Acorda
Photo: Filipe Fortes · CC BY-SA 2.0

History

Acorda originates with the Alentejano shepherds in central Portugal as a hot bread-and-water sustenance, the day-old broa loaf softened in olive oil, garlic and coriander. The dish travelled north into Lisbon kitchens in the 19th century. The seafood version, acorda de marisco, became the city's most-celebrated take, with Pap'Acorda the canonical Bairro Alto room since 1981 and Solar dos Presuntos plating a Lisbon-classical version with prawns and clams.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 30 minTotal 40 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 500g stale country bread, torn into pieces
  • 6 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
  • 150ml olive oil
  • 1L hot fish or vegetable stock
  • 4 large eggs
  • 400g cooked prawns or flaked salt cod
  • Sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. In a mortar, pound the garlic, coriander stalks and a pinch of salt to a paste.
  2. Pour the olive oil into a deep pan and warm gently. Stir in the garlic-coriander paste.
  3. Add the torn bread and pour over enough hot stock to soak (it should be loose, not a paste).
  4. Stir 5 minutes over a low heat until the bread breaks down into a thick porridge.
  5. Stir in the prawns or cod. Crack the eggs into the surface and cover, poach 3 minutes.
  6. Scatter the chopped coriander leaves over, eat from the pot, straight from the centre of the table.

Tip from the editors. Day-old country bread holds its texture, sliced sandwich bread turns to paste. Sourdough works best.

Where to eat acorda

Acorda in Lisbon

Pap'Acorda ★ 4.4

€€€ Modern PortugueseCais Do Sodre

Pap'Acorda in Cais do Sodre, Lisbon: a Bairro Alto classic reborn at Mercado da Ribeira, still cooking Manuela Brandao's signature seafood acorda.

OrderAcorda de marisco, the bread-and-shellfish stew that named the room.

Directions Book

Pateo Bairro do Avillez ★ 4.8

€€€ Modern PortugueseChiado

Pateo at Bairro do Avillez in Chiado, Lisbon: the glass-roofed centre court of Jose Avillez's complex, modern Portuguese mains served at long tables.

OrderAcorda real, bread-and-shellfish stew with prawns and lobster.

Directions Book

Solar dos Presuntos ★ 4.5

€€€ Portuguese SeafoodRestauradores

Solar dos Presuntos in Restauradores, Lisbon: a family seafood institution open since 1974, famous for cured ham, Minho cuisine and a celebrity wall.

OrderThe plate of presunto first, then arroz de marisco for two.

Directions Book

Casa do Alentejo ★ 4.2

€€ AlentejanoRestauradores

Casa do Alentejo in Lisbon's Restauradores: a 17th-century palace with a Moorish patio serving the bread soups, migas and pork of the Alentejo.

OrderAcorda alentejana, the bread-and-coriander soup, with a poached egg.

Directions

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