fisherman’s stew recipe

“On the boat, we cook with whatever there is, but on land a good fish stew has to include all the fish and even sardines and razor clams, which don’t stay on the plate but give it flavour”.

Fernando Correia travelled many seas during a lifetime dedicated to fishing. Now, retired, he dedicates himself to mending nets and making epic fish stews whenever he is called upon. It is he who takes us step-by-step through one of the emblematic flavours of Portuguese shipboard gastronomy.

A good caldeirada à pescador, made as only the people of Peniche know how, doesn’t take many ingredients, but each one is fundamental.

Ingredients:

Sardines; Razorbacks; Conger; Ray; Pata Roxa; Monkfish; Redfish Olive oil to taste Onion; Green pepper; Red pepper; Tomato; Garlic cloves 1 bay leaf; 1 bunch parsley; chilli 1 litre of beer; Tomato pulp

Preparation

The fisherman’s stew is prepared in layers. Put olive oil in a pan with the capacity to hold the whole dish. Next, cut the onion, the pepper and the tomato.

The first layer is made with the onion cut thicker, then add the potato cut into rounds, the pepper and the tomato. Cloves of garlic are chopped and added. Then comes the first layer of fish, with the red seabream, the skate, the monkfish and the purple leg bream. The redfish has not yet been put in, because it is a more fragile fish.

Repeat the whole procedure for more layers. Now the onion can be thinner. After placing the potatoes, peppers, tomato and more garlic in the pan, add the chopped parsley and another layer of fish. If it is the last, the monkfish can be added.

Separately, add tomato pulp with a little beer to make it thinner, and put the result in the pan. Before putting it on the fire, fearlessly pour in the rest of the beer, taking care to water the whole area.

It is now that the sardines, from which the head was previously removed, and the razor clams are placed. Both the sardines and the razor clams are not served, but are “the great secret of a good fisherman’s stew”. After the dish is ready, they are reserved for the fish paste, a delicious soup that is made with the broth of the fish stew and that, for this very reason, is eaten at the end.

But let’s get back to the preparation of the dish. With all the ingredients placed in the dish, add piripiri to taste to open up the flavour and take it to the fire, first on a low heat to allow the first layer of onion to release its water, and then on a high heat so that the whole dish boils.

Only when the stew is boiling can a little water be added. Never before. The water is put in until the broth reaches the last layer and its purpose is to make the potatoes on top cook with the heat.

As you can see, caldeirada à pescador is a simple dish, but it requires fresh ingredients and redoubled care in the placement of the layers. Once it reaches boiling point, it’s quick. When the top potatoes are cooked the dish is ready to serve.

JAlready on the plate, fisherman Fernando Correia tells us, you can put a dash of vinegar. This is perhaps the final trick used in Peniche’s houses, because on the boats – we already know – “you make the caldeirada with whatever there is”.

Caldeirada à pescador is one of the most traditional dishes of Portuguese shipboard gastronomy. We saw it being made at Peniche’s fish market, on the sardine quayside, and that’s where we tried it.

While Fernando Correia prepared the caldeirada, Chef Patrícia Borges, a specialist in Portuguese fish and curator of the Festival Gastronomia de Bordo, smelt the pot and enthusiastically approved.

“Mr Fernando is one of the people I know who makes the best caldeirada”, says Chef Patrícia Borges. Living in Peniche and a teacher at the Escola Superior de Turismo, she looks at us, with the caldeirada already steaming on the plate, smiles and exclaims: “there are dishes that are not worth messing with. This is great gastronomy”.