Portuguese cuisine draws on Atlantic seafood and slow-cooked meat traditions in equal measure. The bacalhau tradition — salt cod, said to have a recipe for every day of the year — is the most internationally recognised, but Portuguese butchery has its own substantial vocabulary: alcatra (rump), vazia (sirloin strip), pojadouro (top round), entrecosto (rib), febras (lean pork strips), maranho (an offal-and-rice stuffing in lamb stomach).
The slow-cooked cozido à portuguesa brings every cut and every offal together in one pot. Portuguese cut names share roots with Spanish equivalents but diverge in retail and home cooking — alcatra means rump in Portugal but encompasses most of the rear primal in Brazil. Regional traditions matter: the leitão of Bairrada, the porco preto of Alentejo, the cabrito of the interior. Portuguese butchery is unshowy, rooted in Iberian tradition, and remarkably consistent across centuries.
