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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

Francesinha (Porto's meat sandwich in beer sauce)

1 hr · 2 (very generous)

Porto's most famous plate: a stacked sandwich of steak, ham and sausages, sealed in melted cheese and drowned in a spiced tomato and beer sauce, often with a fried egg on top. Make the sauce first; it's the soul of it.

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The real one

You need

• For the sauce: 2 tbsp butter, 1 onion, chopped, 2 cloves garlic, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 330 ml (1 bottle) lager, 250 ml (1 cup) beef stock, 200 g (3/4 cup) tomato passata, 1 tbsp port, 1 tsp piri-piri or hot sauce, 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water, salt
• 4 thick slices white sandwich bread
• 2 thin beef steaks (about 100 g / 3 1/2 oz each)
• 4 slices ham
• 2 smoked sausages (linguiça or frankfurters), split lengthwise
• 1 fresh pork sausage, split (optional)
• 8 to 10 thin slices mild melting cheese (flamengo, Edam or Gouda)
• 2 eggs (optional)
• Fries to serve

How to make it

1. Make the sauce (30 min): Melt the butter and cook the onion, garlic and bay over medium heat until soft, 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste 1 minute, then add the beer, stock, passata and port and simmer 15 minutes. Remove the bay, blend smooth, add the piri-piri and cornstarch and simmer 3 minutes until it coats a spoon. Season.
2. Cook the meats (10 min): Season the steaks and sear in a hot pan 1 minute a side. In the same pan, brown the sausages 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Stack (5 min): Heat the oven to 220 C (425 F) or the grill (broiler). On each of 2 slices of bread layer ham, sausages, steak and more ham, then another slice of bread. Set each in an ovenproof dish.
4. Cheese (5 min): Lay the cheese over the top and down the sides so it covers the whole stack. Bake until melted and starting to brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Fry the eggs meanwhile.
5. Sauce and serve: Top each with a fried egg, pour hot sauce around and over generously, and serve with fries to soak it up and a cold beer.

Tips

• Every café's sauce is a secret; adding a splash of whisky or a spoon of seafood stock are both local habits.
• Eat it with a knife and fork; it's a meal, not a hand sandwich.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.