The Recipe: Francesinha by Vitor Claro

As told to Carlos Carneiro by Porto chef Vitor Claro

I think that in the Francesinha you should use cured meats such as ham, mortadella, perhaps some bacon, also some cooked meat such as roast pork or beef, since the Francesinha was a way of using leftovers. So originally, they would make a sandwich with these leftover meats, put some sauce on it and it would sell well. And of course sausage and linguica are included as theyʼre very traditional, made of pork, which is almost the national meat of Portugal. Sausage tends to be associated with snacks like hot-dogs, so you could think of the Francesinha in the same way.

All about the Sauce!
Each cafe or restaurant will have its own sauce but the truth is that thereʼs now a whole business of prepared Francesinha sauces, which you can find in supermarkets or groceries. I believe that quite a few places nowadays use these prepared sauces. What makes it so popular is that itʼs the sauce that brings this dish together. We can make a Francesinha with more or less meat, different kinds of meat, with cheese on top, with an egg and chips, but what can never be missing is the sauce. I used to work in a restaurant where I had a very popular steak dish, served on a slice of bread and covered with some Francesinha sauce and this dish was much closer to the original Francesinha than if we had all the Francesinha ingredients (bread, meats, cheese) but no sauce.

The sauce will always have its base in ripe tomatoes and beer. I also like to add meat stock and seafood stock. But the base is just tomatoes, beer, some veggies and scraps of meat. I start with some vegetables in oil and bits of meat for some flavoring and cook this on a medium heat so it glazes, which will make it taste sweeter and… just better. I use whiskey but various other liquors can be used such as Licor Beirao, white Port, red Port, dry Port and this really makes the sauce different from place to place. I personally like my sauce a tad more simple, with no unnecessary complications.

Once itʼs all cooked you can add a bit of flour just to give it further consistency but it depends if you decide to blitz the sauce or not. If you donʼt thereʼs no need for flour as it will be thickened from the ripe tomatoes and meats.

The Sauce: Chop the onion, carrot and sausages tips. Sweat in a bit of olive oil until glazed but not coloured. Add the sausages tips and keep sweating until slightly golden.
 Add the chilli, the tomatoes, beer and stocks. Allow to simmer until the alcohol evaporates and blitz. Sieve and simmer until it gets creamy. Add a bit of t65 flour for a thicker sauce. The Sandwich: Fry off all meats and pack into the bread roll.
 Oven roast for a couple of minutes and top the bread with the cheese. Oven roast for one more minute. Serve in a deep bowl and cover with the sauce.

Guest Column: ON PLATE CINEMA
by Carlos Carneiro