A year after they first started broadcasting, RTP went to the Liceu Francês in Lisbon to report on a play by Molière that featured a handicraft teacher who immediately gave up on the TV team.
Maria de Lourdes Modesto, as the young teacher was called, was immediately invited to host a cultural program on television. He refused the offer, but agreed to make a different format aimed at a female audience.
The first program was about arranging flowers, but Maria de Lourdes decided to show how to cook and eat artichokes with such ease that for 12 years she cooked live in front of TV cameras, never once getting in the way or losing the spontaneity that has always characterized her. .
Thus, she was a Portuguese pioneer of “live cooking” (and one of the first well-known faces of Portuguese television), and the success of this format, driven by her passion for Alentejo cuisine, led her to explore French cuisine and Portuguese gastronomic traditions. .
The New York Times referred to her in a March 4, 1987 article as the “Portuguese Julia Child,” referring to the American cook who became a television celebrity.
More than six decades have passed since her debut on television, and the young Maria de Lourdes, who raised a petal to her mouth in the first program, celebrated her 91st birthday on June 1 with another book (she has published more than two dozen, in addition to translations of international works ): “Coisas Que Eu Sei” (Ed. Oficina do Livro), a collection of chronicles about national cuisine and recipes, with illustrations by Joao Pedro Kotchofel.
It contains two recipes that we have published on the next page, both from the kitchen of Barreiro. “Flipping through any cookbook of recipes of the Barreirense family, the presence of Alentejo and Algarve cuisines is striking,” which, according to him, is not surprising: “Dozens of stories are told about people from those lands who, having come there in search of a better life, arrived in Barreiro, they saw the “promised land” there. There they remained, supporting and influencing the local culture with many of their habits.”
Maria de Lourdes says she found “real gems” in her book of local recipes. “About the clam soup that I describe below, I can only say: excellent! As for the codfish chibansa, the name of which made me turn to dictionaries, I will have to make a remark.
What does “chibanza” mean? As I understand it, nothing more and nothing less than prosapia, boasting. If I really like this name, I can’t find it less appropriate: Mr. Fox [um senhor de Pegões, que em 1961 enviou à cozinheira duas receitas da sua lavra] this is far from being a scam, this is a really good thing. Save the name because it’s cute and a mystery to outsiders,” he wrote.
Leave suggestions along the way.
As for zucchini, “a strong ally in weight loss diets,” Maria de Lourdes says that “she prefers olive oil as a fat, and its soft flesh encourages us to pair it with flavors of garlic, tomato and basil, thyme and mint.” . And also a tip: “If you took advantage of lunch time to go to the gym and didn’t have time for lunch, a sandwich is the solution to eat at the same time light, balanced and even gastronomic.”
In Coisas Que Eu Sei, Maria de Lourdes Modesto reflects on traditional Portuguese cuisine, rescuing flavors from her childhood and sharing recipes with history (including Suzette pancakes and Cascais sands), other staples such as rice, sweet cake or marmalade. pudding – in addition to knowing the basics of our diet.
The work was originally published in Domingo magazine in June 2021.
Author: Martha Martins Silva
Source: CM Jornal
