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São Miguel Povoação Meat

Furnas Volcanic Stew

Recipe for cozido das Furnas, the São Miguel stew of meats, sausages and vegetables slow-cooked underground by volcanic heat beside Furnas Lake, Azores.

Makes
8 servings
Prep
45 min
Cooking
6h
Difficulty
Medium

Cozido das Furnas is the best-known dish of the Furnas Valley, in the municipality of Povoação. Beef, pork, chicken, chouriço, morcela, vegetables and root crops are layered in a pot that is buried in the volcanic ground beside Furnas Lake, where it cooks slowly in the natural heat of the soil.

No water is added: the broth comes only from the juices the ingredients release during roughly six hours underground. It is served in several Furnas restaurants and is still made by families and visitors, who book their own pit at the caldeiras.

Method

  1. Cut the beef, pork and chicken into medium pieces and the bacon into chunks. Leave the chouriço and morcela whole.

  2. Peel the potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams. Halve the carrots lengthways and quarter the cabbage and kale; keep a few whole kale leaves aside.

  3. In a large lidded pot, layer the ingredients: pork and bacon at the bottom, then the beef, cabbage, kale, potatoes and sweet potatoes, yam, carrots and finally the chicken on top. Season each layer with salt.

  4. Wrap the morcela and chouriço in the reserved kale leaves and place them on top. Do not add any water.

  5. Close the pot tightly, tie the lid down with string and put the pot inside a cloth or hessian sack.

  6. Early in the morning, bury the pot in the booked pit at the caldeiras and leave it to cook in the heat of the ground for about 6 hours (5 to 7, depending on how hot the pit is).

  7. Dig up the pot, remove the sack and serve the meat, sausages and vegetables on platters, moistened with some of the broth that has gathered at the bottom.

Tips

  • Without a caldeira, use a large heavy-based pot with a tight-fitting lid (you can seal it with foil) and add about a cup of water. Cook in the oven at about 140 °C for 5 to 6 hours, or over the lowest heat on the hob until everything is tender, without stirring.
  • The day before, you can season the meat with salt and garlic; some cooks also add pimenta da terra (Azorean red pepper paste).
  • Yam is optional in some recipes and can be replaced with extra sweet potato. Outside the Azores, use a soft black pudding instead of Azorean morcela.
  • In Furnas, pits at the caldeiras are booked through the Povoação municipal services.

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