Café Counter · Beer-Sauce Sandwich
Francesinha
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Its name means 'little Frenchie' — it began as a Porto cook's attempt to reinvent the French croque-monsieur using local sausage and a beer-spiked tomato sauce instead of ham and béchamel.
Layers of steak, smoked sausage and ham are stacked between toasted bread, blanketed in melted cheese, and drowned in a hot tomato-and-beer sauce, usually with a fried egg on top and fries on the side. Sold at cafés and lunch counters across Porto.
Why it's made this way: Returning from time in France and Belgium in the 1950s, Porto cook Daniel da Silva set out to adapt the croque-monsieur to Portuguese taste, swapping in local cured meats and inventing the beer-based sauce to go with them.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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