We spent last Saturday doing some clearing on the land and the neighbours kindly offered to help. As is the way here, lunch was provided for the workers- this time it consisted of Fresh Sardines- simply salted and grilled on the barbeque (no gutting, no herbs/lemon- just plain old sardines with a good sprinkling of sea salt- perfect!)
We have been saving one our free range black pig/wild boar pork legs in the freezer to do a Porco no Espeto or Spit Roast. Our neighbours kindly organised all the gear including the special 'Molho' which is the basting sauce and is a closely kept secret. At €3 per litre you can understand why they don't share the recipe- only sell the sauce! A large bay tree branch was cut and the leaves all tied to the front of the stick for basting onto the pork. The leg is then continuously brushed with the sauce and turned. As it cooks the pork is carved off and put into a pan to keep warm until there is enough to start eating! It was served with fresh bread, hand-cut chips and salad from the garden, and of course washed down with plenty of wine!
I have done a little bit of research to find the secret recipe and found a few versions of it- here is a list of the ingredients most base their recipes on, and then put their own take on it with fresh herbs etc.
vinho branco - white wine
whisky - whisky
cerveja preta - black beer (stout)
alho - garlic
limões - lemons
gengibre - ginger
sal grosso - course grain salt
pimenta - pepper
piri-piri malaguetas pequenas- piri-piri chillies
louro - bay leaves
massa pimentão - red pepper paste
oleo - oil
cominhos - cumin
persil - parsley
some add a pineapple flavoured yoghurt!
The sauce is best made 24 hours in advance and stirred a number of times.
