Bifana Sandwich

Bifana Sandwich is a type of sandwich popular in Portugal where pork chops or pork strips that are marinated in piri-piri style sauce and white wine is served in a light crusty bread roll accompanied with yellow mustard and sautéed pimiento with onions

You might have heard of the Macanese Pork Chop Buns but have you met its older brother the Bifana Sandwich? Macanese Pork Chop Buns came from the Portuguese and if you had tried them you might be able to see the resemblance with our post today as they came from the same roots but the Macanese version looks like a simpler version of the Bifana.

Bifana like Pork Chop Buns are both seasoned pork chops or pork strips served in a light crusty bread roll, the similarity ends there as the Bifana is marinated in a piri-piri style sauce, white wine then it is served with yellow mustard and some are topped with sautéed pimiento onions. It is a very popular late-night snack, as a hangover food or a beer match to Super Bock or Sagres having said that I can also be enjoyed anytime of the day, hence it is also a popular menu item that is ordered together with a bowl of soup to make it a complete meal.

This humble sandwich originated from the little town of Vendas Novas in the Alentejo, but like any other great food its real origins is quite hard to determine. Having said that every place that sells this in Vendas Novas claims to be the original Bifana house if not they claim they are the best. Also like all popular dishes there are many ways to prepare it even McDonalds have its own take to this snack in the form of McBifana.

Today I am making my own version, while its not far from the original one, its tastes nearly the same, I just added some texture and flavour in the form of onions and pimiento cooked in wine with a bit of vinegar.

Bifana Sandwich

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• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 45 mins
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Portuguese

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Description

Bifana Sandwich is a type of sandwich popular in Portugal where pork chops or pork strips that are marinated in piri-piri style sauce and white wine is served in a light crusty bread roll accompanied with yellow mustard and sautéed pimiento with onions

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Pork

• 800 g pork tenderloins, sliced and pounded with meat mallet

Marinade

• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp piri piri sauce
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Onion Topping

• 3 white onions
• 2 large red capsicum, skins removed
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• olive oil
• salt

Bread

• Portuguese buns or anything similar (it must be soft yet crusty)
• yellow mustard

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Instructions

1. In a bowl combine all marinade ingredient together then add the pork tenderloins, mix well then place it in a zip lock bag then let it marinate for 12 hours.
2. Before cooking make sure you remove the pork from the refrigerator for an hour to be in room temperature.
3. Prepare a pan, heat olive oil then pan fry pork pieces for 3-4 minutes each side or until cooked, remove from the pan then set aside.
4. Using the same pan add more olive oil then then sauté onions, capsicum and paprika in low heat, add dry white wine and sugar then cook in medium heat until onions and capsicum are soft. Add the white wine vinegar and a pinch of salt, mix then turn heat off.
5. Prepare your bread, slice in half, coat one side with yellow mustard, then place a slice or two of the pork, top with the sautéed onions. Serve.

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