Bifana

Bifana: Step by Step

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1. Beat the pork slices between cling film until about 3 mm thick.

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2. Mix the wine, garlic, bay, paprika, piri-piri, salt and pepper and pour it over the pork. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

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3. Lift the pork out and pat it dry, keeping every drop of the marinade.

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4. Heat the lard in a wide frying pan until very hot. Sear the pork in batches for 45 seconds a side — it should colour, not stew. Set aside.

   Mark done Start 45 sec timer

5. Pour the marinade into the same pan and boil hard for 5 minutes, scraping the base, until it has reduced by half and lost its raw wine smell.

   Mark done Start 5 min timer

6. Whisk in the butter to give the sauce a little body.

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7. Return the pork to the pan and turn it through the sauce for 1 minute only.

   Mark done Start 1 min timer

8. Split the rolls and dip the cut sides briefly in the pan sauce.

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9. Pile three or four slices of pork into each roll, spoon a little more sauce over, and add mustard and piri-piri to taste.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Things to Watch For

1. Beat the pork properly thin. Thickness is what makes a bifana tough.
2. Reduce the marinade hard before the meat goes back in.
3. Dip the bread in the sauce. That is how it is served in Lisbon.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
• A dry vermouth keeps for longer than an open bottle of white wine and is the closer swap than a random white left in the fridge; for an alcohol-free version, use the same amount of stock with a squeeze of lemon.

A Little Background

The pork is sliced thin enough to cook in about ninety seconds, which means it never has time to toughen — thickness is doing more work here than any technique. The marinade becomes the sauce: after the meat is lifted out it reduces in the same pan, and the bread is dipped in it before the pork goes back on.

What to Serve It With

A cold Sagres or Super Bock · Yellow mustard and piri-piri · Chips

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Migas Portuguesas, Pao de Lo, Arroz de Tomate.

Leftovers

The marinated pork keeps 2 days raw. Cooked bifanas are best eaten immediately.

Questions People Ask

Nutrition per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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