About this Dish
Porto's extraordinary sandwich — layers of bread, ham, linguica sausage and steak, topped with melted cheese and drowned in a spiced tomato and beer sauce. Created in the 1950s by Daniel da Silva who adapted the French croque monsieur after working in France. Porto residents are fiercely loyal to their neighbourhood's particular francesinha recipe.
IngredientsServes 2
🍞Thick white sandwich bread, 8 slices
🥩Thin beef steak (like sirloin), 2 small steaks about 150g each
🌭Linguiça sausage, 150g sliced lengthways
🍖Cooked ham slices, 100g
🧀Mild melting cheese (Edam or Gouda), 200g sliced
🍺Lager beer, 330ml
🍅Canned chopped tomatoes, 400g
🧅White onion, 1 medium finely chopped
🌶️Piri piri sauce or hot sauce, 1 tablespoon
🫙Beef stock, 200ml
Method
1
Start with the sauce, as it needs time to develop flavour. Fry the chopped onion in a little olive oil over medium heat until soft and golden, about 8 minutes, then add the canned tomatoes, beer, beef stock, piri piri sauce, a bay leaf, and a pinch of paprika. Simmer uncovered for 25–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and deepens in colour, then season with salt and a pinch of sugar.2
While the sauce simmers, season your steaks with salt and pepper and cook them in a very hot pan with a little oil for about 1 minute each side — you want them just cooked through and slightly charred. In the same pan, quickly fry the linguiça slices for a minute each side until they colour at the edges.3
To build each francesinha, lay one slice of bread on a baking tray, top with a slice of ham, then a steak, then the linguiça slices, then another slice of ham, and finally close with the second slice of bread — pressing it down gently.4
Drape the cheese slices generously over the top and sides of the assembled sandwich, tucking them down to cover as much as possible — this is what creates that iconic melted cheese blanket. Repeat the assembly for your second sandwich.5
Place the sandwiches under a hot grill for 3–5 minutes until the cheese is fully melted, bubbling, and just starting to turn golden in spots. Watch them carefully so the bread doesn't burn.6
Ladle a generous amount of the hot sauce into a deep-rimmed plate or shallow bowl, place the cheesy sandwich in the centre so it sits in the sauce, then pour more sauce over the top. Serve immediately with thick-cut chips on the side or directly in the sauce, as they do in Porto.User Reviews
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