Cozido das Furnas: Azorean geothermal cooking

Furnas, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal

The most extraordinary cooking technique in the Portuguese world — and one of the most unusual in global gastronomy. On the island of São Miguel in the Azores, the cozido das Furnas is lowered in sealed pots into the volcanic fumaroles (bubbling sulphur vents) at Caldeiras das Furnas and cooked for 6-7 hours by geothermal heat. The temperature in the fumaroles is approximately 95-100°C — just below boiling, perfect for a gentle, sustained braise. The result is the same as cozido à portuguesa (beef, pork, chouriço, morcela, blood sausage, chicken, potato, cabbage, yam, carrot) but with a faint mineral note from the volcanic environment — a flavour that cannot be replicated anywhere else on earth.

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