Provincetown Portuguese Cookbook

Traditional Portuguese foods, beloved by locals and adopted by washashores| Home | Foreword | Table of Contents |

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Boston Baked Beans

Potatoes in Port Wine

Mushrooms in Port Wine

Boston Baked Beans

Feijãos

Joann Bollas Coats

Baked beans are one Saturday night tradition in New England, which were happily adopted by Provincetown's Portuguese. In the days before central heating, a kitchen kerosene stove might be the only heat overnight in a Portuguese home. It was ideal for the long, slow baking these beans require. Today the cost of the energy may not be worth the beans. Crock pots don't cut it.

My husband said he will never forget waking up on Saturday mornings to the aroma of those baking beans. Although every family in town owned a bean pot when I was a child, most people buy baked beans today at the supermarket. Joann Coats is the only person I know who still takes the time to bake her beans the old-fashioned way. Eaten with hot dogs, fish cakes or grilled linguiça, Joann's baked beans are the best I've eaten since my mother stopped baking them herself.

1 lb. pea beans

1 large onion

1 piece of salt pork, about 2 inches

1/2 cup white or brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

Salt and pepper

1 tsp. dry mustard

Soak the beans overnight. Drain the beans and put them in a bean pot with all of the other ingredients. Cover with water.

Bake the beans for 6 hours in a slow oven (250° to 300°). Add water as needed. Taste the beans to see if more molasses or sugar is needed.

Serves 4 to 6.

Ernie's Molho

Ernie Carreiro

Molho cru is a sauce traditionally served over cold, leftover fried fish. The sauce can be used on any fish, but is especially good with mackerel, a very oily fish. The vinegar in the molho cru cuts the oil in the mackerel.

This makes a great midnight snack or early morning breakfast with Portuguese bread.

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 tsp. saffron

1 cup flat leafed parsley, finely chopped

11/2 cups cider vinegar

1/2 cup cold water

Fried fish

Mix all the ingredients together in a glass bowl.

Meanwhile, fry the fish until it is nicely browned. Lay the fish in a glass tray and pour the molho over the fish while it is still warm. Allow it to marinate. The longer it sits, the better the flavor. Refrigerate.

Chick Peas

Grão-de-Bico

Edith Codinha

Chick peas are a very popular Portuguese side dish. Without the linguiça, chick peas are prepared as an accompaniment to boiled salt cod, by cooking the chick peas in the same water used to cook the cod.

1/2 lb. dried chick peas

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 lb. linguiça, sliced

11/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. vinegar

Wash the chick peas and soak overnight in cold water. Drain and put in a kettle. Cover with cold water. Add the sausage, onion, salt and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 3 hours.

Vinho D'Alhos

Mariana Raposo

Vinho d'alhos is used for marinating pork chops or salt water catfish. The longer vinho d'alhos sits, the stronger it gets, which is part of its charm. Probably devised as a way of preserving foods, vinho d'alhos is a Provincetown favorite. Old timers refer to foods prepared vinha d'alhos as "galvanized." And they mean business, too. Vinho d'alhos can be pretty overwhelming.

1 cup white vinegar

3 cups water

2 minced garlic cloves

Cumin seed, to taste

1/2tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. salt

Combine all of the ingredients. Soak the fish or pork chops overnight. Remove the fish from the liquid, bread and deep fry.

For pork chops, broil or sauté in a frying pan until cooked.

Potatoes in Port Wine

Rachel Silva White

4 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. parsley

1 chopped shallot

1 cup Port wine

4 medium, sliced boiled potatoes

Melt the butter and blend with the flour to make a roux. Add the parsley, shallot and wine and cook. Use the sauce for boiled potatoes.

Mushrooms in Port Wine

Rachel Silva White

4 tbsp. butter

1 heaping tbsp. flour

1 lb. chopped musrooms

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup meat stock

1 cup port wine

Melt the butter and sauté the mushrooms. Stir in the flour the port wine and meat stock. Cook until thickened.

Serves 4.

Bibliography

Child, Julia, "The Way to Cook," Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1989

Koehler, Margaret H., "Recipes from the Portuguese of Provincetown,"

The Chatham Press, Inc., Riverside, CT, 1973

Drake, Gillian, "A Taste of Provincetown," Shank Painter Publishing,

650 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657 1991

Mitcham, Howard, "Provincetown Seafood Cookbook," 1973,

The Hermit Crab Press, Provincetown

Cook, Mary Alice, "Traditional Portuguese Recipes

from Provincetown," Shank Painter Printing Company,

Provincetown, MA 02657, 1983