Every time a holiday or major American event comes around, I try to decide how to celebrate it while living in Portugal. One of those big events is this weekend: THE SUPER BOWL.
I’m not sure that anyone in Portugal knows what a super bowl is. If you tried to explain it, you would probably start off by saying it’s a football game where the two best teams in the country play each other. That would totally get their attention.
But once they find out that it’s a football game where all the men wear helmets and pads and they can use their hands to touch the ball, they might lose interest.
Although there are major differences in how “football” is played in the US versus how its played in Portugal, we celebrate it pretty much the same way – with family, friends, other crazy fans, lots of party food and a few drinks.
The Pre-Game Show
Earlier this week we rode the bus to the CascaiShopping mall to collect the ingredients for our party. The Continente Bom Dia grocery store in the mall is the largest one we’ve seen in Portugal. It rivals the Super Wal-Marts back in the states.
We were able to find most of what we needed, and came home with our grocery cart completely overloaded.
So let’s get this party started!
The First Quarter
Drinks and Chili Chicken Wings, aka: Asas de Frango Piri-piri
The Portuguese love their drinks, and what would a football game be without a cold beer? Super Bock and Sagres are two of the most popular beers in Portugal. There’s also a popular soft drink called Sumol. We’ve seen Sumol in all the grocery stores and decided that the Super Bowl was a good excuse to try it.
It looks like a pale Mountain Dew, but tastes nothing like it and has no artificial colors. It is a lightly carbonated, not-too-sweet soda with a bit of orange juice and orange pulp. We bought Sumol Zero (no sugar) and thought it had a slight chemical taste. Mike improved his glass with a shot of vodka.
The Chili Chicken Wings are so good – tender, juicy, and spicy. The recipe comes from Authentic Portuguese Cooking by Ana Ortins*.
The Second Quarter
Charred Linguiça with Portuguese Bread and Spicy Mustard
Linguiça (Ling-GWEE-zuh) is a smoke-cured pork sausage seasoned with garlic and paprika. We first saw linguiça being charred in a small restaurant in Porto. They set the sausage in a special ceramic dish called an assador de barro (“clay roaster”) which holds the meat above several ounces of alcohol. The chef lit the alcohol and let the flames char the meat.
This would have been fascinating to watch, no matter where it was done. In this case, it was on a shelf right behind Mike’s head.
It was a chilly evening so the heat was appreciated and a little scary at the same time.
When I cooked the linguiça, it took about 10 minutes. Mike condensed it down to about 1 in the video.
The cooked sausage had a smoky, rich flavor that went well with some good Portuguese bread, some sharp cheese and a spicy mustard.
Half Time
Hot Dogs with Batatas Palha
Hot dogs must be loved in Portugal, but so far Mike is the only person I’ve seen eat one. Every grocery store has a section like this displaying hot dogs, chicken dogs and tofu dogs.
They come in cans and jars, and like their eggs, are not refrigerated. There’s a certain leap of faith involved in buying a jar of hot dogs.
I recently read that the Portuguese like to put batatas palha (sounds fancy doesn’t it?) on top of their hot dogs. To the uninitiated, these are thin fried potato sticks that you get in a can in the US.
As the saying goes, “when in Rome…” so we tried it. If the Portuguese really do this they have created a culinary wonder. I rate this dish a five out of five. A grilled chicken dog on a squishy white Bimbo bun, slathered in yellow mustard with ketchup and potato sticks, will transport you back to when you were six and your mother left you alone in the kitchen.
I truly believe you could open a food truck with these! I also heard that the folks in Brazil put batatas palha on their chicken stroganoff. That sounds fabulous.
The Third Quarter
Tuna Pâté with Tostas
I don’t think you can have a party in Portugal without some kind of fish. When you go out to eat you are almost always offered a fish pâté (usually tuna), a basket of bread, and some olives after you’re seated and before you order your drink. (Note to newcomers in the country: If you accept these, you’ll get charged for them.)
For our party menu, we made a tuna pâté served with tostas, small squares of toasted bread. I like this particular recipe, but I reduced the onion by half.
The Fourth Quarter
Vidal Melons
Okay, let’s face it. Even the cook gets tired of cooking. Tonight’s desert is a package of candy called Vidal Melons. They are semi-soft, smell like watermelons, and taste like a scratch-n-sniff sticker would taste if you could eat a scratch-n-sniff sticker.
To my delight the candy turned out to be chewing gum. I haven’t had a piece of gum in eight months, so maybe I’m a little wacky about them. The gum lost its flavor in about a minute but was still the closest thing I’ve had to Hubba Bubba in years.
The Post-Game Show
So there you have it. Two Americans in Portugal do a Super Bowl party menu and live to write about it. Some things I have learned since leaving the US: the world is a small place, people are more alike than different, and, as Dani Rojas would say
“Football is life!”
To that, we would add
“Futebolas are crunchy!“
What was your Super Bowl party like? Did your team win? Did you care? Tell us how you beat the points spread in the comments below or drop us a note via the Contact Us form.
Make every meal count / Faça cada refeição contar
Mary
The Cook
* This link is direct to Amazon.com. At the time of this writing (February, 2022), we receive no affiliate payment if you buy a copy. If that changes in the future, we’ll let you know.
Hey guys. We had a family party with the kids and grandkids. You remember those. To give our grilling chef a break we ordered a pork butt from Arlington’s girls’ softball team. The team dad’s cooked it all night. It did not disappoint. YUM! I made sausage baked beans and potato salad and someone brought twice baked potatoes. Lindsey made her famous football cookies – some with each of the team colors. They were gone in a flash! Of course, football would not be complete without Panchos cheese dip and chips! We had some intense quarter scores betting going on displayed on a homemade poster board hanging on the backdoor – ha!ha
It was a fierce competition. Final winner – KYLE with a strong second from CARSON!!
Miss you guys, especially at party time! Love you!!
Cannot type a post without errors – even with multiple proofreads! HA!HA!
Wow, it sounds like you guys had a blast. Thank you so much for sharing yout Super Bowl party with us. The food sounds fantastic. I’m glad Gene got a break – he deserves it. It is hard to believe that Carson is old enough to almost beat his Dad in a betting scheme. Haha Give everyone a hug and a squeeze from us.
xoxoxo
WHO-DEY!!!
Became a Bengals fan in 1989 when they were last in the super bowl. Hoping this time it’s works out better for George.
Hope you all are doing well!
Good to hear from you Jon. I hope this note finds you, Melanie and the rest of the family well. I am guessing you are gearing up for the spring time chores. I found a discarded clay pot by the trash the other day. I planted a couple of tomato plants and started some basil. It is all I have room for.
Mary
We are having our annual half-ass Super Bowl. Sherod’s gonna smoke a venison tenderloin (this was a busy hunting season-more venison in the freezer than I know what do with). I made that nasty awful yum thing w velveeta, rotel and bfast sausage. Also just finished making a white bean pâté and fudge brownies out of the NYT recipe app. Our L’boro buddies are bring other stuff too. I imagine there will be plenty of beer and wine for everyone else. I’ve discovered Seedlip Spice 94, that, mixed w club soda and twist of lime is delectable. At half-time everyone has to go home. That’s what makes it half-assed.
As always, your meal sounds wonderful; wish we were partying w you! Love ya! R
Girl, you and SAM seem to be going all out. I wish we were going to be eating with you. What in the heck is Seedlip Spice -never mind I’ve got Dr. Google. I think your half-ass SBP sounds just about right. The food will be gone, people need to drive before they get to tipsy, the bad commercials start to play, and the game will suck!!!
Love to you and the MallowMan
Oh, my! Now I’m a bit obsessed with thoughts of how lucious the linguiça tasted! What great fun this post has been. Thank you, dear Mary!
Xo,
Nan
Hahaha, I tought we were going to catch the upper cabinet on fire with that linguiça. I appreciate you kind comments. You’re the best.
Yeah, sounds good Mike and Mary. I would certainly try the hot dog but minus the catsup. Thanks for sharing your adventures.
Pat, please try the dog and let me know what you think. Good or bad.
I love following along on your adventures! So fun!
Heather thank you for the follow and the comment. I am so glad you are enjoying our little adventure.
Hi Mike & Mary!! The party food looks delicious!! We usually only watch the
superbowl every year for the commercials and our party food, especially this year, since the Kansas City Chiefs are not in it!! We’re still trying to figure out a time for us to get over to Portugal. We would have already been there, if it hadn’t been for Covid. Now we’re expecting another grandbaby in the next month or so. Hopefully we can make it happen later this year.
Hey Richard,
I know you will be cooking us some really great food for tomorrow night. We usually made it through till half time unless the Colts were playing! You and Carol are welcome anytime. We are headed back to the US sometime in April and at Christmas. I have a friend coming over in May, and I will be walking the Camino de Santiago for two weeks in early September. Other than that no plans at all.
Mary and Mike, your Super Bowl food items sound wonderful! Probably two shots of vodka would make the Sumol soft drink even better Mike! Go Who Day Bengals!
Awe Steve – you remember Mike too well.
Oh and we had Bimbo bread in Mexico. Brennan had a little fut outfit he would wear and I can’t remember the team but they were sponsored by Bimbo so it was bold across his little 2 year old chest. My grandmother did not think it was appropriate for a 2 year old to wear a shirt that said Bimbo. When in Rome.
Bonnie,
Isn’t the name Bimbo hilarious. Knowing you, I bet you have a picture of Brennan in that bimbo outfit. The video had audio, but Mike muted it. I kept mispronouncing the Portuguese sausage name!
The sausage video is awesome!! I felt like I was there, watching Mary cook up another delight in the kitchen. We don’t have big Super Bowl plans this year but we do have Galentine’s Day plans today and we will miss you there Mary!
Now I’m hungry and its only 9 am on Saturday. Have a great weekend M and M. I love that you have Cheetos.
Till next week.
John
Hello John,
I know you will cook something special on that big green egg. Would love to hear your plans.