Vila Velha de Ródão Nógados
Also known as: Nógados · Beira Baixa Nógados
Golden cords of fried dough, drenched in honey and scented with cinnamon.
- Origin
- Convent and country sweet-making of the Beira Baixa · a Christmas tradition of Vila Velha de Ródão
- Region
- Vila Velha de Ródão
- Season
- Christmas · Festa dos Nógados e das Pantufas (Fratel)
The nógados of Vila Velha de Ródão are long strips of fried dough, golden and crisp, coiled and bound together in a greedy tangle held by honey. The dough, leavened and enriched with eggs, milk and orange juice, is rolled thin, cut into strips and fried in hot olive oil or vegetable oil until it reaches the colour of toasted bread.
Once fried, the strips are plunged into a fragrant syrup of honey and sugar, scented with cinnamon and lemon peel, which coats them in an amber glaze and makes them sticky and lustrous. Some cooks scatter chopped almonds or dried fruit over the top, which cling to the still-warm surface.
They are served at room temperature, arranged on a platter to be pulled apart over the course of the Christmas season. They are the celebratory sweet of the Beira Baixa table, made at home and shared among neighbours and family.
- Wheat flour
- Eggs
- Milk
- Sugar
- Butter or olive oil
- Orange juice and zest
- Yeast
- Honey
- Cinnamon
- Lemon peel
Crisp and toasted on the outside, soft within; the honey lends a deep, sticky sweetness, balanced by the citrus aroma of orange and lemon and the warmth of cinnamon.
The recipe varies from household to household and village to village: some doughs use more eggs or crustless breadcrumbs, others omit the milk; the syrup may be honey alone or sugar and honey, and some scatter chopped almonds on top.
These are above all a homemade sweet, made in Beira Baixa households around Christmas. The best chance to try them away from home is the Festa dos Nógados e das Pantufas in Fratel (municipality of Vila Velha de Ródão), where the sweet is demonstrated and shared.
They call for a glass of Port, a Moscatel or an aged aguardente; at breakfast or teatime they go well with a strong black coffee.
The nógado belongs to an old family of Iberian sweets of fried dough bound with honey, related to the Castilian nuégados and to the fried confections found throughout the Alentejo and the Beira. In the Beira Baixa, and in Vila Velha de Ródão in particular, a distinct version took hold — richer in eggs and milk and scented with orange — that became one of the indispensable sweets of the local Christmas.
The tradition survives above all in the villages of the municipality, where recipes have passed through many hands over generations. In the parish of Fratel the Festa dos Nógados e das Pantufas is held, which pairs the nógado with another fried sweet of the region and seeks to preserve and pass on the craft through cookery demonstrations open to the public.
Sources: cozinhatradicional.com · portugalnummapa.com · teleculinaria.pt · reconquista.pt · turismodocentro.pt
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