Febras are a summer grilling staple in Portugal: thin pork steaks in a garlic and wine marinade, cooked fast over hot coals.
They are the classic answer to unexpected Sunday guests, because thin steaks soak up a marinade quickly and cook even faster. If you like them, try our espetada (recipe on the site) next.
Febras are not the same thing as a prego (recipe on the site), which is really about the bread and the single hot slice of steak inside it, and they are not bitoque either, which gets a fried egg and a puddle of pan sauce.
Febras are their own tradition, thin cuts of pork shoulder or loin pounded down and left to bathe in white wine, garlic, bay leaf and paprika for as long as you can stand to wait, then cooked hot and fast so the edges char while the inside stays juicy. In Portugal you will find them on the chalkboard menu of nearly every neighborhood tasca, usually next to a mountain of fries and a fried egg on top if you ask nicely.
For American kitchens, the easiest path is to ask your butcher for thin-cut boneless pork shoulder steaks, sometimes sold as country-style ribs sliced thin, or minute steaks. A meat mallet and ten minutes of pounding gets you the rest of the way there. Marinate overnight if you can, but even four hours does real work.
Serve them the Portuguese way, with fries, a simple salad, and a bowl of our homemade piri-piri sauce (recipe on the site) on the side for anyone who likes it spicy.
Febras Grelhadas Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless pork shoulder steaks, sliced 1/4 inch thick (ask your butcher, or use thin-cut pork chops)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 bay leaves, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for cooking
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon piri-piri hot sauce or a pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
- Lemon wedges and chopped parsley, for serving
Instructions
- Place the pork steaks between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound gently with a meat mallet to an even 1/4 inch thickness.
- In a large bowl or zip-top bag, whisk together the wine, garlic, bay leaves, paprika, olive oil, salt, pepper, and piri-piri if using.
- Add the pork, turn to coat completely, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
- Remove the pork from the fridge 20 minutes before cooking and let it come toward room temperature. Pat off excess marinade so the steaks sear instead of steam.
- Heat a grill, grill pan, or heavy skillet over high heat with a thin film of olive oil until just smoking.
- Cook the steaks in batches, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until well charred at the edges and just cooked through. Do not crowd the pan.
- Let the meat rest for 3 minutes, then squeeze fresh lemon over the top and scatter with parsley before serving.
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