To taste

This is the cooking of Terras de Basto, the region made up of Celorico, Cabeceiras, Mondim and Ribeira de Pena. It was a land of small holdings, where each family looked after its own corn, beans and vegetable garden, and land was measured in “carts of bread” and “casks of wine”. The table begins there.

One dish: Cod Freixieiro style

In the Rota do Românico’s collection on the gastronomy of Tâmega e Sousa, this is the dish of Celorico de Basto. The recipe, abridged and for one person:

1. Open a piece of cod loin and fill it with a slice of ham.
2. Put it in the oven, in a tray, with sliced onion, halved potatoes, garlic, parsley and olive oil.
3. Crumble cornbread and knead it with eggs into a paste.
4. Halfway through the baking, spread the mixture over the fish, drizzle with olive oil and let it brown.
5. Serve with boiled turnip tops on the side.

The original recipe gives no oven temperature or time, only that a wood-fired oven is ideal.

From the land: meat, honey and corn

Some local products carry a designation of origin: Barrosã and Maronesa beef (DOP), kid from the Terras Altas do Minho (IGP) and honey from the Terras Altas do Minho (DOP). The European DOP and IGP labels guarantee where a product comes from.

Among the local animals are the Barrosã and Maronesa cattle and the Bísaro pig, and smoked meats and lamb are specialities too.

The bread is broa, of corn and rye. Corn grows next to yellow beans, and it is with corn and smoked meats that, in Mondim de Basto and Ribeira de Pena, they make the dish called milhos ricos.

Fair sweets

The sweets most tied to Terras de Basto are for festivals and fairs: cavacas, rosquilhos, galhofas and sugar sweets. There are also mexidos and burnt cream. Pão de ló and cavacas are the specialities the municipality of Celorico highlights most, and pão de ló was the dessert of its 2019 gastronomic weekend.

When to taste

Some dates, taken from sources of different years. Always check this year’s edition. to be confirmed

1. 20 JanuaryThe Festa das Papas, every other year, in Samão and Gondiães.
2. MayThe Rota do Mel, a bike ride.
3. SummerLocal fairs: Agro-Basto, Crafts and Gastronomy, and the Land and Linen fair.
4. AugustA regional gastronomy fair in Celorico de Basto.
5. NovemberThe Rota do Românico gastronomic weekends. In 2019, Celorico served cod fritters, oven-roasted kid and pão de ló sponge cake, from 27 to 29 November.

Where to eat

Only the host can write this part. to be confirmed The list of places the host recommends, with opening hours and closing days, goes here.

To give you an idea of what exists: the Rota do Românico website lists, in Celorico de Basto, O Grilo (careful cooking, with attention to presentation), Santiago (comforting food, in the middle of town) and Sabores da Quinta (in Molares, with views over the landscape). A travel blog also mentions Nova Vila, for its Maronesa beef steak, and Destravado, and warns that Sabores da Quinta needs booking well ahead in high season. These are examples found online, not recommendations. to be confirmed