pasta with kid for lunch

That would be a pity. Hmm, I wonder if there is a truly tested "bible" in Portugal? The 1984 Readers Digest "Tesouros da Cozinha Tradicional Portugesa", or Pantagruel?? As a curiousity, "British Cookery", published by the British Tourist Authority et al (originally) in 1977, includes a recipe for Belem Tarts, from Ireland. 10 egg yolks, half pound caster sugar, 1 pint cream, pinch of salt, in flaky pastry shells. Recipe also in Irish Teatime Recipes Chloe north Portugal

Two books in English to look out for are "The Taste of Portugal" by Edite Vieira (frequently mispelled Viera) and "Traditional Portuguese Cooking" - a translation of Maria de Lourdes Modesto's classic, published in Portugal by Verbo. Neither book compromises on tradition! My favourite simple Portuguese cake is Bolo Joana: Beat 6 eggs with 250g sugar until pale, add 250g ground almonds, grated peel of one lemon and some cinnamon. Beat again. Then add 125g chila/angel hair jam (Malabar Gourd preserve, or whatever you want to call it), 125 g flour and bake in a greased and floured cake tin in a medium oven. Serve with a plain white icing, if you want to! Very well behaved cake. Has survived the gas running half-way through baking and other adventures. Fred, are you interested in any specific type of recipe? abraço Chloe north Portugal

Mostly likely Basque (or possibly some other part of Spain). I've never heard of that sort of club in Portugal, but you never know ... Chloe north Portugal

In Portugal, some vinegar or wine is added to (or already in) the bowl for the blood. Ready-packed supermarket free-range chickens here (at least in the north of Portugal) are now sold with a little bag of blood alongside the pack of giblets/feet/(head). Chloe (who has no country chicken in her freezer at the moment, because the last one escaped before it could be "dealt with" )

I have never seen pimientos del piquillo in any form other than preserved. Are they sold fresh in Navarra? My "local" pepper is the pimiento de padrón. So local indeed that I can now buy them grown just outside my town in Portugal. But they don't taste the same as the Padrón ones, neither do the "non pican" ones from the north of Coruña province. Both are larger and with a less concentrated taste. abraço Chloe

Turnip greens are common in Portugal (grelos and nabiças), but the brassica in caldo verde is finely shredded (flat-leaved) kale - couve galega. Chloe

That would be "Zé Manel", also known as "Zé Manel dos Ossos" - one of the dishes he serves is pork bones (ossos de suã). It's in a little alley behind the Hotel Astoria, near the bridge. Good memories from many, many years ago! Chloë just back from holiday

I'm caught between wanting to do a certain amount while I'm there, to justify the rather long car journey (1700+ km), and wanting to relax Luckily the children don't particularly like pizza - haven't met the real stuff yet - and actively dislike hamburgers, etc. - much happier with fish. The 6-year old has been promised French-style snails and artichokes, amongst other things ... Chloë (whose kiddies had snails, raw salt cod and octopus for supper last night)

After taking a good look at maps, I realised that I should have restricted my request to the Côte d'Azur. Our ultimate destination will be Monaco on the 29th (football oblige!) and I was thinking of stopping on the coast (after passing through Provence) east of Hyères and between Fréjus and Cannes - with visits inland - and then to Menton. I also want to see something of the "arrière-pays niçois". Uff, I don't know if I am being too ambitious! Chloë north Portugal

As a complement to the northern Provence thread ... I will be in southern Provence and the Cote d'Azur with my husband and two children, who are only 3 and 6, but quite adventurous eaters. Any suggestions for simple but genuine restaurants, shops and markets (we'll be camping most of the time ), particularly fine and vaguely calm places to visit, etc. I've promised my daughter (and myself) that we'll go to Italy, so any ideas for less expensive restaurants just over the border would be most welcome too! Chloe north Portugal

And there is of course: Dehillerin which I drool over every now and then ... Spot that mandoline! Chloe

Last year we went for a meal with an old friend and his latest girlfriend. She started the meal by eating the paper that the cake she had bought earlier was wrapped in. And then proceeded to steal the (exceptionally crispy) skin from the platter of suckling pig. Now if that ain't a crime ... Chloe north Portugal

Did you just "scare" it and not actually boil it? The Galicians use this dipping in boiling water technique to tenderise the octopus, before cooking it for about 45 minutes. One of my favorite ways of cooking octopus is to fry up a vast amount of chopped onion, add the raw octopus sliced (thickness of slices depending on thickness of part of leg), sometimes some chopped tomato too, and just let it all stew gently for about 30-45 minutes (depending on tenderness of octopus). The onion and octopus juices create a lovely sauce. Chloe north Portugal

My favorites too! Chloe

The only thing I really make an attempt to avoid is hot milk, hot chocolate (which I'd love to love) and coffee or tea with milk in it. Always drink churros con café in Spain! I'm not very fond of fennel as a vegetable, although I love the smell, and I sometimes leave mussels for the mussel lovers in the family. I don't particularly like green pepper flavour in certain foods and I never liked my father's minestrone soup . But I'll eat them all. I love offal, shellfish, parsnips, anything with fish roe, white truffle flavour, anchovies, cloves, black pudding ... I didn't used to like parsley/basil/coriander - but no problem with them now. Very boring - I'll eat almost everything! Chloe north Portugal "bloody food" country

One happy, but hoarse husband (who now has lots of new Scottish friends), 3 bottles of manzanilla (Solear, La Goya and Gaspar Florido), 1 oloroso (Sanchez Romate - Don José) and 1 PX (Lustau San Emilio). Happy all around, I'd say

Thank you all for your suggestions. Threads elsewhere have reminded me of another question I was going to ask. I'd love him to bring me back a few bottles of jerez, manzanilla or anything drinkable/edible that I am unlikely to get hold of in my local part of Spain - Galicia. Any suggestions of brands/types/shops most welcome. Chloe north Portugal

Hmmm, I'm not sure that the El Bulli style is quite what they'd be looking for! 2-0, 4-0, the more the merrier! And a goal from Vitor Baia would be the (unlikely) icing on the cake, or the caviar on the blini, or the ... (1-0 will do fine thank you!) Chloe north Portugal

My husband will be travelling to Sevilla for the UEFA cup final in May, in the company of his father and three other food-loving gentlemen. They'll be staying right in the centre and will have a couple of days there before the match. Is the Taberna del Alabardero truly excellent? Exceptionally expensive? It would be curious for them to go there, since one of the group is himself a restaurant-owner priest. I dare say they'll be eating a lot of tapas - any particular recommendations? All gastronomic suggestions welcome! Chloe north Portugal (any Celtic fans out there?)