Macanese home cooking

Macao’s Macanese cuisine has been listed as one of the intangible cultural heritages by the SAR government, and subsequently Macao has been awarded the title of “Creative City of Gastronomy” by UNESCO. These outstanding achievements have been achieved since the Portuguese adventurers settled in Macao more than 400 years ago. The result of the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures.

The fusion of living habits, especially food, reflects Portugal’s epic voyages of exploration and discovery. Some sailors even brought with them local Catholic wives who were married in areas such as India and Malacca they passed through, as well as their dowries: spices, Fruits and vegetables, cooking methods and family recipes came to Macau to settle. For hundreds of years, Macanese families have entertained guests with fragrant mixed dishes. The ingredients include local and imported coconut, shrimp paste (salted shrimp), tamarind and other spices. The Portuguese and their families mixed local and foreign ingredients into existing recipes to create delicious new dishes while relieving their homesickness.

When naming this book, I naturally returned to the ingredient "salty shrimp" (shrimp paste). Macau used to be rich in seafood and by-products such as shrimp paste and shrimp paste. Macanese families liked its strong flavor and often used it in a mixture of Chinese and Western cooking. It became the basic ingredient for many Macanese dishes and was even directly applied to cakes. superior. Neighbors in small towns used to have close ties, and the rich flavor of cooking spread out, causing the Macanese people to be nicknamed "salty shrimps" (also known as "salty shrimps"). However, with the advancement of society, local seafood production has declined, and shrimp Products such as paste are gradually declining and dishes need to seek changes; similarly, we, a group of Macanese people, are safeguarding the traditional culture of the Macanese people while experiencing various changes in society.

Macanese cuisine has become popular again in recent years, but in fact, Macanese families not only have mixed dishes that have evolved over the years, but also Cantonese dishes and authentic Portuguese dishes. Thinking of this and combined with my experience, I hope Sharing the recipes gained from studying in Portugal for many years, combined with the recipes studied at work, home, teaching and exchanges, we will do our best to promote the Macanese culture of Macao.

You know, even if it's Macanese, Cantonese or even Portuguese cuisine, part of it is home cooking and not something you can easily find in a restaurant. After completing courses in Portuguese and French cuisine in Lisbon, I became interested in Macanese cuisine thanks to my husband’s relationship. In the past few decades, my husband and I visited many elderly people while collecting information in order to find recipes. The Macanese who are older generations or have emigrated abroad, including Ms. Alice Pinto Marques and Ms. Maria Placé, have received the recipes and cooking experience passed down by them for many generations.

I have taught Macanese cuisine in various further education centers set up by the government and social organizations. The feedback from students and the many years of hosting family and friends at home have given me a deeper understanding of everyone’s tastes, which I have recorded in my notes. After trying and improving, the "home-cooked dishes" introduced today can be easily cooked at home.

I hope readers enjoy the dishes included in this first volume, and I look forward to receiving your support and feedback from this experience to continue writing the next volume. Here, I am very grateful for the support of my family, especially my husband and three children; my husband assisted me in writing most of the content and my children were responsible for the arduous tasks of translation, writing, photography, food tasting, etc. I also sincerely appreciate the encouragement of my friends. , prompted me to complete the publication of this book; finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the students who shared this culinary journey with me. I hope they can continue to share and pass on the mission of promoting Macanese cuisine.

──Madeline Lou, Macau, May 2021.