Chanfana

A monument in Semide, Miranda do Corvo, erected as an homage to chanfana, which was traditionally made in wood-fired ovens like this.

Chanfana is a traditional Portuguese dish made with old goat meat, roasted inside traditional Portuguese black clay pots in wood-fired ovens, or any ordinary kitchen oven, seasoned the day before in a flavorful marinade in which red wine is also always abundantly employed.

Overview

The chanfana is referenced in writings from the 17th century. Miguel de Cervantes, Bocage, Nicholas Tolentino, Miguel Torga, among others, refer to this dish or in some cases to variants of the dish and usually recall it as an economical dish which uses old goat meat from goats that no longer gave milk or offspring; spare wine; easily found laurel; garlic; stored olive oil and ordinary and abundant pig fat. This goat stewed in red wine specialty is a typical dish originally from the region comprising Miranda do Corvo and Vila Nova de Poiares, very common and well known in all of the District of Coimbra, particularly in the highlands to the east of the city of Coimbra, Viseu and beyond across the entire historical Beira, currently in the modern Portuguese administrative division known as Centro Region. It is said to be an old recipe created or popularized by local Benedictine nuns in a convent of Semide, Miranda do Corvo. In both Miranda do Corvo and Vila Nova de Poiares, it is revered as a local gastronomic specialty, and both towns claim to themselves the title of Capital of Chanfana.