Bifana (Portuguese Pork Sandwich)
The bifana is the Portuguese sandwich of thin pork cutlets marinated in white wine with garlic, paprika and bay. The meat is fried, simmered in its own marinade and packed into a crusty roll with the sauce spooned over and a smear of mustard.
Ingredients
- 600 gpork loin
- 4 pcspapo seco rolls
- 250 mldry white wine
- 6 clovesgarlic
- 1 tbspsweet paprika
- 3 pcsbay leaf
- 1 tsppiri piri sauce
- 30 glard
- 4 tspyellow mustard
- 1 tspsalt
- 0.5 tspblack pepper
Method
- Slice the pork loin into cutlets 3 to 4 mm thick. If you are cutting them yourself, freeze the loin for 30 minutes first. Thicker slices go tough, thinner ones dry out in the pan.
- Slice the garlic thin with a knife rather than crushing it. Minced garlic burns in the pan; sliced garlic softens into the sauce.
- Mix half the wine with the garlic, paprika, bay leaves, piri piri sauce, salt and pepper, add the pork and turn it so every slice is coated.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, overnight if you can. This is where the flavour comes from, not from the cooking.
- Lift the meat out and keep the marinade. Melt the lard in a wide pan over medium-high heat and fry the slices in batches, about a minute a side, until browned. A crowded pan steams the pork instead of colouring it.
- Return all the meat to the pan, pour in the marinade and the rest of the wine, and simmer on low for 10 to 15 minutes until the garlic slices are soft and the sauce has reduced.
- Split the rolls and toast the cut sides briefly, keeping the inside soft. Spoon sauce onto both halves, pile in one or two cutlets, add more sauce and a smear of mustard. Eat immediately.
FAQ
A papo seco is a small Portuguese wheat roll, crisp outside and light inside, sold at every bakery in the country. A carcaça, a kaiser roll or a crusty white bread roll all work. Avoid soft brioche or burger buns; they turn to mush.
Loin is the standard, cut into thin cutlets the way you would for schnitzel. Shoulder gives more flavour and stays juicier but needs longer simmering. What matters more than the cut is the thickness: 3 to 4 mm, no more.
Yes, and in northern Portugal that is the local version, often with a spoonful of tomato in the sauce. The result is darker and a little sweeter. Lisbon and the south stay with white wine.
Lard is traditional and gives the sauce its body, but olive oil or a mix of oil and butter will do the job. Whatever you use, keep the pan hot enough to brown the meat in about a minute a side.
The filling. A bifana is marinated pork; a prego is beef, usually a thin steak with garlic, in the same kind of roll. Both are café standards and both are eaten at any hour. The teaspoon of piri piri sauce here is only a warm note; for the full heat of Portuguese cooking, see frango piri piri.
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