Sopa da pedra

The story

Sopa da pedra, stone soup, belongs to Almeirim, a farming town up the Tagus from Lisbon that the Portuguese press calls the capital of the dish. The town's tale is about a hungry friar collecting alms from house to house. When nobody would give him anything, he told a farmer he would make a little broth from a stone, borrowed a clay pot and set it on the fire with water and a stone picked up from the ground. Then he asked for a bit of fat to improve it, then potatoes, seasoning and meat. When the pot was empty only the stone was left, and he kept it for the next house. The real soup is just as practical: red beans cooked with chouriço, blood sausage, pork belly and pig's ear, finished with potatoes and a handful of fresh coriander, thick enough to be a meal. Almeirim was a summer retreat of the Portuguese court in the sixteenth century, and today it grows tomatoes, melons and red wine. In early 2025 the food guide TasteAtlas placed sopa da pedra 75th on its list of the world's best soups. Start the beans soaking the night before; the soup needs only bread and a glass of red wine alongside.