Portuguese · appetizer

Moelas Guisadas

Name: Moelas Guisadas
Prep time: 2 h 23 min
Total time: 2 h 24 min
Cuisine: Portuguese
Ingredients: chicken gizzards — 800 g; onions — 350 g; garlic — 16 g; tomatoes — 300 g; dry white wine — 200 g; olive oil — 55 g; sweet paprika — 3 g; bay leaf — 1 g; piri-piri — 2 g; chicken stock — 300 g; flat-leaf parsley — 20 g; salt — 8 g; crusty bread — 300 g

Moelas Guisadas reads umami 7.5, richness 6.5 and salinity 4.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Portuguese appetizer, about 2 hr 24 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 8.2 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.7 / 10
Sour & Bright — 3.8 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 1.9 / 10
Rich & Fat — 6.8 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 4.3 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.5 · Richness 6.5 · Salinity 4.9 · Allium 3.8 · Sourness 3.0 · Fruity 2.9 · Sweetness 2.6 · Citrus 2.5 · Heat 2.4 · Funk & Ferment 2.2 · Herbaceous 2.0 · Earthy 1.6 · Floral 1.6 · Bitterness 1.5 · Nutty 1.2 · Warm Spice 1.1

What's in it (13)

chicken gizzards — 800 g
onions — 350 g
garlic — 16 g
tomatoes — 300 g
dry white wine — 200 g
olive oil — 55 g
sweet paprika — 3 g
bay leaf — 1 g
piri-piri — 2 g
chicken stock — 300 g
flat-leaf parsley — 20 g
salt — 8 g
crusty bread — 300 g

Time & effort: about 2 hr 24 min (2 hr 23 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 88.9 kcal, 8 g protein, 1.5 g fat, 8.9 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

Every tasca in Lisbon has a pot of moelas on the counter, sold by the saucer with bread to mop the sauce. Gizzards are cheap, dense and completely unforgiving of a short cook — the whole recipe is a long slow braise and there is no way around it.
Trim the gizzards: pull off the yellow membrane if it is still attached and cut away the tough silver seams. Allow 20 minutes and a small sharp knife. Rinse and dry them well.
Sweat the onion in the olive oil over low heat for 12 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic for 2 minutes.
Raise the heat and brown the gizzards hard for 6 minutes, in two batches if the pan is crowded, until they have taken real colour on their cut faces.
Pour in the white wine and let it bubble for 3 minutes, scraping the base. Add the grated tomato, bay, the whole piri-piri chile and the stock. Bring to a bare simmer, cover, and cook 90 minutes. Check at an hour; they should be yielding under a knife but still with some chew, and if they squeak they are not done.
Off the heat, stir in the pimentão-doce, then uncover and reduce for 10 minutes until the sauce is thick and clings to the gizzards. It should be glossy and dark red, not soupy.
Season with salt, stir in the parsley, and serve warm in small dishes with plenty of bread and cold beer. Better still, make it a day ahead.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Sausage and Fennel Ragu with Pappardelle — Italian
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Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Orecchiette — Italian
Cajun Meatloaf with Tomato Gravy — Cajun/Creole · Cajun
Tarhana Çorbası (Fermented Wheat and Yoghurt Soup) — Turkish

Keep reading: what umami, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.