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As soon as you step foot in it, you get an idea of what awaits in this town literally built
in the crater of an ancient volcano.
First of all, calm down, the last eruption was in 1630. We are talking about the town of
Furnas,
located in the center of the island of
São Miguel,
the largest in the Portuguese Azores, and the place with the highest concentration of hot springs in Europe. Hence, at every step,
fumaroles
are raised
in the middle of the street,
recalling the volcanic origin of this land. And hence also that the most famous dish of the place (and the archipelago in general) is a stew prepared in one of these boilers
underground at 96 degrees
for seven hours.
Its preparation is one of the activities that visitors show the most interest in.
For this reason, accommodations such as the Furnas Boutique Hotel, a charming
eco
-
sustainable
design
complex
that blends in with the natural environment belonging to the Portuguese
Discovery Hotel Management
(DHM)
chain
, offers the possibility of cooking.
Panoramic view of the Furnas Boutique Hotel.
It is part of its extensive program of activities, which includes many others
in the middle of nature
(it is the hallmark of the Azores in general and of San Miguel in particular, known as the Green Island) such as
whale watching, kayaking, bike tours , tuk tuk
or jeep, hiking, surfing, golf or
the viewpoints
or tea route.
Shopping at the greengrocer
In fact, the island is also the only point in Europe that this plant works industrially.
For this reason, several of the
star treatments in the hotel's spa
are based on
green tea
.
There are also them with crushed pineapple and mixed with sugar, since it is the other food that is most produced in the archipelago.
Since we are in the spa, you have to try the indoor pool with thermal water
open 24 hours,
as well as the gym or the one that is outdoors, right next to the pleasant terrace of the restaurant (it has an indoor and outdoor area), where you can have breakfast as well as dinner, have a drink or enjoy a football game on television.
Visit to the greengrocer with the shopping list.
Let's go back to stew.
The participants in this peculiar volcanic cooking course are in charge of preparing it from start to finish.
That is, from the purchase of the products in the
butcher shop
(the plate has different cuts of beef, pork and chicken) and in the
greengrocer
, where potatoes, cabbage, onion, pepper,
yucca or yam
are collected
,
a Tuber from Latin America in high demand in these parts.
Restaurant of the Furnas Boutique Hotel that organizes the cooking class.
Shopping list in hand, the hotel's Experiences manager, Nuno Ferreiro, accompanies the guests to get hold of the ingredients on a
pleasant walk from the hotel
, with stops included at some of the hot springs scattered around the town. .
"Anyone who wants to take years off his face can pour
a little of this mud,
" he laughs while he dips his fingers in water after brushing the reddish walls of these fountains and extracting some sulfurous mud.
Cooking class to prepare the stew.
With the purchase made, you return to the hotel and its
Experience Room
(Room of Experiences), where
Joao Fevereiro
, the chef of
À Terra
, the brand of the restaurants of the DHM group hotels throughout Portugal
, awaits
under the
seal of the design
(part of the exclusive international network of Design Hotels) and
sustainability.
The name of the restaurant is a declaration of intentions, since its main characteristic is its connection with
local, fresh and organic seasonal products
, whether from the
sea, the orchard or the farm.
In fact, many of them are sold at the
deli.
natives of the lobby.
Philosophy of 'slow food'
Not surprisingly, the hotel, with
53 rooms and one suite,
follows a philosophy of
slow food
and total relaxation.
"For this reason, breakfast is served at any time of the day and at any point in the hotel", clarifies Manuel Goes, its director.
First culinary lesson by Fevereiro.
"You should go breaking the meat and vegetables into large pieces to put
several layers in the pot,
" says the chef while taking an
alheira,
a typical local sausage shaped like black pudding and a similar flavor.
Then he talks about the uniqueness of the
volcanic soil of Furnas
, which allows the stew to be cooked at 96 degrees underground without the need to add water.
"It is made with the steam that comes out of the interior, the result of secondary volcanic phenomena", adds Goes.
Joao Fevereiro, the chef of the Furnas Boutique Hotel.
Once
the gigantic pot
is
closed, it
is wrapped in a kind of tablecloth ("there was a time when it was made with huge potato sacks", recalls the chef) and the owners' names are written with a marker. In this way, you will differentiate yourself from the rest in the
calderas area
that surrounds
Lake Furnas,
one of the
tourist
hits
in the area due to its great beauty, where these original dishes are prepared. There are a total of
56
activity
holes
linked to the production of these traditional stews.
A sign indicates who the owner is,
be it
restaurants, hotels or individuals
. That there is everything.
An employee of the Furnas Boutique Hotel is in charge of
carrying the pot there
practically every day, since it is one of the dishes most requested by customers.
Private diners tend to come on weekends, which is when they have more time.
As in the case of the
Madrid stew
, go.
They usually pick it up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Two employees take the stew from the volcanic depths.
Two to five euros
are charged
so that the casserole can remain there for the seven hours necessary to cook it at a temperature of around 96 degrees.
A group of employees from
the San Miguel Natural Park
, where the Furnas Lake is located, works in shifts 24 hours a day.
One of them, Jorge Moniz, half jokingly comments that it is not only done "so that no one steals the stews", but also
for safety.
"It is a place full of holes with boiling water, so it has to be constantly watched," he adds.
Collection in the boiler area
Moniz looks for the sign that says "À Terra. Furnas Boutique Hotel" to
take the container out
of the hot depths of the earth.
His partner Igor Aguiar helps him to do it.
And from there, straight to the car.
And to the hotel restaurant.
It's lunch time and it's time to
taste what is prepared
.
A waiter serves it accompanied by a local red wine (the Azores are also oenological territory).
The chef gives the thumbs up
and the pinches, even more.
Just take a look at the photo that accompanies this text to see the result.
Final result of the stew and pineapple with ice cream for dessert.
Few are left without repeating.
"It resembles Madrid stew because of the ingredients, but the
volcanic flavor
is noticeable
, which gives it a special touch," says one of the participants in the cooking course.
Even so, everyone is hollow for dessert:
natural pineapple
from the island with
passion fruit ice cream,
another of the house specialties.
The only thing left to do is take a nap in either of the hotel's two thermal water pools.
Or relax in
the Turkish bath, the sauna, the floating bed,
the hot tub ... There are plenty of options.
Thermal water pool of the Furnas hotel.
More information
.
Furnas Boutique Hotel.
Av. Dr. Manuel de Arriaga, Furnas (San Miguel, Azores).
Phone: +351 296 249 200. Internet: furnasboutiquehotel.com and discoveryportugal.com.
From 150 euros per night.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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