Cabrito Assado

The story

Cabrito assado, kid goat marinated in white wine and seasonings and then roasted, is a regional Christmas specialty found above all in the country's interior, in regions such as Trás-os-Montes and Beira, where the hilly, rocky terrain has always been better suited to raising goats and sheep than larger herds of cattle—a practical reason why kid, rather than beef, for instance, became the festive meat in those parts. The kid is marinated for hours or days ahead in white wine, garlic, bay leaf, and rosemary, then roasted slowly until the meat is tender and comes away easily from the bone. The contrast between coastal Portugal, where bacalhau rules Christmas Eve, and the interior, where kid or lamb takes over that role, reflects a wider geographic division of Portuguese cooking into a “sea” tradition and a “mountain” one. For Portuguese families in the diaspora whose roots lie in the interior, cabrito assado is often the dish that reflects their particular regional identity more clearly than the widely known cod.