Comments on: Piri Piri chicken

Question: Piri Piri chicken

MiguelCardoso — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 18:18:03 -0800

How Portuguese is Piri Piri chicken? I suspect it's almost universal. [More inside.]

I've been comissioned to write an article, for a German magazine, on piri-piri.

But, despite all the usual references, I can't believe that a small country like mine, despite its many travels and encounters and the propaganda of chains like Nando's, is responsible for pairing chile-based sauce with roasted chicken... Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you!

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 23:29:53 -0800

Since the word "piri-piri" is Swahili, I'm guessing that it's not indigenous to Portugal. ;-)

You could call Nando's (mmmm....Nando's) PR department, perhaps...

By: zaelic

zaelic — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 03:20:55 -0800

Miguel, have you ever eaten in Germany? They have huge stereotypical misconceptions about other cultures and cuisines that simply become a standard part of German food culture. When my brother studied at Culinary Institute of America, there was a course in Chinese cooking in which one aspect taught was teaching the basics of "German Chinese" food -basically kung-pao sauerbraten with gravy. If you, of all people, don't know about Chicken Piri-piri - and you can just drop in at any of a lot of Angolan and Mozambican eateries in Lisbon - then I suspect it it may be another German false idea of what "those spicy mediterranean types eat."

German cooking is incredible crap. I tour there a lot, and my band is often taken to all kinds of nice places to try "new German cuisine" or some homey regional style food. It's all cat food in my opinion. Our band has a rider in the contract that while in Germany we prefer to be served our pre-concert meals at either an Italian or Turkish restaurant.

Right now on Pro7 TV there is a German cooking show - copied from the Naked Chef template - in which a young German chef makes all kind of nouveau cuisine slop from canned and frozen vegetables, maggi soup cubes, and packaged jello. Amazing.

Perhaps the angle of your story could be where in the world did the Germans get the idea of Piri-piri Chicken.