Nuno Mendes' Portuguese bifanas (pork sandwiches)
We don’t often have sandwiches for lunch in Portugal. In fact, you might be delighted to know that instead we eat them as a late-night snack – really, we do! I honestly don’t think you can beat Portuguese bifanas (pork sandwiches) when they’re good. For a sandwich to be good you need good components: bread, butter, meat, marinade and sauce, and the bifana has got all of them. it's the perfect example of how flavours and textures can elide to bring something truly momentous to your mouth - so I’ve decided to put it on the menu at my restaurant in London, Lisboeta.
Find the iconic and much-loved Portuguese pork sandwich served at the counter alongside new lunch specials from 20th February.
Ingredients
Ingredients for Piri-Piri Sauce
Ingreddients for Base Sauce
Ingredients for the Bifana
Method for Piri-Piri Sauce
Step 1
Roughly chop the chilli and garlic and fry gently in a little oil on low heat, allowing it to roast and take colour. Add a very large pinch of salt–it’s important to add at this stage as the salt will draw the moisture out of the chilli and garlic as they fry.
Step 2
Deglaze the plan with brandy.
Step 3
Add the remaining oil and continue to fry gently for an additional five minutes.
Step 4
Set aside to cool.
Step 5
Once cool, remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves and blend until almost smooth, leaving a few small pieces for texture.This is up to personal preference–you can leave it chunky if you like.
Step 6
Once blended, return the bay leaves and cinnamon stick and store in a jar for later use.
Step 7
This can be stored for up to a month at room temperature and lends itself well to being made in larger quantities, if you want to scale up the recipe.
Methods for Base Sauce
Step 8
Finely chop the garlic, chilli, and onion, and dice the chouriço
Step 9
Add pork fat (or olive oil) into a high-sided pan and follow with the chouriço and garlic first, frying gently for a few minutes before adding the onion and chilli. Cook until soft.
Step 10
Add the smoked paprika, white pepper, and bay leaves to the pan. Sauté for two minutes until the spices have cooked out.
Step 11
Deglaze the pan with the brandy, Licor Beirão, and white wine vinegar
Step 12
Add the pork stock and cook for 30 minutes or more, until everything is soft and well infused.
Step 13
Blend until smooth with a hand blender and adjust to taste with salt, pepper, paprika, and vinegar.
Step 14
We like ours to be fairly paprika, white pepper and vinegar forwards, but this up to personal preference at home!
Ingredients for Bifana
Step 15
Thinly slice the pork steaks or gently pound them to reach a desired thickness, about 3mm.
Step 16
Heat pork fat (or olive oil)in a frying pan over a medium-high heat.
Step 17
Once hot, add the pork and cook for 30 second son each side, just to add colour.
Step 18
Once browned, add the pork to the pan of your base sauce to simmer gently for a further30 minutes, until the meat has fully softened. You can adjust this based on the thickness of your pork steaks.
Step 19
Cut the bread rolls in half and toast them on the cut side in the same pan you fried the meat in, add butter or pork fat as needed.
Step 20
Spread both halves with sweet mustard and your homemade piri-piri.
Step 21
Heap the pork steaks generously into the roll and top with a few very thin slices of lardo.
Step 22
Pour on a little extra of the cooking liquid if you want to make it ‘dirty’.
