Rocha put on her apron to prepare soft eggs, but complained that the color was “too orange”

The IL leader put on his apron today in Aveiro to prepare ovos moles, where, amid complaints about the yolks being too orange and the dough being cut too close, he assured that he had the necessary ingredients for the post-election period.

A traditional sweet from Aveiro, ovos moles appeared in the 15th century as a remedy for tuberculosis, due to the effect that egg yolk with sugar had on the lungs, strengthening them.

Around 500 years later, it was up to Rui Rocha and the IL leader in Aveiro, Mário Amorim Lopes, to put on their aprons to prepare the traditional convent sweet, but with a new recipe: the liberal one.

In the first step of the recipe – separating the yolks from the whites –, Rui Rocha did not dare to touch the eggs, leaving the task to Mário Amorim Lopes, who, as he broke the eggs, preached the need to “break taxes”, autonomous taxation, bureaucracy (where the yolk mixed with the white) or the IRS.

In the end, the result was not to the liking of either of them: “It’s too orange, is it not possible to add a blue seasoning?”, asked Rui Rocha, with one of the shopkeepers saying that it was not necessary, because the egg yolks already had “enough proteins”.

“No, no, it needs more, much more energy. The more energy, the better,” said the IL leader who, turning to journalists, joked that it is necessary to “change the excessively orange tone that has existed in recent times.”

Then, with a wooden spoon, the IL leader began to mix the egg yolks to add to a sugar syrup that should have been boiling, but he quickly encountered a problem: the camping stove to heat the syrup was old and did not work.

“I’m not so sure that this is going to boil over,” said a hesitant Rui Rocha who, when asked if even with IL’s efforts the water would not heat up, acknowledged that he was encountering some resistance, but assured that his party would not give up in the face of adverse conditions, even electoral ones.

After the elections, “the ideal conditions would be for the IL to have an absolute majority. We won’t have that. We have to be governed by what the Portuguese decide and, with what they give us, do the best we can,” he said.

Unable to heat the preparation made by Rui Rocha and Mário Amorim Lopes, another pan was brought with the egg yolks already mixed with sugar, ready to serve as a filling for the hosts in the shape of cowries, barrels or shells that the IL leader divided into two rows: on one side, there were health, housing, taxes and the electoral system and, on the other, four solely dedicated to bureaucracy.

They all went through the next step: cutting with scissors, but Rui Rocha wanted to focus only on the bureaucratic hosts, to ensure that he “cut it close” and that it was “very tight”. He cut it so close that the shopkeeper told him that “a little more margin would be better”.

“I’m not cutting too much, I’m cutting what’s necessary,” replied Rui Rocha, laughing, who, having completed the last step, had already mastered the recipe for soft eggs and, above all, was liberal.

“Everything is necessary: ​​building, kneading the dough, making it grow, bringing together the right ingredients, the right people, the right policies. And this then also allows the Portuguese and companies to be relieved of the burden that weighs them down and does not create value,” said Rui Rocha, who undoubtedly stated that the “easiest” part of the process was breaking the eggs.

There was such anticipation among members of the IL delegation regarding the result of the recipe that, without letting the soft eggs go into the oven, they rushed to the plate where Rui Rocha and Mário Amorim Lopes were preparing the dish, with some journalists also risking their taste buds.

In the end, triumphant, the IL leader turned to the journalists with an empty plate in his hand: “There’s not one left,” he joked.