Portuguese Home Cooking

In a delectable tribute to the dishes of the author’s friends and family, Ortins (Authentic Portuguese Cooking) once again considers her culinary roots, this time with an even more personal bent. A first-generation Portuguese American, Ortins blends traditional fare with modern convenience, relying on the wide availability of salt cod, which has become “increasingly available in North American markets,” to riff on time-honored dishes that feature the Portuguese staple baked in onion sauce, fried in savory cakes, and sautéed with vegetables and cream. Soups are another mainstay, and range from a friend’s grandmother’s eggs in broth, “a welcome dish after a busy day,” to a fennel soup inspired by her husband’s cousin. Ortins notes the differences that set Azorean cooking apart from Mediterranean and American styles—a Galveias-style gazpacho, for instance, has no tomatoes, and the classic stew of feijoada calls for kidney beans instead of black—and gives treatise-worthy treatment to the Portuguese love of sausages, including linguiça and chourico, whose rich, dish-making flavors are well worth the time and effort they require to put together. And though she claims desserts “have never been a nightly habit” in Portugal, she nevertheless tempts with a section of buttery cookies and pastries. Rich in love and flavor, this a must for any well-rounded cookbook collection. (Aug.)