Portugiese Francesinha Sandwich

Actually, I came across THE cult sandwich of Portugal rather by chance, when I simply used Google to search for specialties and restaurants in Lisbon before my trip. At first, I just thought „Wow, that’s food porn“ and basically I wasn’t disappointed by that thought either.

Francesinha is a sandwich made of toast, various meats, sausages, cheese and a fried egg, all covered with a delicious gravy made of beer and tomatoes.

After I had eaten it, I didn’t have to think about food for the rest of the day.  I would like to show you here how to prepare this extraordinary specialty from Portugal.

Note: This article belongs to my European recipe collection.

Preparation of Francesinha

1. For the sauce, first cut the onion and garlic into small cubes and braise them together with about 1 tbsp. butter and the bay leaf in a deep pot at medium heat until translucent.

2. Then add the tomato paste, stock cubes and white wine and simmer at medium heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the beer and cornflour and simmer again for about 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and puree the sauce with a blender to a smooth sauce

4. Add the port wine and some whisky or brandy as desired and let everything simmer slightly over low heat. If necessary, add some starch to thicken the sauce. If you like it a bit hotter, add some chili oil.

5. While the sauce is simmering, fry the steaks and the sausages. Then cut both the sausages and the spicy sausage (chorizo) in half lengthwise and then divide them again crosswise.

6. Next, place the sandwich in a casserole dish or deep, heat-resistant plate. To do this, first cover a slice of pre-toasted bread with the fried steak and then spread 4 pieces of the quartered spicy sausage on top.

7. Pile up another slice of toast and cover it with four quarters of the sausage and 3 slices of cooked ham.

8. Put the last slice of toast as a lid on top and spread 4-5 slices of cheese on the toast so that there is still some overlap to the sides.

9. Bake the Francesinha in a preheated oven for about 5-10 minutes. As soon as the cheese has run a bit, you can optionally add an egg and cook it in the oven for a while.

10. Once the cheese and egg have reached the desired cooking level, the Portuguese delicacy can be taken out of the oven and the sauce can be poured over it. Arrange everything together with chips and serve. Bon appetite.

Francesinha – My conclusion

The Francesinha is definitely a juicy and sinful sandwich, which you don’t treat yourself to every day and maybe shouldn’t treat yourself too. But if you really feel like soul food, this is the right place.

How do you like the Portuguese Francesinha and do you have creative ideas on how to modify this sandwich recipe? Leave me a comment.

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