Another UNESCO registered city, another beauty. However what's different about this one is that it doesn't feel as heavily touristfied as others. There isn't an Italian joint on every corner and it isn't as clean cut as others that we've been to, as evidenced by the many old, decrepit buildings that are dotted around the city centre. It's a nice change to see a UNESCO registered city that people still actually live and exist in.
Porting it Up
Because what else do you do in Porto?
Taylor's Tour
Rather reluctantly we set off on our first morning in Porto to go and do a tour of one of the port houses. I say reluctantly because we aren't big fans of tours and expected this one just to be a bit wanky. We were wrong.
The guide knew his stuff and did an extremely good job of tempting the group into ripping the bung out of one of the casks and guzzling down its heavenly insides. Thank god the tour started with a sample of their Chip Dry White. We discovered white port in Porto, a nice little addition to our home lives I believe. On ice, with fizzy water, in Summer, nice...
The tour began with a brief history lesson before we entered the cellar and whilst surrounded by cask upon cask of various ageing ports we were educated on a world of port that we've only ever known the tip of the iceberg of. After the tour it was time to head back inside for a sample of their Ruby and Tawny 10 Year. For entry level ports these were delicious. Unfortunately the budget couldn't stretch far enough for us to have a nip of the 1855 Vintage Tawny.
Tasting at Krohn
Through disgustingly bad weather and soaking jeans and shoes we pushed on to Krohn for another couple of 'doing what they say on the label' samples. We walked away with an €8 bottle of their Ruby.
A Couple at Vino Logia
The day ended with some further research at Vino Logia, a cosy little Port bar with an amazing little selection and pretty good company.
Takeaways
However, as enjoyable as the above few places were, we got the most pleasure out of paying €5-10 for a different half bottle each night and continuing our research back at our apartment (we lived the high life in Porto). We didn't leave Porto worrying that we hadn't had the full port experience, that's for sure.
Port Education
So this is what we've picked up from our time in Porto (and maybe a little bit of Google to jog my memory). You may want to skip this section if you find port boring. In saying that, you're probably reading the wrong post if you don't have the slightest bit of interest in port.
Port can be broken down into two broad categories: wood (cask) aged; and bottle aged.
Under the wood aged you have:
White Port - strangely enough they use white grapes and are generally aged between two to three years in large casks.
Ruby-Reserve-Late Bottled Vintage Port - all of these are aged in medium and large casks with the key distinction being the length of time spent in the cask. Rubies generally spend two to three years in the cask, Reserves a touch longer and LBVs between four to six years. As opposed to Tawny ports the use of larger cask sizes results in the final product taking on less oak character.
Tawny Port - aged for ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred years in small casks before being blended and are your most complex and most highly oaked of the wood aged ports.
A 40 year old Tawny may have been blended using vintages that range from a few years old to almost 100 years old. The 40 year title is just a reference point to its quality and complexity rather than a reflection of its exact age.
And the bottle aged (it's almost over!):
Vintage Port - uses the finest grapes of one particularly outstanding year and is aged for just two to three years in casks. Once bottled the intention should be to age the port for many further years as is it will continue to develop in the bottle.
To summarise (and our biggest "ahhhhhh" moment of the tour), only Vintage port should be aged in the bottle (on its side of course). All wood aged port can't age any further seeing as it's filtered prior to being bottled and is bottled to be drunk then. What I'm trying to say here is that you now have an excuse to dust off all of those Tawnys in the back of your booze cupboard and crack them now! Well, finish reading this first.
Game of Sandwiches
The other thing you do in Porto is eat sandwiches. Last week I told you about our new sandwich king and the challengers to his throne. En garde!
The Francesinha
Francesinha roughly translates as little French girl in Portuguese and it was invented by a returning emigrant from France and Belgium. It's a bit like a glorified, gluttonised (not a word I know) Croque Monsieur (which in itself is a fancy man's ham and cheese toastie). It has since become somewhat of a food mascot for the people of Porto. It is now also very well renowned across the globe and regularly pops up in 'Top 10 Sandwiches of the World' lists.
The sandwich itself consists of cured ham, linguica (cured sausage), a chipolata-like sausage and roast meat wrapped in two thick slabs of white bread, it's covered in melted cheese and drowned in a hot, thick tomato and beer sauce and is served with french fries. Sounds good on paper right? Well, as Dad always told me, a team of champions doesn't necessarily make a champion team.
You watch the sandwiches being made and watch people around you tucking into them and you're thinking in your head that this is going to be legendary.
Then your sandwich arrives (after you've waiting in line and at your table for over an hour) and this overbearing wave of gluttony and guilt washes over you. And unfortunately the juice (or the few days worth of calories in this case) isn't worth the squeeze. It's just bleh. You feel dirty whilst eating it and you feel dirty after eating it. It's not really a pleasant experience. And these were our feelings after just sharing one (yes the photos above are of just a half sandwich each).
We were glad to have tried it and Casa Bufete was an authentic feeling place to have done it at but never again. I admit that it may not have been the best example of a Francesinha but I fail to see what you could do differently to that set of ingredients for me to actually enjoy it and think that it tastes good.
The Francesinha is no King of ours.
The Pernil
A massive shout out to this guy for getting us onto these. His rep was on the line and he came through with the goods. Nix was an easy sell, Mike had her at the word "cheese". I was a touch more sceptical, I don't get into bed with any old sandwich.
The Casa Guedes Pernil comes in a lightly toasted bun that's loaded up with slices of pork, that had been carved off the bone and allowed to sit in a stock of its own juices, and your choice of optional extras where the soft, gooey mountain cheese is highly favoured. Once again, the theory that pork in a bun is just pork in a bun has been debunked. This is a great sandwich.
As per normal for us, we didn't feel as though having these sandwiches once did them justice so we returned for a second and third time. On the third time we discovered how good they go with the house Vinho Verde. And I also discovered that adding pata negra (cured pork) lifts the bar again. Wow. Two bottles and two Pernils each later we wandered home rather merry and very satisfied.
You come to Porto for the Francesinha and you stay for the Pernil. The Francesinha is the girl that you wake up alongside and question your prior nights decision making and the Pernil is the girl that you take home to your mother. I'd say it's like Nicola but at no point was the sandwich a bitch to me.
I believe we have not found a new King here but may have found our sandwich Queen. The Bifana and the Pernil, our sandwich King and Queen. Imagine their little porky babies.
Another thing Mike, your move re the poor song/poor blog title. I enjoyed 'We Do Ron Ronda'. I believe there's a high correlation between our partners' disgust and the quality of the title. Onward and downwards. Yah!
Barrie-ometer of "Feel" - yip yip yip yip yip yip
