Santos Brothers

Anyone who sees the butchery of Irmãos Santos from the outside - and even from within - is far from wary of what is hidden in a back room where those responsible take all interested in knowing the true specialty of the house - which is also that of the small village of Amiais de Baixo, where it is: the wether. A chiller is opened and suddenly there are lined up a considerable amount of carcasses of this animal, which here every year is celebrated in a festival that always happens on the first weekend of May. No one knows very well to explain the origin of this tradition, which continues to mark the food traditions of the people of Amiais. "Here we eat wether as if it was a cow," says chef Rodrigo Castelo. And what, after all, makes this goat special? Simple, it is castrated right at birth, which causes it to lose testosterone and gain weight and fat. Just look at the size of the animals to realize this. "It is possible to use it in cuts similar to those of cows," says Rodrigo. Very few people know it.