Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato

The story

Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato is one of the best-known dishes of Portuguese cooking, ranked 12th on TasteAtlas's 2023 list of the world's best dishes: small clams opened in a covered pan with olive oil, garlic, a splash of white wine and plenty of fresh coriander, finished with lemon. It carries the name of Raimundo António de Bulhão Pato, a poet, memoirist and translator born in Bilbao in 1829 to Portuguese parents, who died in 1912. He was known in his day as a gourmet, published a cookbook, O cozinheiro dos cozinheiros, in 1870, and may have been the model for the poet Tomás de Alencar in Eça de Queirós's novel Os Maias. Portuguese sources agree, however, that he did not invent the clams. The dish was created by Lisbon cooks in the nineteenth century and named in his honor; one account credits José da Mata, chef of the Hotel Central, while other Portuguese sources point to the old Estrela de Ouro restaurant in the Graça neighborhood. The traditional version takes about fifteen minutes, and Portuguese cooks serve it with toasted bread or broa, a cornbread, to mop up the juices. For a dinner for two, put the pan in the middle of the table with crusty bread and a chilled white wine before the main course arrives.