Madeira is much more dry than Port wine. The soil of the island and the salty breeze are enough to change the nature of the wine at the grape level; plus, it’s a fortified wine. Good Madeira should end on a slightly bitter, somewhat acidic note.
I’ve heard of dry Madeiera, but I’ve never tried it. Acidic, yes. Local Madeiras are very sweet around here. The most popular brand of Madeira in my area is effectively reduced grape juice mixed with Brandy. Sickeningly, coyingly sweet. My area perhaps the largest Portuguese Festival in the world (Feast of the Blessed Sacrament) is drink-sponsored by Justino’s Madeira, and it’s like drinking alcoholic maple syrup. It’s freaking delicious, for all of 2 oz pour and then it gets hard to finish :) The local Madeira’s have raisin or prune notes.
Now Port. We’ve got Sandalman and Pacheca. That can get fairly heavy, in either sweet or dry direction. I haven’t had a bone dry port, but I’m told they exist. I always have a bottle of Port in the house. Not so much Madeira. Special occasions only (not the price, it’s cheap. The extreme sweetness).
You can cook with these wines, especially if you want to flex a bit and add a few dimensions to the end result but plain wine os more than enough
I like the one-two punch of Sherry and Brandy much of the time. However, my wife and her family always uses a good Vinho Verde for her dishes. Cacoila is one of the local staples, and it’s basically pork left to soak in wine forever with a few secret ingredients (usually at least some some paprika)
One especially traditional rabbit stew involves drowning the meat in red wine, over night, with garlic, onions and bay leaves, seasoned with some salt and pepper, and the next day cook it very slowly in a clay pot in the hoven
OMG… I had that once at one of the local places (Captain’s place, since I’ve already doxed myself regarding the Festa). It was incredible. Rabbit isn’t common here, so it was a special. I’ve never seen it since :(
And cheese usually is not part of the main dish, unless you’re serving francesinha or some preparation of hoven baked cod, where you may grate some island cheese on top for salt and the bitterness of it.
francesinha looks incredible. I’ve never seen it around here. I’m guessing it’s a mainland dish? We have Sao Jorge cheese around here, but we only eat it straight. Also, nobody around here puts cheese with Cod, but baccalhau is often made with milk, so it’s not a huge stretch to me.