Portuguese Festa Sopas

We’re passionate about our Portuguese Festa Sopas! This typically once a year Festa is celebrated throughout the San Joaquin Valley (and many other locations). BUT we love to make Portuguese Sopas at home throughout the whole year. The recipe varies a bit from place to place but the basic ingredients remain the same. When I posted our family’s recipe some years ago passions ran high. Others’ remembered differing recipes. I can assure you the Willitts’ (Perry-Freitas) recipe is authentic. This hearty dish has a unique flavor and is not always successfully duplicated at home. Dan (my brother), who put the recipe together for my post, helped with the cooking for these Portuguese Festas in Visalia for a number of years. It’s one thing helping to put food together for hundreds, and then another converting to a small dish accurately just by taste testing. He has completed many taste tests in creating this dish. I’ve tested this latest recipe. It’s exactly as I remember! 

Recipe

Serves 12-15

You will need a 12 quart pot with lid if you are cooking on top the stove. For oven cooking you will need a 12 quart roasting pan with lid. This recipe does revise well to dividing in half.

4-5 Pounds of boneless rump roast-cut into generous size chunks

2 Pounds of bone-in beef short ribs

Soup bone-the marrow produces much of the flavor (shank cut with meat can be used in a pinch)

2 Large onions-chopped

1 Head of garlic, about 10 cloves-peeled & chopped

10 Ounces beef consume

32 Ounces beef stock

2  15 Ounce cans of tomato sauce

2 Tablespoons pickling spices-placed in a spice bag or tea strainer

1 Tablespoon of salt-also salt to taste when adding cabbage

1 Tablespoon and 1 Teaspoon cinnamon

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons of cumin

1 and 1/2 Teaspoon of allspice

15 Cups of water

1 Large head of cabbage-sliced

2 Loaves of French bread-day old, stale, sliced

Sprig of mint for each serving

Place all ingredients except cabbage, bread and mint into your pot or pan. Stovetop: bring the ingredients to a boil, then turn to a simmer, cover. Oven: Place covered pan into preheated oven of 400 degrees F, after 30 minutes turn oven to 300 degrees F. Cook ingredients, either method, for 8-10 hours. Uncover in the last hours of cooking to reduce.

Remove spice bag and bones. Add cabbage and continue cooking another hour to hour and a half. To serve, place serving of meat in a bowl, place slice of bread over meat and mint over the bread, then spoon soup juice over all. Serve hot.

The bread is sliced and left out to dry out. Crusty bread is best. This is a French bread but others such as Italian are suitable.

Here’s a little change up recipe, here.