Bifana

Ingredients

• 500g pork loin, sliced 5mm thick
• 250ml dry white wine
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbsp sweet pimentao
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp piri-piri sauce or chilli flakes
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 2 tbsp lard or olive oil
• 4 papo secos or crusty white rolls
• Yellow mustard to serve

Before you cook

• Lay the pork slices between two sheets of baking paper and pound them to 3mm with a rolling pin.
• Crush the garlic cloves to a paste with the salt using the flat of a knife.
• Whisk the wine, garlic paste, pimentao, vinegar, piri-piri and bay leaves together in a bowl.
• Submerge the pounded pork in the marinade, cover it, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and ideally overnight.
• Take the pork out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.

Steps

1. Lift the pork slices out of the marinade with tongs and pat them dry on kitchen paper, keeping the marinade.
2. Melt the lard in a large frying pan over high heat until it shimmers.
3. Lay in a third of the pork slices in a single layer without crowding them.
4. Sear for 45 seconds, then flip and sear the other side for 45 seconds.
5. Move the seared slices to a plate and cook the rest of the pork in two more batches.
6. Pour the reserved marinade into the hot empty pan and scrape up everything stuck to the base.
7. Boil the marinade hard for 5 minutes until it has reduced by half and lost its raw wine smell.
8. Return all the pork and any resting juices to the pan.
9. Simmer for 3 minutes so the meat drinks the sauce back up.
10. Split the rolls almost all the way through, leaving a hinge.
11. Press the cut face of each roll into the pan juices for a couple of seconds.
12. Pile three or four slices of pork into each roll and spoon over a little more sauce.
13. Add a stripe of yellow mustard, close the roll, and eat it immediately while it drips.