Travel in Spain and Portugal

Christmas Eve in Sintra always features the soul of Portuguese cuisine—bacalhao, dried codfish. The recipe also calls for cabbage, hard boiled eggs, potatoes, carrots and a rich béchamel sauce, to be enjoyed with a hearty red wine from the Douro or Alentejo.

The dish recalls Portugal’s glory days as much as the great Monument to the Discoveries that stands in Lisbon’s Belém quarter, overlooking the Tagus River. Bacalhao is a reminder that the Portuguese sailed to America long before the Spanish—to conquer the rich shoals of cod off Newfoundland. And they kept their discovery to themselves, the better to profit from caravels laden with salted codfish.