Eye Candy in Oporto

Food lovers unite!  Eye candy is showcased on nearly every street in Oporto with so many unique Portuguese food specialties. Take a morning walk, starting at the covered produce market Mercado Bolhao, and continue on via the  pedestrian street Rua Santa Catarina and Rua Impero,  A perfect picnic lunch in the making, of course with a bottle of Quinta do Tedo.

Sausages and cured meats – smoked, rubbed in paprika, infused or not with garlic, spices and paprika, made of pork to include linguiça, blood sausage morçela, flour and ground pork farinheira and garlicky chouriço, or chicken and bread alheira.

Portugal boasts excellent bread!  Try pão de milho – cornbread with a chewy crust that asks for another bite, dipped in olive oil or slathered with sweet butter and sea salt as you are waiting for a course, or with cheese at the end of a meal.  Top photo shows breads are named from where they are from – Amarante,  Foz Coa, etc.  Croissants, denser and richer with egg yolks added to the dough, are not to be missed.  Directly above is a photo of a bola – a savory and almost custardy bread laden with cubes of of fiambre, flavorful ham.

Bacalhau or salt cod is called the national Portuguese dish, with 364 recipes – 1 for each day!  Available in any imaginable cut, the thicker the more expensive.  Note: Islanda or Iceland is specified in the above photo, the country of origin. Orginally fished in Atlantic waters off the Portuguese coast, today most salt cod sold in Portugal is fished in the waters closer to the North Pole, to include Norway and Iceland.

Bonbons in abbondanza!  Different shapes and colors, hard covers to roll around in the mouth and often with almonds in the center.  One asks for another.

Enjoy the limitless eye candy in Oporto, and  finish off the day with … a glass of Quinta do Tedo!