BOLO DO CACO, ALL THE RICHES OF THE MEAT AND THE JOYS OF THE OCEAN, BLESSED BY A VARIETY OF REGIONAL SWEETS AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS, MADEIRA HAS REASONS TO BE PROUD OF ITS CUISINE. NO SECRET RECIPES, FOR THIS IS AN ISLAND THAT LOVES TO SHARE.
Bolo do Caco
The cuisine of Madeira, whether served in modest restaurants or in first class hotels, loves to be both varied and alternative. The quality and intensity of the region’s products tend to dictate the recipes, where tradition gives still plenty of room to contemporary touches, a tradition of comfort allied with gourmet curiosity of an island that learned how to ‘marry’ international gastronomy with all the native twists.
Fish and seafood insist on their natural protagonism (the lapas and caramujos are not to be missed) and Madeira is happy to show the variety of what the island knows a perfect meal can look and taste like as in the espetada de vaca em pau de loureiro, (a special beef barbecue) or the soups of trigo (wheat) or tomate e cebola (tomato and onion) coronated by a poached egg. The lapas are marinated in garlic and cooked as soon as the pan is hot enough, a slice a lemon to finish the work.
Lapas
The barbecue is made out of small beef cubes grilled in a traditional oven with salt and garlic. The garlic, laurel and vinegar sauce is the marinade for carne vinha d’alhos then fried to perfection. Also the picado (or picadinho) is a ‘must’, small cubes of veal fried with garlic and pepper, lots of sauce and chips. Or the delicious tuna fish stake, fried after resting in a marinade of olive oil, garlic, salt and oregano, reminding visitors that eating in Madeira is pretty much a family affair.
Picadinho
Other glories of the ocean know how to reign supreme: codfish, octopus and the star of the show, the black swordfish with banana, a perfect combination.
Black swordfish with banana
As for the sweets, it would be a wrongdoing not to try the queijadas (creamy cheese pastry) or the honey cake and the corn bread. The variety of fruits is a culinary adventure but the maracujá (passion fruit) pudding is unforgettable.
Honey cake
Fruit at the Mercado dos Lavradores
The rest is left for the visitor’s appetite.
