Porto Bifanas (132 of 150)

Oh bifanas! My favorite thing to eat in Portugal. They're everywhere and they are oh so good. I did notice they changed ever so slightly as we traveled around Portugal. 

What is a bifana? Simply put, it's a steak sandwich. A pork steak, to be more specific, seasoned with garlic and other spices. They are then put inside a hard bread roll. Simple, right? 

I found this interesting tidbit on the tasteporto.com site. 

Not all Bifanas are created equal

In the North of the country, it is usually made with little pieces of steak that have been spiced and seasoned in a big pot with sauce, and it’s usually a bit spicy. The bread is a simple white bread roll, that ends up being moistened with the steak sauce. Check out this video, of bifanas simmering at Conga, to get what I’m saying.

As you go further south, though, the steak is no longer cut and is instead beat with a mallet, it is mostly garlicky and not spicy at all – instead, they suggest you eat it simple or with mustard. Also, the bread is lightly toasted. And, sadly, there is less sauce as well.

And to that tune, the bifana I made was very different, but oh so yummy. I followed this recipe 100%. I doubled it because I was feeding 8 people. The only thing I didn't quite double was the whisky. I only had 5 tablespoons handy. I also let it cook for about 2 hours and y'all...it was so amazing. 

I had had a bifana in Cascais that had a garlic schmear on the bread, so I wanted to duplicate that somehow. I made the bread a roasted garlic bread. It was amazing. 

I had yellow mustard, Dijon mustard and Piri Piri sauce handy to put on the sammy. 

Porto Bifanas

Recipe from Portugueserecipes.ca

Serves 4

1 lb of thin pork cutlets

1/2 cup of olive oil

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon of paprika

2 tablespoons of hot red pepper sauce

3 bay leaves

3/4 cup of white wine

3/4 cup of beer

4 tablespoons of whiskey

2 tablespoons of Port wine

1 small lemon, juice

Coarse salt (to taste)

2 teaspoons of piri piri sauce

Put olive oil, rolled garlic cloves, paprika, pepper sauce and bay leaf in a pan and mix.

Turn on the heat and let the garlic saute a little to release flavor but don't let it burn.

Add the wine, beer, whiskey, port wine and a pinch of salt.

When it boils, add the meat and mix it well in the sauce.

Drizzle with half of the lemon juice, add the piri piri sauce and the remaiding lemon juice to the pan.

Let it simmer for about 45 minutes, so that the meat is tender, if you see that you need more sauce, add some more beer or white wine (do not add water).

Before removing from the heat, check the seasoning.