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A traditional clay pot of carne de porco à alentejana with clams, fried potatoes and cilantro.
Meat

Carne de Porco à Alentejana (Pork with Clams)

Leonor Perreira · Updated Nov 5, 2026
Prep
15 min
Total
45 min
Servings
4
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Carne de porco à alentejana is the “surf and turf” of Portuguese cooking. Pork and clams in the same pan can sound odd until you taste it: the fried pork picks up the sea flavor of the clams, and the sauce they make together is the best part of the dish.

The name is misleading. It’s often said the dish was born in the Algarve, putting the Alentejo pork, famous for the flavor its acorn diet gives it, together with the shellfish of the Algarve coast. “À alentejana” refers to the pork, not to where the recipe was invented.

Recipe

Carne de Porco à Alentejana

Cubes of pork loin marinated in red pepper paste and paprika, fried and tossed with fresh clams. One of the great Portuguese classics, where the meat and the shellfish make each other better.

Ingredients

4 servings

Method

  1. 1
    Cut the meat into cubes and put it in a bowl.
  2. 2
    Add the chopped garlic, the paprika, the pepper, the salt and the red pepper paste and mix well.
  3. 3
    Add the bay leaf and pour in the white wine.
  4. 4
    Leave it to marinate overnight.
  5. 5
    Wash the clams well and leave them in salted water for an hour so they release their sand.
  6. 6
    Peel, wash and dice the potatoes.
  7. 7
    Drain the meat and keep the marinade.
  8. 8
    Heat the olive oil and the lard in a large pot until hot.
  10. 9
    Add the drained meat and fry it, stirring now and then, until browned.
  11. 10
    Pour off the frying fat, leaving a little in the bottom of the pot.
  12. 11
    Drain the clams, rinse them again, add them to the meat and stir a little.
  13. 12
    Add the marinade and cook until it has reduced by half.
  14. 13
    Fry the potatoes in hot oil, drain them well and put them on a serving platter.
  15. 14
    Check the seasoning of the meat and spoon it over the potatoes with the sauce.
  16. 15
    Scatter the chopped pickles over the top and sprinkle with the cilantro.
  17. 16
    Serve right away.
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Tips

The marinade, a vinha-d’alhos of red pepper paste, white wine and garlic, gives the dish its flavor. Give it at least 4 to 6 hours, or overnight as in the recipe.

Use a dry white wine you’d drink, not cooking wine.

Cut the meat into even cubes, 2.5 to 3 cm, so they fry evenly. Mixing lard with the olive oil is how it’s done in the Alentejo. Loin is the most common cut, but leg or neck work too; avoid very lean meat, which dries out.

Fry the potatoes separately so they stay crisp, and only put the meat on them when you serve.

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