Dish · portuguese
Bifana
Thin slices of pork marinated in garlic, wine, and paprika, then cooked in their own juices and piled onto a crusty roll, sometimes with a spoon of the cooking liquid on top.
Where it comes from
The sandwich grew out of everyday Portuguese cafe food, built around pork, the country's cheapest and most common meat, cooked fast and served straight into bread as a working lunch.
What cooks argue about
The technical divide is how the pork is cut and cooked: thin scaloppine-style slices seared quickly, versus a whole loin simmered slowly in the marinade and then sliced, which gives a softer, wetter result.
Nobody has published a bifana recipe yet. The page stays out of search until one exists, which is the rule for every thin page here.