How Social Media Led Me Down A “Francesinha” Rabbit Hole..

I made a recipe for the first time recently, I did it because of social media. Here’s how it all began: the above photo was shared by my friend Stephen….here is what he said:

“Francesinha, a scrumptious dish of meat, cheese, toast, egg, all covered in a hot tomato and beer sauce. It’s craaaaaaaazy.”

Well, I took that as a challenge and made one! For those who follow along, I share everything I do in the kitchen: good or bad. So I decided I had to make a Francesinha as well!

First, let’s talk about what a “Franceshinha” is. Here’s how it is described online:

Francesinha is a Portuguese sandwich made with layers of bread, meat, cheese, and a tomato-beer sauce. The sandwich originated in Porto, Portugal. 

Stephen’s sandwich wasn’t surrounded like the above photo with French fries, but all the photos I found online did just that so I will as well! And as this photo shows, I am going to make a lot of extra sauce for dipping the fries as well!

So this was my challenge. How would I do? Here are the ingredients – first for the sandwich:

• 2 slices white bread – I bought some from a Korean grocery store and it’s heavenly fluffy!

• 2 slices smoked ham

• 4 slices cheddar cheese, although one recipe also said “something melty like a dutch cheese”

• 1 cooked sausage, something along the lines of chorizo – that is what I used

• 1 slice roast beef

Pretty straightforward, right? Well, the recipe I used didn’t have an egg listed, so I forgot to use one…no big deal but I do love eggs so that was a shame…

And here’s what you need for the sauce:

• 1 beer
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons concentrated tomato paste
• ¹⁄₄ cup brandy
• ¹⁄₄ cup milk
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup chicken stock (I used a bouillon cube)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt to taste

• Make the sauce first by dissolving the cornstarch into the milk.
• Add all the other sauce ingredients and stir in a pan over low heat

Here’s a look at how easy it is:

Stir it until it starts to boil, remove bay leaf and then set aside.

Now, it’s time to assemble the sandwich:

• Put the bread on a plate and place the roast beef down first, then the chorizo, ham and two slices of cheese. Put the other slice of bread and top with 2 more slices of cheese on top.

Here’s how easy it is:

Now the fun part! Pour the sauce over the sandwich (make sure the sauce is hot, so the cheese melts).

Here’s how easy that is!

And here’s what you have:

The last touch was to surround the sandwich with French fries…

Oh, you may want one more thing, and in keeping with my love of all things Portugal, I made sure it was a Portuguese Red:

And the verdict?

I RUINED IT A BIT.

I always share my mistakes, but some of you probably had a clue in the video for the sauce. Watch it again:

I free-formed a bit on the liquids, and honestly, I put a bit too much brandy in!

As a result, it didn’t completely burn off – and the sauce had a bit of an alcohol “overbite” – the sandwich was delicious but because of the brandy I didn’t embrace the sauce the way I should have….

But, as you can see, the mix of bread, meat, cheese and creamy sauce worked well, and I’m not sure I needed the egg but would have loved it.

The fries surrounding my Francesinha were perfect for taking care of the extra sauce…I just wish I had a lighter touch on the booze!

Thanks to the terrific Chefs at Food.com for the recipe…check them out all the time here:

https://www.food.com

This dish was pretty amazing – but having been to Lisbon, I discovered that all of their food was amazing, especially when you eat it on the edge of a river!

We sat literally over the river and it was such a great view! Check out the video to see how close people are to the edge!

We had such a magical time in Portugal – I shared another spectacular meal we had in Lisbon as well:

The “Scarlett Shrimp” dish at Cervejaria Ramiro is so incredibly memorable, especially the serving of the dish!

This restaurant only serves shellfish – well, except for the steak sandwich – which they serve for dessert!

Click here to see it all!

I shared another terrific meal as well, and sadly the innovative Chef died unexpectedly a few months after we ate there…here is my homage to Chef Jesus Lee Fernandes:

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