Recipes

Quince jam (marmelada) is very popular in Portugal. Some people like it freshly made, when it is soft and yellow, while others prefer it aged, when it is hard and dark red. But both factions agree that a slice of buttered bread with marmelada is one of the world’s most simple and satisfying pleasures.

Marmelada is often paired with a slice of queijo da ilha, a cheese from the Azores islands. This combination is so perfect that it is known as “Romeo and Juliet.” Be sure to try it when you visit Portugal!

Below you’ll find a marmelada recipe from a 16th century Portuguese cookbook attributed to Infanta D. Maria. If you find quinces in your local market, bring them home and make some marmelada. There is something very special about cooking from a recipe that is four centuries old.

MARMELADA D. JOANA

Use two kilograms of quince and 1.5 kilograms of sugar. Cook the quince in a covered pot of water. Peel the quince, cut it in pieces and strain the pulp through a fine sieve. Combine sugar and water in a pot and make a syrup. Add a little orange-flower water to the syrup. Remove the pot from the heat and combine the strained quince pulp with the syrup. Heat this mixture and stir the marmalade until it no longer sticks to the bottom.

Marcel Proust immortalized the madeleine in literature, yet the French never renamed the delicate cake in his honor. There are no “prousteleines” or madeleines à la Proust. By contrast, one of Portugal’s most iconic dishes bears the name of a minor 19th-century poet and noted gourmet: clams à Bulhão Pato.

The preparation is simple. Heat olive oil with garlic in a pot that can hold all the clams in a single layer, add the clams, and once they open, finish with a generous handful of chopped coriander and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

The dish celebrates the flavor of Portuguese clams—use anything less, and the result will fall short. Order clams à Bulhão Pato at a seaside restaurant, and you’ll understand why they are culinary poetry.