Bola de carne translates literally to “meat cake” but don’t let the name put you off — there’s generally far less meat than it suggests. It’s a very common lanche (afternoon snack) food in Portugal, and the variations abound. Meat layers may include chouriço (similar to chorizo but smoky rather than spicy), salpicão (on the saltier side), presunto (the Portuguese cousin to jamón), linguiça (resembles a thin pepperoni), toucinho (bacon), a combination of all or bits and ends of whatever happens to be in the fridge at the time.
From the looks of it, this particular bola de carne is filled with just one layer of toucinho and salpicão, but you could always add more layers or use uncooked bacon instead of cured bacon to let the flavor mix more with the dough. I haven’t tried this, but I would need to experiment with the batter and the meat to get the timing right. If the bola de carne gets too dry it tends to crumble, so you’ll need to adjust the batter to your preferences. Personally, I like to eat the bola de carne fresh out of the oven, before it gets dry.
This batch of pictures was actually my original plan for the series post about how to make bola de carne, but I wasn’t happy with the lighting so I reshot it a few months later instead:
Traditional Portuguese Kitchen: How To Make Bola De Carne
After reviewing these photos much, much later I’ve decided that when it comes to Portuguese food, I should relax my lighting requirements in favour of showing more of my mother-in-law’s cooking. While Mother-in-Law Restaurante is still busy on most weekends the household is shrinking, and so are my chances at photographing the cooking-in-progress.
August 30, 2014
Album: Portugal [Summer 2014]
