Bifana Recipes

BIFANA (PORTUGUESE PORK CUTLETS)

Steps:

• Rinse the pork cutlets and then pat dry with paper towels.
• Place pork in a large heavy plastic bag (like a freezer ziploc bag) and place in a large bowl.
• In a mixing bowl, combine one cup of the wine, the vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, 1/2 tsp of the pimento paste, 1/4 tsp of the paprika, peppercorns, cloves and piri-piri sauce.
• Pour this over pork, make sure all meat is coated, and seal the bag.
• Refrigerate for several hours or overnight, turning bag over in bowl frequently.
• Bring meat to room temperature before cooking.
• To cook, remove pork from marinade and lightly pat pork dry with paper towels.
• Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and melt lard, then cook pork in batches in hot lard; if your pork is thin it will likely only take a minute per side, at the most.
• When all the pork has been sauteed, drain off the fat and add the remaining wine (1/4 cup), remaining pimento paste (1/4 tsp), remaining paprika (1/4 tsp) to the skillet, as well as salt and pepper to taste.
• Bring this to a boil, stirring the pan to get up any brown bits.
• Return all the pork to the skillet, reduce heat to low, and cook for about another minute.

BIFANAS DE PORCO

Steps:

• Do this the day before: Mash the garlic and salt to form a paste.
• Add the hot pepper paste and 1 teaspoons of paprika.
• Coat the medallions with this paste and put them in a shallow dish.
• Pour the wine over all, make sure they all are covered.
• Refrigerate over night.
• When you are ready to cook them: Take the medallions out of the dish, and discard the marinade.
• Heat 1/2 cup of olive oil over med-high heat.
• Add the onions sautéing until brown.
• Add the rest of the paprika and cook for about 3 minutes.
• Cover and keep this warm.
• In a large skillet pour in enough olive oil to 1/2 of the bottom.
• Heat to very hot but not smoking.
• Brown the medallions a few at a time without crowding.
• Fry about 1 minute on each side.