The wonderful Portuguese culture
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Bifana
"A Portuguese pork sandwich as street food"
"Uma sandes de carne de porco portuguesa como comida de rua"
Bifana is a Portuguese pork sandwich as street food
Bifana, or in plural Bifanas, is a typical Portuguese dish. You can eat a Bifana during every moment of the day. It is very basic dish: Pork between a sandwich, eventually with a little bit mustard and drink a beer. Simple as that! But how to prepare, where can you taste bifanas and where is the origin of this Portuguese pork sandwich as street food? You will find all the answers below.
keywords:
#bifana, #pork, #food, #streetfood, #gastronomy, #alentejo
What are the topics of this post?
What is a bifana?
A bifana is a dish made with pork steaks of the black pig, cooked in olive oil and served between a sandwich. It is a simple dish and very popular over the whole country. In a lot of places it is served with fries or chips and people drink mostly a beer with it.
"Marinated black pig cooked in oil"
To make a bifana, the meat is marinated in beer or white wine, together with garlic, piripiri and salt. The pork will be cooked in olive oil together with butter and the marinade in a large frying pan. Afterwards it is served in round buns, in Portuguese called "carcaças".
The origin of the bifana?
"A small town in the Alentejo"
A small town in the Alentejo calls itself as the origin of the bifana. This town is Vendas Novas. Here you have a lot of restaurants and tascas who serve the bifanas. In Portugal, you also have a company with many restaurants called Bifanas de Vendas Novas, which has the slogan "casa original", "original house". There is no doubt, here you can taste really good bifanas.
Many popular bifana variants
"Another bacalhau dish for every day of the year"
The most traditional variant o a bifana is the cooked pork between a sandwich as street food. This is also what the most Portuguese locals like the most. You find it in many tascas in Portugal. But there also are other variants of the bifana.
In some restaurants or tascas, you find the bifana with vegetables. But this is not the most common way to eat the bifana. Sometimes the dish is served with fries, sometimes with chips. Also a bifana with an egg is a possibility. Or what do you think of a whole bifana menu with a drink and a soup included. And yes, also the McDonald's in Portugal has an own McBifana. But according many locals, this is not the real bifana. Personally, I can't compare because I didn't tried yet the McBifana. Of course, these days there also is a vegan variant made with seitan. My personal favourite is the traditional one, without vegetables or other additions, only a little bit of Portuguese mustard and drink a beer with it. So, bring it on!
Where to find this Portuguese pork sandwich?
"Another bacalhau dish for every day of the year"
As already told, you can eat the bifana in many tascas. A tasca is a place where you can eat a small dish and take a drink, mostly in a typical Portuguese style. Mostly, you find here the best and typical Portuguese food at the best prices and service. In Lisbon a popular place to enjoy the bifana is in Casa das Bifanas at Praça da Figueira. But of course, there also are other great places in the city. Also in the restaurants in the shopping centres you can find them. In some places in Portugal, there also are restaurants of Bifanas de Vendas Novas.
The bifana is a popular dish as street food, but you don't find it normally at the kiosks in the cities. I suppose that it is due to the way to prepare and a kiosk is not the most ideal environment. A bifana is street food because, you can eat it in a fast way. At a bar to take a short break or even in your hands while walking.
When there are festivities, you mostly can also enjoy the bifana. This is the ideal moment to make this easy to prepare and eat dish for the passers-by.
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