The Francesinha (little French girl) was created by Daniel David da Silva, a former emigrant who lived in Belgium and France before returning to Porto Portugal in the 1950s, who saw fit to pay tribute to French women when, joking with the customers of the restaurant he worked in, he gave the name of ‘francesinha‘ to a tasty sandwich made of several meats and a spicy hot sauce – in contrast with the sulkiness of Portuguese women – which became a symbol of the city of Porto. - Portugal daily view

The sandwich exploded from da Silva’s restaurant to all of Porto and is now available throughout Portugal.  Portuguese fast food restaurants have cropped up specializing in the sandwich.

The original sandwich has mutated into a free-for-all of ingredients with meats ranging from the original ham, sausage and beef steak to poultry, fish and just vegetables.

The real secret to Francesinha is the sauce and recipes are closely guarded secrets.  They range from mild to very spicy but are start with a beer base.  Some add whiskey or wine.


If you're going to attempt this artery clogging heart attack, best make it during a full moon.
I did.


Following are the gravy and sandwich recipes I used.  They is as close to the original classic as I could come without searching many stores for the correct Portuguese and/or Spanish ingredients.  I have noted my deviations.

This recipe makes enough sauce for 3 Francesinha sandwiches with extra gravy.  I wanted extra because the sauce is good enough to use with other things and many folks do that very thing.  In Portugal, hot dogs are available with this sauce.

The gravy
-700 ml 2 bottles of your favorite beer - 2 bottles
-200 ml whiskey (about 1 cup)- I used bourbon because I already had some kicking around
-200 ml Port Wine (about 1 cup) - Port or a combination of Port and Tawny Port.  I used Port.
-200 ml whole milk (about 1 cup)
-300 ml tomato puree (a little more than 1 cup)
-1 large onion
-1/4 C Olive oil
-1/4 C T spicy mustard
-1 T Better Than Bouillon - I used chicken but beef is also used. This is much easier than reducing the sauce for hours 
    by adding chicken or beef stock
-6 cloves garlic
-4 bay leaves
*-1 T crushed red pepper flakes.  A better choice would be crushed bird eye peppers
-1/4 C Harissa - I had this in my pantry and threw it in for complexity
*-1/4 C Cholula Mexican hot sauce.  Also in my pantry.  A better choice would be Piri Piri. Or just stick with crushed bird  
    eye peppers.  I like spicy.
-1/4 C sifted all purpose flour
-Bits of meat(s) to add to the sauce for flavor.  This is a good place for chicken wings, bones, turkey bones etc.  I used
 parts of NY strip trimmed to remove fat and some Linguica and Chorizo from the meats I purchased for the sandwich.

Bring beer and tomato puree to a simmer.  Add milk and simmer for a few minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients except flour.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.  Add the flour to thicken and simmer for a couple of hours until the strong alcohol flavor is removed.  Remove meat(s) and blend with a stick (immersion) blender to make smooth. If the sauce becomes to thick, add water.  It should be the consistency of thin gravy.

The boozy gravy is started



Vrrrrr...vrrrrr with the immersion blender into a smooth sauce


The Sandwich
-Sliced white bread
-Thin slices of smoked ham
-Thin slices of steak.  I halved the width of 2 NY strips
-1 fresh Linguica or fresh Chourico sausage and 1 smoked/cured Spanish Chorizo (Chourico) sausage  The idea is to use
 1 fresh and 1 smoked/cured sausage.  I used Linguica (great stuff) and 1 Mexican Chorizo so I wouldn’t have to go to 
 another store
-Your favorite melty sliced cheese.  A minimum of 5 slices/sandwich.  I used 6 slices of combination sharp cheddars.
 Edam is popular.
-You may place the completed sandwich in the microwave for 25-20 sec or a 200F oven if you wish to give the cheese a
 head start on melting but the very hot gravy does a pretty good job on its own.


Ham and steaks warming up for the sear



Chorizo on the griddle



Linguica on the griddle



Ham on the griddle



Thin NY strips on the griddle



This is enough meat for only 3 Francesinha sandwiches



Let's build.  Toasted white bread with a slice of cheese



Add ham and Linguica



Add a steak and Chorizo



Add a slice of cheese, another slice of toast and cover the whole shebang with 5 more slices of cheese.



Place a sunny side up fried egg on top, drown with sauce and surround with french fries which should be swimming in the sauce.





Swallow a low-dose aspirin and enjoy

Careful with this.  I had a food hangover the next day  

My daughter said Francesinha was inappropriate for a sandwich which should obviously be called the Angry Lumberjack.  I think she nailed it.

thanks, Checking it out now...

gonefishin wrote:    a few additions I found... Francesinha  Best Francesinha in Porto

Thanks for including these.  Work has been nutz with no sign of let up.  I'm afraid my post wasn't up to snuff with regard to background info.  I suppose I'm lucky to produce a few cooks and squeak a post through on occasion.  Really like this site.

I'm a-lovin' it! I'll be honest, I don't know if I could make it all the way through one, but I'd love to try....