Portuguese Pork Sandwich Recipe You Need to Try
Bifanas: An awesome sandwich from Portugal!
Things to know:
What cut of meat is a bifana?
The typical ingredients are pork chops, steak, or loin, pounded thin or sliced, simmered with garlic and wine, then sandwiched inside heated bread.
What is the difference between bifana and Prego?
Bifana is with pig meat, prego takes cow beef. Both are good. With mustard and beer. It’s like asking which is your favourite of your gold bars.
What’s the secret to a flavorful bifana?
The secret: a very thin pork steak, in a marinade of wine, vinegar, garlic, paprika, and bay leaves, fried in lard until it is golden. It’s served in a papo seco, a small oval bread, with pointed tips, which easily absorbs the sauce of the bifana.
What is the best bread for bifana?
Bifana bread should be similar to a good French baguette, crunchy and hard on the outside, but deliciously soft on the inside – perfect for collecting the juices from your marinated pork. In Portugal, papo seco are used for bifana bread.
What cut of pork is best for bifanas?
In Portugal, you will find specific ‘bifana’ cuts of pork. However, thinly sliced pork loin is the best choice outside of Portugal. You can pound the loin cutlets thinner before marinating to give more surface area and make them more tender for the sandwich.
What sauce is used in bifanas?
Bifanas traditional pork sandwiches are made with thin slices of pork, marinated and simmered in a sauce of white wine, garlic, and paprika, served on soft rolls with plenty of mustard and piri piri sauce.
What is a peri-peri sauce?
The central ingredient in these sauces is the Peri Peri chili, also known as the African bird’s eye chili. The sauces are typically a blend of this chili with ingredients like garlic, lemon, oil, and various herbs. This mixture imparts a unique flavor that’s fiery and tangy.
Ingredients
2.5 lb pork loin (thinly sliced, 1/8 in thick)
8 garlic cloves (minced)
1 cup white wine
12 oz lager beer
½ lemon (juiced)
¼ cup pimenta, Portuguese hot pepper paste (we substituted Peri Peri sauce)
1 t cinnamon
1 t smoked Paprika
1 T salt
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 T olive oil
2 T pork lard or butter
2 medium onions (thinly sliced)
2 sweet bell peppers (sliced)
salt & pepper (to taste)
1. If your pork slices are not about 1/8” thick, place 1 slice at a time in a gallon sized ziplock bag and whack it with a mallet until they are.
2. Place the thinly sliced pork loin into a large food bag (or bowl).
3. In a large bowl, mix the garlic, white wine, white wine vinegar, beer, pimento (or Peri Peri sauce), Tomatador, cinnamon, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, lemon juice and salt. Add the marinade to the pork in the ziplock bag. Push all the air from the bag, seal, and transfer to the fridge. Marinate for 5 hours or overnight, mixing a few times.
4. In a large skillet on medium high heat, add the oil and lard (or butter). Sauté the bell peppers and onions until just beginning to soften. Remove half of the onion and peppers and set aside.
5. Remove the pork from the ziplock bag and set aside. Pour the remaining marinade into the skillet.
6. Add the can of crushed tomatoes and bay leaves and bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the skillet to release any fond.
7. After about 10 minutes, turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves and blend the sauce with an immersion blender until smooth.
8. Turn the heat back on to medium and add the pork slices, one at a time to ensure they all get covered on both sides by the sauce.
9. Let simmer until the pork is cooked through and the sauce has thickened (about 10-15 minutes). You can add more white wine at this time to make more sauce if desired. Season to taste with salt and/or more hot pepper paste/Peri Peri Sauce.
10. In a small, separate skillet, rewarm your reserved onions/peppers on low heat.
11. To construct the sandwich, add a spoonful of the sauce to the bottom bun (serve on papo secos (Portuguese buns) or crusty bread roll of choice), top with the onions and peppers, then add 4-5 slices of the pork, the top bun, then CONSUME! ENJOY!
Equipment used:
Lodge 13.25” Cast Iron Skillet
Dalstrong Shogun Series Chef’s Knife 10.25”
Dual Sided Heavy Duty Extra Large Hammer Meat Tenderizer
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