The European Compass : A food & travel podcast

Burgundy is famous for its wine. But walking into a restaurant in Beaune and being handed a book-sized wine list would challenge any wine lover.In this episode I visit Burgundy's wine country as an enthusiastic amateur rather than an expert, and come back with a much better understanding of what makes Burgundy wine so particular, and so expensive. We start with a cellar walk at Patriarche et Fils in Beaune, one of the oldest négociants in the region, where 5km of underground cellars hold wine at every stage from barrel to bottle. From there we cover the difference between Pinot Noir and the bigger Bordeaux-style reds, why Burgundy Chardonnay behaves differently from the Chardonnay you find everywhere else, and the aligoté grape that most people overlook and I have always quietly loved.We also visit the Clos du Moulin aux Moines, a small grower whose Chardonnay genuinely changed my mind, and finish with a €60 red at Bistro de Beaune chosen by the sommelier, who turned out to know exactly what he was doing.

Burgundy is one of Europe's most celebrated wine regions, but the food is just as remarkable. I travel to Beaune and returns with a full account of what I ate, including a dish I had never encountered before that turned out to be one of the best things I have ever eaten.The episode covers oeufs en meurette - the classic Burgundian poached egg dish with a history that goes back centuries and now has its own world championship - along with beef bourguignon, escargot de Bourgogne, truffles found on a Beaune side street, Dijon mustard and why it is not actually a protected category, crème de cassis, and the story of the French Resistance canon whose name became one of France's most iconic aperitifs.

I went to Porto expecting to drink port. I came home with a bottle of pink port, a new appreciation for Vinho Verde, and a firm opinion about a farmer's rosé served from a tap in a 100-year-old tasca.In this episode I cover everything I drank on my recent trip: Vinho Verde at the Mercado do Bolhão paired with sardines, the Alvarinho from the Dão region that I'll be seeking out at home, and Espadal — the slightly sparkling farmer's rosé on tap at Tasca da Badalhoca, known locally as the wine of the poor and considerably better than that suggests. We also go into the Pink Palace at WOW and taste five glasses of rosé including Mateus Rosé, with a proper look at where it came from and how it connects to the Espadal tradition. Then it's on to port: the English connection, how fortification works, Ruby versus Tawny, the difference between vintage and blended, and why Late Bottled Vintage is where the value lies. Plus pink port and tonic, and why I think it might be the next Aperol Spritz.The European Compass is a podcast for culturally curious travellers who believe food is the best way into a place. New episodes explore food culture across Europe, not just what to eat, but what it means. Read the companion publication at theeuropeancompass.com

Porto's food scene is one of Europe's most underrated, and most misunderstood. Ask the internet what to eat in Porto and you will get the same answer every time: the francesinha, a vast meat-filled sandwich drowning in tomato and beer sauce. It has a history worth knowing, but it tells you almost nothing about what Porto actually does best. This episode makes the case that the real food story of Porto is written in salt water, and that the city's relationship with the Atlantic has shaped everything on the plate.We start with bacalhau, salt cod, Portugal's so-called faithful friend and national dish, which has never once been caught off the Portuguese coast. The paradox of an entire culinary identity built around an imported ingredient leads us through the age of exploration, the brutal fishing expeditions of the Salazar dictatorship, and the simple preparation skill that separates an extraordinary dish from an inedible one.From there we move to the conservas tradition, the canned fish industry that began in Matosinhos, the fishing port just outside Porto, in the late 19th century. At its peak, Portugal had 152 canning factories. Today there are 20, but quality has never been higher, and the revival of artisan canned fish as a gourmet product is one of the more interesting stories in European food culture right now.We eat clams à Bulhão Pato on a beach bar terrace outside Matosinhos, a dish named after a 19th century Portuguese poet who never tasted it and spent his life hoping to be remembered for his verse. We compare caldeirada, the layered fisherman's stew of the northern coast, with cataplana, the sealed copper vessel dish from the Algarve, and explore why the difference between them is about more than just geography. We discover broa de milho, the dense cornbread of the north that fed the poor for centuries and quietly resisted a dictatorship, and its extraordinary local cousin Broa de Avintes, made with corn, rye, and malt just across the Douro from Porto.And we end with peixinhos da horta, battered and fried green beans eaten during Lent, which Portuguese sailors carried on their ships in 1543, were blown off course, and accidentally introduced to Japan, where they became the basis for tempura. A dish of green beans that changed world culinary history.Restaurants mentioned: Emotivo, Chef Sara Verde's intimate eight-table tasting menu restaurant where every sitting explores a different region of Portugal. T&C at WOW, part of the World of Wine complex in Vila Nova de Gaia. The Orangerie at The Yeatman Hotel.For more Food and travel content from around Europe don't forget to subscribeIf you want more details around where I visit or more ideas about where to go in Europe see my site The European Compass

I went to Budapest not knowing what to expect from Hungarian food, and came home planning to completely overhaul my pickle shelf.In this episode I share everything I ate during my recent press trip, from a food tour of the Great Market Hall to an unexpected highlight in a food court that turned out to serve the best dish of the whole trip. We cover the Foodapest food tour, Mangalica salami from Hungary's famous woolly pigs, a revelation in pickles including cauliflower, green tomato and pickled watermelon, the street foods you can't escape in the tourist quarter, and the real difference between goulash and Pörkölt. Plus Hortobágyi palacsinta at the Zsolnay Kávéház, and the dish from Szaletly at the Budapest Time Out Market that I was absolutely not expecting to love.The European Compass is a podcast for culturally curious travellers who believe food is the best way into a place. New episodes explore food culture across Europe, not just what to eat, but what it means. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss new episodes.If you want more details around where I visit or more ideas about where to go in Europe see my site ⁠TheEuropean Compass

The English pub is one of themost misunderstood places in European travel. Most visitors walk past. Some walk in and wait forty-five minutes for service that was never coming. A few find their way to the bar and discover one of the best-value meals on thecontinent.In this episode, Julia, an Englishwoman who grew up with Sunday lunches and now misses them from France,takes the listener through everything they need to know: how the pub works, how to find a good one, and why the Sunday roast is a cultural ritual that goes far deeper than a plate of food.Covering the history of pub food from the basket meals of the 1980s to the gastropub revolution, and the full anatomy of a Sunday lunch, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, and all thecustard, this is the episode to listen to before your next trip to England.The European Compass is a podcast for culturally curious travellers who believe food is the best way into a place. New episodes explore food culture across Europe, not just what to eat, but what it means. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss new episodes.If you want more details around where I visit or more ideas about where to go in Europe see my site ⁠⁠TheEuropean Compass

Season 1: Eating Europe Episode 2This week I'm talking all about crepes and galettes and creperies. What they serve, what to eat, a little bit of history and some travel advice.The European Compass is a podcast for culturally curious travellers who believe food is the best way into a place. New episodes explore food culture across Europe, not just what to eat, but what it means. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss new episodes.If you want more details around where I visit or more ideas about where to go in Europe see my site ⁠⁠TheEuropean Compass

Season 1: Eating EuropeIn this first Episode of Eating Europe we are talking about Tapas in Madrid. I'll talk about the different tapas I ate there, the tapas tour I went on and give some recommendations as to what to eat.I talk about:Garlic shrimpSome seriously good wineThe best Spanish Tortilla in MadridThis is the bar with the best Tortilla tapas: https://www.juanalalocaes.com/This is the Tapas tour I went on.The European Compass is a podcast for culturally curious travellers who believe food is the best way into a place. New episodes explore food culture across Europe, not just what to eat, but what it means. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss new episodes.If you want more details around where I visit or more ideas about where to go in Europe see my site ⁠⁠TheEuropean Compass