How to Eat Like a Lisbon Local at Home
Lisbon has a long legacy in culinary inventiveness and winemaking. Yet its clattering trams, cobblestone streets, and majestic squares—and the popular Fado music—often steal the spotlight.
From the distinct cuisine of Lisbon to the tastes and tannins of Portugal’s lesser-known wine regions, there’s a lot to love. But it’s one thing to travel like a local, and another to eat like one. When it comes to ordering, it’s helpful to have an expert point you in the right direction.
We asked Atlas Obscura trip leader João Freitas how to eat like a Lisbon local. A native of Portugal, João leads our trip, Lisbon: Tracing the Roots of an Imperial Cuisine, and is a walk leader for Culinary Backstreets, too. He counts Portuguese wine among his favorite passions and loves to experiment with unusual food and wine pairings.
Read on for the goods, including wine pairings for each dish.
Sardines in Olive Oil and Piri-Piri
Canned sardines in olive oil and Piri-Piri is a popular product in Portuguese grocery stores. That’s no surprise in Portugal, which boasts the oldest continuously-operating cannery in the world. “I love to have canned sardines with sparkling wine while I’m preparing dinner,” said João, “like my father used to do.”
Wine pairing: Quinta das Bágeiras Bruto Branco
Bacalhau (Salted Cod Fish)
According to João, “there are so many recipes for bacalhau that you could prepare it differently every day for a year.” The most traditional fish in Portuguese cuisine, the texture, intense flavor, and versatility also make it unique. How does João like to prepare it? “Baked in the oven with potatoes and turnip greens.”
Wine pairing: Susana Esteban Procura Tinto
Topo São Jorge Cheese
Azores cheese is the most famous cow milk cheese in Portugal. It comes from free-range cows in the unexplored islands of the Azores, making this aged cheese a unique Portuguese product. “I like the hard, sharp, and intense flavor,” said João. “It’s perfect to pair with a full-bodied red wine.”
Wine pairing: José de Sousa Mayor Tinto
Pasteis de Nata
The Pastéis de Nata from Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon is the country’s most famous pastry. And João agrees: “The balance between the crispy puff pastry and the egg yolk cream is perfect. I always order two—you can’t just have one.”
Wine pairing: Dona Antónia Tawny (10 Years)
We partnered with Portugalia Marketplace so you can order all of these delicacies and more. For a limited time only, Atlas Obscura readers get 10% off. Use code AOTrips at checkout.
By Nick Papa
I’m the editor of the Atlas Obscura trips blog. I talk to our trip leaders, travelers, and friends in the industry about how they explore the world’s wondrous places.
Hear the Sounds of Scotland From Home
Atlas Obscura trip leader and globe-trotting Scottish bagpiper Ross Jennings is aiming for a world record. Since 2014, he’s played the bagpipes in more than 100 countries and plans to play in them all.
If you’ve ever wanted to visit one of the most remote, peaceful places on Earth, the far-flung Scottish Highlands fit the bill. As we wait for travel to become safe again, Ross has a solution: this Thursday, March 26, at 7:30 p.m. EDT, we’ll bring the sounds of Scotland to you.
Tune in for a brief history of kilts, one of Scotland’s many cultural icons, and a tune or two on the bagpipes. Ross will also reveal all sorts of things we’ll explore in Scotland: Highland Clans and the Trail of Tartan.
To hear the sounds of Scotland, head to our Instagram account. When we’re live, the Atlas Obscura profile picture will appear with a colorful ring around it and the word Live. Tap our profile picture to view the live video. When our live stream ends, the video will be available to watch on our Stories for 24 hours before it’s gone for good.
To learn more about Ross, visit his website, The First Piper, and follow his endless Celtic musical adventure.
By Nick Papa
I’m the editor of the Atlas Obscura trips blog. I talk to our trip leaders, travelers, and friends in the industry about how they explore the world’s wondrous places.
Spice Up Your Breakfast With Chilaquiles at Home
Is there anything like the prospect of a great breakfast to make you rise and shine? According to the internet, there’s not.
In the last 30 days, there was an 80% increase in Google searches for breakfast recipes. That makes it an excellent time to get a copy of Emily Elyse Miller’s Breakfast: The Cookbook. We asked Emily to share one of her 380 recipes from around the world, and she picked chilaquiles. It’s the best way to get a taste of Layer by Layer: A Mexico City Culinary Adventure, one of our bestselling Atlas Obscura trips, at home.
“This chilaquiles recipe is to help you cope with the crushing reality that travel is at a standstill,” said Emily. “It’s a traditional Mexican breakfast, and the perfect vehicle to transport the vibrant street food culture of CDMX to your kitchen.”
What are chilaquiles?
Chilaquiles are torn corn tortillas soaked in salsa verde or salsa roja and topped with a combination of crema, chopped onion, shredded chicken, or a fried egg. Typically served with a bolillo (large hero roll), chilaquiles can also be stuffed inside the bread to create a torta de chilaquiles. These two salsas—salsa verde or salsa roja—are used to top an array of American and Mexican Southwestern breakfast items such as Huevos Rancheros, Enchiladas Montadas, and more.
How to make chilaquiles at home
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Serves: 2
8 corn tortillas, quartered
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup (240 ml/8 fl oz) Salsa Verde or Salsa Roja
2 eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons crema
2 tablespoons crumbled Cotija cheese
1/4 small onion, diced
1/2 avocado, sliced (optional)
Cilantro (coriander) leaves, for garnish
In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat. Working in two batches, add the tortilla quarters and fry until the chips are golden brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Transfer the chips to paper towels to drain.
In the sauce pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the salsa and cook to warm through. Add the chips and stir to coat with the salsa.
Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Crack in the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute and reduce the heat to low. Cook until the white is set and the edges are golden and crispy, about 2 minutes more. In the last 30 seconds of cooking, use a spoon to baste the egg white with the hot oil, helping to finish cooking the white. Transfer the fried eggs to a plate using a spatula.
To serve, spoon the chips and salsa on 2 plates. Top with the fried eggs, crema, Cotija, onion, avocado (if using), and cilantro (coriander).
Notes: You could use 20 store-bought unsalted thick-cut tortilla chips in place of the tortillas. Just skip the first frying step and warm the chips in the salsa as directed. As a substitute for crema, combine 2 tablespoons sour cream and 2 tablespoons heavy (whipping) cream, 1/2 teaspoon of lime juice, and a pinch of salt.
Emily Elyse Miller, author of Phaidon’s Breakfast: The Cookbook, is a renowned authority on breakfast. Through her BreakfastClub series, she’s led more than 40 events in a dozen cities around the world, hosts breakfast walking tours, and writes global trend reports for leading publications.
By Nick Papa
I’m the editor of the Atlas Obscura trips blog. I talk to our trip leaders, travelers, and friends in the industry about how they explore the world’s wondrous places.
National Parks Experts Teach Us to Examine Our Yards, Parks, and Houseplants
Emily Hoff and Maygen Keller’s fantastic new book, Scenic Science of the National Parks, gives explorers a new way to examine the natural world. It’s a guide that invites park-lovers to peel back the many layers of our landscape to find the lesser-known flora, fauna, and geological formations that surround us. While the national parks are off limits for now, Emily and Maygen (who also lead Atlas Obscura’s trip Desert Astronomy: Canyonlands & Arches) are here to share some tips for exploring nature from home.
Many of us are getting very familiar with the views from our windows. Are there any observation or learning techniques we can use while indoors?
The same things that make for good observation skills in wild landscapes—looking closely and training yourself to notice details— work just as well in your backyard and your living room. Paying attention to little shifts and how conditions change over time is something that can teach you a lot— and right now, like it or not, most of us are in the same place nearly all the time. So start observing! Name the colors in each room as the light changes. Or start an experiment involving playing classical music to your house plants for 20 minutes a day. What species of tree is outside your window? What kinds of bird song can you hear? Once you actually start to take notice of what’s around you, you’ll find all sorts of things to explore.
What about while walking through our neighborhood green spaces?
Now is a great time to get familiar with the species of trees that grow in your local parks and along your streets. In many parts of the country, trees are starting to leaf out and the first flowers of the season are up. That’s a great time to try your hand at some tree identification. Challenge yourself to think of your neighborhood as part of the natural world— it is after all! Find out what plants and animals make up your local ecosystem. Have you ever looked at what kind of moss and lichen grow on the trees near you? There are little things to explore everywhere!
Two pieces of equipment you recommend in your book are binoculars and a magnifying glass for seeing small details on plants and rocks. How do I use this equipment on the rocks and trees in my yard, or on my houseplants?
Grab your loupe or magnifying glass and go to town on the plants, your furniture, your snacks, and anything (or anyone!) else you can get to sit still long enough to get a good gander at! Looking closely at anything is usually a gateway to cool sights and more questions. Dive in! Binoculars are another great tool for honing your ability to look. You can use binoculars to get a good look at tree leaves that are too high up to ID from the sidewalk or at bird’s nest, or even a real freaking bird. This time of year is great for birds, especially for those of you who live along migration routes—binoculars are great for observing those winged little dinosaurs. And you can use them to look at the night sky too! A good pair of binoculars is as good or even better than most small telescopes.
For the time being, armchair travel is our soundest portal to the world. What are your favorite resources for enjoying the national parks from home?
One of the bright sides of this awful situation is the real boom in online content aimed at helping folks armchair travel. Google has a couple cool initiatives aimed at letting viewers explore the park that are worth checking out and many individual parks are taking matters into their own hands as well. Yellowstone has been posting virtual junior ranger activities and they even issued a ‘virtual visitor passport stamp.’ Pandemically charming! Lots of webcams have gone up recently too. If there is a park that’s calling your name, hop onto their social media and see what’s up. Lastly, this is a great time to do some learning about the historic and modern Native groups associated with the locations of your favorite parks. If we truly want to respect and celebrate these landscapes, we need to involve the people that have stewarded them for millennia.
Scenic Science of the National Parks centers around storytelling, and the endless stories unfolding across the parks. Have you uncovered any surprising stories about your own local landscapes?
I (Maygen) have been interested in the geology of my town (Minneapolis) after learning so much in the parks. It’s fascinating to be able to visit parks in the area and see evidence of glaciation, including glacial erratics, which are massive, seemingly out of place boulders that look like they were plopped there by heavy machinery. In fact, they were brought down from northern Minnesota and Canada by glaciers, and when the glaciers retreated (melted), erratics were left behind. It’s also been fun to learn about which lakes were man-made or modified and which have been here for thousands of years.
As a dedicated New York City dweller, I (Emily) delight in experiencing the natural side of my city. There are hundreds of thousands of trees along nearly every stretch of sidewalk in this city (see them all on this interactive map!) and most of them are one of 20 or so species. I of course know most of the trees in my neighborhood like old friends now. Learn even a few easy tree species to ID and I guarantee your social-distance walks will get much more interesting!
By Nick Papa
I’m the editor of the Atlas Obscura trips blog. I talk to our trip leaders, travelers, and friends in the industry about how they explore the world’s wondrous places.