Street food #01: ‘Bifanas’ e ‘Pregos’

Prego em Bolo do Caco. Iconic fast food in Madeira: A steak on the traditional “bolo do caco’ with garlic butter. Photo by Inês Alvarez

In Portugal, we don’t have that much of a street food tradition. We always had family restaurants and tascas, where food was good and inexpensive.

But… we have the two ‘sisters of mercy’ for our stomachs on a late night or at a football match: the Bifana and the Prego.

Bifana. The sauce is normally made with, banha, massa de pimentão, garlic, salt, white wine, pepper, and bay leaf. There are a couple of secrets, that I know of, about them: the first is to use banha (pork fat) to fry it in. Yes, not very suitable for low-fat diets. The second secret is to keep the same pan going and going…

The most famous version is the ‘Bifana de Vendas Novas’ a town on the edge of Alentejo, 90 km south of Lisbon. But the best Bifana I remember eating, was on a cold winter night in Porto, near the Campanhã train station. It was a small place with a window and a door. Through the window, we could see an enormous pan with the bifanas cooking in a bubbly sauce. It was delicious! But I was young and starving.

Prego. This is the beef sister of Bifana. It is normally served in Cervejarias after some seafood and lots of beer. Prego sonhé is made with a thin steak grilled – previously bashed like hell – with banha and served with garlic and sea salt, and it is probably the most famous Prego in Lisbon.

About the names: Bifana, comes from bife. That in turn comes from ‘beef’. That means cow’s meat. But bifanas are made with pork meat. On the other hand, prego means ‘nail’. Confused? Don’t be. Welcome to Portuguese Gastronomic Culture!

Suggested music: Carta de Emigração, Adriano Correia de Oliveira