Francesinha

About This Recipe

The Francesinha is Porto's proudest culinary invention — a towering sandwich inspired by the French croque-monsieur but taken to indulgent extremes. Layers of ham, linguica, fresh steak, and sausage are sandwiched between thick bread, blanketed in melted cheese, and drowned in a rich tomato-beer sauce. Served with french fries to soak up the sauce, it is the ultimate comfort food of northern Portugal.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 4 slicesthick white bread
• 200 gbeef steak(thinly sliced)
• 100 glinguica sausage(sliced)
• 100 gham(sliced)
• 2 slicesfresh sausage(cooked)
• 200 gsemi-cured cheese(sliced)
• 1 cupbeer(lager)
• 2 tbsptomato paste
• 1 tbspbutter
• 1 tbspflour
• 1 tsppiri piri sauce
• 1 cubebeef bouillon

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the steak

   Season and sear the beef steak in a hot pan for 1-2 minutes per side. Set aside.

2. 2

   Make the sauce

   Melt butter, stir in flour, then add beer, tomato paste, bouillon cube, and piri piri. Simmer for 15 minutes until thickened.

3. 3

   Assemble sandwiches

   Layer ham, linguica, steak, and sausage between bread slices. Place in an oven-safe dish.

4. 4

   Top with cheese and bake

   Cover sandwiches completely with cheese slices. Bake at 200C for 10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling.

5. 5

   Serve

   Pour hot sauce generously over the sandwiches. Serve immediately with french fries on the side.

Variations

• •

  Add a fried egg on top for a Francesinha Especial.

Storage

Best eaten immediately. Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.