We get to know the path of the shepherds up close, driven by a generational passion. We grew up among them, the sheep, the milk, the thistle, the immensity of the mountains. We continue to smell the wild bushes, the soft sensation of the sheep’s wool, the freshness of the milk, the sound of the rattles that mixes with the gurgles of the flock, the cold water of the streams running over our feet, the codfish cakes that we took for lunch and the cheese that we enjoyed sitting on the floor with the mountainous horizon as far as the eye could see. A privilege.

We witnessed the difficulty of shepherds, resistant to the uncertainty of the future of a profession that is increasingly out of favor and the difficulty in selling milk from their sheep, on a fair price. For them there are no vacations, holidays or weekends; the sheep have to graze every day.

The Codfish Cake with Serra da Estrela PDO Cheese filling was not born by chance. It was born from the return to our origins, from the desire to share our memories and to praise the work of those who persist, the shepherds, aware of the treasure they have in their hands: an extraordinary milk that gives rise to Serra da Estrela PDO Cheese. Milk is the result of the shepherds’ hard work, and the greatest asset they obtain in exchange for the many hours a day dedicated to this work and passion and which, as such, must be fairly remunerated. So well, make the profession attractive again.

Since the creation of the Casa Portuguesa do Pastel de Bacalhau in 2015, the value of milk has increased by 100%, finally guaranteeing the deserved dignity of shepherds and the continuity of the profession. Today, with 10 stores in Portugal, the delicacy we created, and which brings together two icons of the Portuguese gastronomy, transports those who visit us to our imagination in Serra da Estrela, hand in hand with us. And with the shepherds.