Madeira Rural Cooking in Santo da Serra: Food, Artisan Cheese & Behind the Scenes

Behind the scenes with Sean, Angie and Chef Sergio during our live rural cooking experience from Santo Queijo in Santo da Serra, Madeira.

Madeira Rural Cooking Live from Santo da Serra

What happens when you bring together a local artisan cheese producer, a Madeiran chef, traditional island dishes and a live camera in the middle of the countryside?

That was the idea behind our recent Santo da Serra rural cooking livestream from Santo Queijo in Santo António da Serra, Madeira.

For nearly two hours, Sean hosted the experience while Angie cooked alongside Chef Sergio, sharing some of the flavours, ingredients and rural food traditions that make Madeira such an interesting culinary destination.

We began with traditional poncha before preparing bolo do caco with garlic butter, black scabbardfish, beef espetada cooked over charcoal and a dessert made with Santo Queijo´s fresh cheese. Along the way we talked about local products, Madeira cooking traditions and the people behind the food.

It was not a studio cooking programme. It was a real working kitchen, a live camera, local food being prepared and the kind of spontaneous moments that make these virtual experiences so enjoyable for us to create.

Santo Queijo surrounded by the green rural landscape of Santo António da Serra in eastern Madeira.

What We Cooked During Our Madeira Culinary Livestream

Food was at the centre of the experience, but rather than simply demonstrating recipes, we wanted to show how the dishes connect with Madeira´s ingredients, countryside and local food culture.

Chef Sergio guided us through a selection of flavours that travellers regularly encounter around the island, while Angie joined him in the preparation and Sean continued filming and speaking with viewers throughout the live broadcast.

Starting With Poncha

Before moving into the cooking, we began with poncha, one of Madeira´s best-known traditional drinks.

Made with Madeira sugarcane rum, fresh citrus juice and honey, poncha is closely connected with the island´s food and social culture. Recipes and proportions can vary from place to place, but the combination of citrus, rum and honey remains at the heart of this iconic Madeiran drink.

Sharing a poncha was a natural way to begin our rural culinary experience before moving into the dishes we would prepare together.

Preparing and sharing traditional Madeira poncha during our rural cooking experience in Santo da Serra.

Bolo do Caco With Garlic Butter

From poncha, we moved on to one of Madeira´s best-known foods, bolo do caco.

This traditional Madeiran bread has a soft centre and lightly toasted exterior and is normally served warm with garlic butter. It is one of those simple dishes that appears everywhere from local restaurants to family tables, but it is especially good when eaten hot from the grill.

During the livestream we prepared the garlic butter and finished the bolo do caco outdoors over the heat before serving it at the table.

Preparing one of the simplest and most recognisable combinations in Madeira: warm bolo do caco with garlic butter.

Black Scabbardfish: Espada Preto

Another important part of the cooking demonstration was black scabbardfish, known locally as espada preto.

This unusual deep-sea fish has become one of the ingredients most closely associated with Madeira. Its appearance can surprise visitors the first time they see it, but the flesh is delicate and very different from its dramatic exterior.

Sergio showed us how the fish is prepared before it was lightly coated and fried until golden.

Preparing and frying traditional Madeira black scabbardfish during our rural cooking experience in Santo da Serra.

Madeira Espetada Over Charcoal

We then moved outside for another classic Madeira dish: espetada.

Chunks of beef are seasoned simply with garlic, bay leaf and sea salt before being threaded onto skewers and cooked over the heat.

The simplicity is part of what makes espetada so good. Good beef, a few traditional seasonings, charcoal and time are enough.

Cooking it outside at Santo Queijo, surrounded by the countryside of Santo da Serra, also gave viewers a sense of how closely food and place come together in rural Madeira.

Preparing and grilling traditional Madeira espetada in the countryside of Santo da Serra.

From Santo Queijo Fresh Cheese to Tarte de Requeijão

The setting for our livestream was also part of the culinary story.

Santo Queijo is a local producer in Santo António da Serra specialising in fresh cheese. Rather than aged cheeses, their tradition is centred around fresh dairy products that are part of Madeira´s local food culture.

During the experience we talked about Santo Queijo, tasted the fresh cheese and then brought the product into the kitchen.

To finish the meal, Sergio prepared a tarte de requeijão, a fresh cheese tart using Santo Queijo´s requeijão as one of the main ingredients. It was a fitting way to complete the experience, taking a product made locally in Santo da Serra and turning it into something that could be shared around the table.

Preparing and finishing our tarte de requeijão with Santo Queijo fresh cheese during the Santo da Serra cooking experience.

Around the Table in Santo da Serra

After nearly two hours of preparation, explanation, filming and cooking, the different dishes finally came together around the table.

For us, this is an important part of any culinary experience. The cooking matters, but so does sitting down afterwards, tasting what has been prepared and sharing the food together.

The table at Santo Queijo with the dishes prepared during our rural Madeira cooking experience.

Behind the Scenes of a Live Culinary Experience

Viewers watching a livestream normally see one camera angle at a time. Behind that camera, however, quite a lot is happening.

Sean was filming and hosting while following the live broadcast, Sergio and Angie were preparing the dishes, ingredients were moving between the kitchen and outside grill, and we were adapting the sequence as the cooking progressed.

This is one of the reasons we also recorded some of the experience separately with the DJI Pocket 3. It allowed us to capture the parts viewers could not see during the live broadcast and gives a better idea of what producing one of these experiences actually looks like.

Behind the scenes at Santo Queijo, with Sean filming while Chef Sergio and Angie worked together during our rural Madeira cooking livestream.

These behind-the-scenes moments are part of what we enjoy about live virtual travel. Everything does not have to be perfectly staged. There is conversation, movement, cooking, filming and sometimes a little improvisation along the way.

Watch the Full Santo da Serra Cooking Livestream Replay

If you missed the live broadcast, you can now watch the complete replay from Santo Queijo.

The nearly two-hour experience includes the story of Santo Queijo, rural Madeiran food traditions, cooking with Chef Sergio and Angie, and the dishes prepared throughout the livestream.

Watch the Madeira Rural Cooking Livestream from Santo da Serra on YouTube

Explore the Santo da Serra virtual culinary experience

Get the Recipes From Our Santo da Serra Cooking Demo

Would you like to prepare some of the flavours we shared during the livestream at home?

We have created a recipe PDF with dishes prepared during our Santo da Serra cooking demonstration, including some of the traditional Madeira flavours featured in the experience.

Sign up for Eat & Walkabout culinary travel news and inspiration and you can download the recipe PDF directly after completing the short form.

Get the Santo da Serra Cooking Demo Recipes

Sign up and download the recipe PDF immediately after completing the form.

Experience This in Person: Madeira Culinary Day Tour

The virtual experience gives viewers a taste of Santo da Serra, but the best way to understand the food, producers and countryside is to experience it here in Madeira.

Our Madeira Cooking Class & Artisan Cheese Farm Tour takes travellers from Funchal into the countryside of Santo António da Serra for a private culinary experience built around the same ideas we shared during the livestream.

Guests visit Santo Queijo, learn about this local fresh cheese producer and taste their cheese before continuing into a hands-on cooking experience with a local Madeiran chef.

Together we prepare a menu inspired by the island´s food traditions, which can include bolo do caco with garlic butter, black scabbardfish, Madeira espetada and a fresh cheese dessert, before sitting down together for lunch.

This is not simply a demonstration. Guests take part in the preparation and cooking, ask questions, work alongside the chef and experience the flavours in the place where the story began.

From watching the livestream to taking part yourself: guests cooking alongside Chef Sergio during our Madeira Culinary Day Tour.

Discover the Madeira Cooking Class & Artisan Cheese Farm Tour

What Our Guests Say

One of the things we most enjoy about the Madeira Culinary Day is seeing how quickly a cooking experience becomes something much more personal. Guests meet the people behind the food, spend time in the countryside and leave with a much better understanding of Madeira than they could get from simply ordering the same dishes in a restaurant.

"We had a wonderful day on our Eat and Walkabout culinary tour. Everyone was so friendly, knowledgeable and eager to share their Madeira culture. It was a fabulous day not to be missed!"

Barbara E. (13 May 2026)

A Week of Madeira Food, Wine and Local Producers

If one culinary day leaves you wanting to discover more, our Madeira Culinary Journey takes the same approach and expands it across the island.

The week-long journey has been created around the way we believe Madeira should be experienced: slowly, through local people, producers, food, wine, agricultural rum, villages, landscapes and the stories behind them.

Instead of simply moving from one sightseeing stop to another, we connect the places we visit with what grows there, what people cook, what they drink and how local traditions continue to shape Madeira today.

Santo da Serra and its rural food traditions form one chapter in that wider Madeira culinary story.

A week-long journey through Madeira´s food, landscapes, local producers and shared culinary experiences.

Explore our week-long Madeira Culinary Journey

Continue Exploring Madeira Live

The Santo da Serra livestream is part of our wider Madeira virtual experience series, created in collaboration with our destination partners Visit Madeira.

In September, we continue the journey with two very different live experiences exploring Madeira´s wine, rum, food and local traditions.

Madeira Wine Harvest Festival Live: Festa das Vindimas

On Saturday, 12 September 2026, we will be live from Estreito de Câmara de Lobos during the Festa das Vindimas.

We will join the atmosphere surrounding the traditional grape harvest celebrations, experience the colourful Cortejo Etnográfico, meet local participants and continue into the traditions connected with Madeira´s vineyards and wine culture.

Join our Madeira Wine Harvest Festival Live: Festa das Vindimas

Porto da Cruz & Madeira Rum Live

On Monday, 14 September 2026, we travel to Madeira´s northeast coast for a very different story.

Our Porto da Cruz & Madeira Rum Live experience will explore the village, the traditions of sugarcane and agricultural rum at Engenhos do Norte, and some of the food and drink connected with this part of Madeira.

Along the way we will discover Porto da Cruz from the coast to its rum traditions, with local flavours including gaiado seco and vinho seco.

Join Porto da Cruz & Madeira Rum Live

From the Screen to Madeira

Our virtual experiences began as a way of allowing people around the world to travel with us in real time, but they have also become another way to tell the stories behind the experiences we create in Madeira.

Santo da Serra brought together a local cheese producer, a Madeiran chef, rural cooking, the countryside and a table filled with dishes prepared together.

For viewers, it is an opportunity to experience a small part of Madeira from home. For travellers who eventually come to the island, we hope it becomes the beginning of something more.

As supporters of Slow Food, this approach reflects the way we want to develop culinary travel in Madeira: connecting visitors with local producers, traditional foodways, agricultural heritage and the people keeping these traditions alive.

Because the real experience is not only tasting Madeira´s food. It is meeting the people behind it, visiting the places where it comes from and taking the time to understand why those traditions still matter.

Discover more about Santo António da Serra

Read the story behind the development of our Madeira virtual experiences

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I watch the Santo da Serra Madeira cooking livestream replay?
Yes. The full Santo da Serra rural cooking livestream from Santo Queijo is available to watch on YouTube. The replay includes Chef Sergio and Angie preparing traditional Madeiran dishes, the story of Santo Queijo and the rural food traditions of Santo António da Serra.

Can I get the recipes from the Santo da Serra cooking demo?
Yes. You can request the recipe PDF from the Santo da Serra cooking demonstration by completing our short recipe form. The recipes include some of the Madeira dishes prepared during the livestream.

Can I experience this Madeira cooking class in person?
Yes. Our Madeira Cooking Class & Artisan Cheese Farm Tour takes guests from Funchal into Santo António da Serra for a visit to Santo Queijo followed by a hands-on Madeiran cooking experience with a local chef.

What food is prepared during the Madeira Cooking Class & Artisan Cheese Farm Tour?
The menu is inspired by traditional Madeira flavours and can include bolo do caco with garlic butter, black scabbardfish, Madeira espetada and a dessert prepared with fresh local cheese.

Does Eat & Walkabout offer a longer culinary tour in Madeira?
Yes. Eat & Walkabout also offers a week-long Madeira Culinary Journey exploring local producers, Madeira wine, agricultural rum, regional food, villages and culinary traditions around the island.

Where is Santo da Serra in Madeira?
Santo António da Serra, commonly known as Santo da Serra, is a rural area in eastern Madeira shared between the municipalities of Santa Cruz and Machico. It is known for its countryside, local agriculture, Sunday market and rural food traditions.

Thank you to everyone who joined us live from Santo da Serra. We hope the replay inspires you to discover more of Madeira´s food, people and countryside, whether virtually or with us here on the island.

Sean & Angie
Eat & Walkabout

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