Partridge in Évora-Style Dry Soup

In dry partridge soup, meat stewed with carrot, onion and cabbage is layered with thin slices of bread. The dish only goes into the oven at the end, to brown the final layer. It is eaten with a spoon and fork, quite different from partridge soup.

A dry soup from Malagueira

Carta Gastronómica do Alentejo preserves this recipe in the archive relating to Malagueira, in Évora. The name may be surprising: instead of a broth served in a bowl, the preparation combines a partridge and vegetable stew with layers of bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. The oven gives it its final crust.

Serves: 4 people
Total time: about 1 hour and 45 minutes

Ingredients for 4 people

• 2 cleaned partridges, cut into pieces
• 125 g slab bacon, such as Paia Toucinho Extra – Porco Preto
• 2 medium onions
• 5 garlic cloves
• 3 medium carrots
• 1 small green cabbage
• 1 clove
• 200 ml Alentejo white wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil for the sauté, plus 3 tablespoons for the bread
• 8 to 10 thin slices of Alentejo bread
• Salt, as needed
• Hot water, if necessary

Preparation

1. Start with the stew. Chop the onions and 4 garlic cloves. Cut the bacon into small cubes. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a wide saucepan; add the onion, garlic, clove and bacon and cook over medium heat until the onion softens.
2. Add the partridge and carrot. Pour in the white wine. Cut the carrots into thin slices, add them to the pan with the pieces of partridge and season with a little salt. Cover and stew over low heat for about 1 hour, turning the meat occasionally. If the bottom dries out, add small splashes of hot water. The partridge should be fully cooked, with the meat coming away easily from the bones.
3. Prepare the cabbage. While the partridge is stewing, wash the cabbage and cut it into strips. Cook it for 5 to 8 minutes in water with a pinch of salt, until it starts to soften. Drain it and add it to the stew during the last few minutes so it absorbs the flavour.
4. Remove the bones and assemble. Remove the partridge, leave it to cool enough to handle and remove all the bones and cartilage. Rub the thin slices of bread with the remaining garlic clove and drizzle them with the reserved olive oil. In a deep ovenproof dish, make a layer of bread; distribute the partridge, carrot, onion and cabbage on top, along with a little sauce. Repeat the layers and finish with bread.
5. Brown in the oven. Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Drizzle the top with a little of the remaining olive oil and bake the dry soup for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the top bread is golden brown. Leave it to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Tips for the layers

Keep some of the stew sauce to moisten the inner layers; the bread should be neither soggy nor dry. Cut the slices thinly and remove all the partridge bones carefully before assembling the dish. Taste before adding salt, as the bacon already seasons the stew.

Wine pairing

Serve with Foral de Évora Tinto 2020 – DOC Alentejo–Évora, from Fundação Eugénio de Almeida.

Advance preparation and storage

You can stew and debone the partridge before assembling the layers; keep it covered in the refrigerator with the sauce. Assemble and brown the dish close to serving time. Cool leftovers quickly and store them in the refrigerator; reheat them thoroughly.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called dry soup?

Because the bread absorbs the stew sauce and the dish finishes in the oven, in layers, rather than being served as a broth-based soup.

Is it the same recipe as rich partridge soup?

No. Almodôvar soup is creamy and made in a saucepan; this recipe collected in Évora contains cabbage and bread layered and browned in the oven.

Bring Alentejo to the table

Make the stew with Paia Toucinho Extra de Porco Preto and serve it with Foral de Évora Tinto 2020. For another way to cook partridge, see our rich red partridge soup.

Source

Confraria Gastronómica do Alentejo, Carta Gastronómica do Alentejo (2013), p. 488. Partridge in dry soup recipe from the Confraria archive, identified with Malagueira, Évora.

Recipe collected in Alentejo and adapted by Herdade do Estacal for the “À Mesa com o Alentejo” blog. The source describes a stew of two partridges, cabbage cooked separately, layers of bread with garlic and olive oil, and a final stage in the oven. This version uses olive oil instead of lard for the sauté and adds practical quantities and timings.

Illustrative image generated for this article.