Posta à Mirandesa

Posta à Mirandesa is Trás-os-Montes on a plate: a thick, well-marbled veal steak, nothing but coarse salt and hot embers, and a garlicky olive-oil sauce on the side. My mother made it for special Sundays, and I can still smell the steak hitting the grill while we hovered around waiting for lunch.

The dish comes from Miranda do Douro and is made, in its purest form, with meat from the Mirandesa cattle breed — prized enough to have its own protected designation. The philosophy is radical simplicity: choose an excellent, thick cut, grill it over very hot embers, and let the meat speak.

What elevates it is the sauce: olive oil, vinegar, garlic, sweet paprika and a touch of chili, whisked together with the meat’s own juices. Now that I live in the USA, making this dish takes me straight back home — and I hope it brings a little of northern Portugal to your table too.

Posta à Mirandesa Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes · Cook time: 10 minutes · Total: 20 minutes · Servings: 4 · Calories: ~154 per serving

Ingredients

• 4 veal steaks, 1¼ to 1½ inches thick (about 10 oz each) — Mirandesa breed if you can find it
• Coarse salt, to taste
• For the sauce:
• Scant ½ cup (7 tablespoons) olive oil
• 5 teaspoons white vinegar
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3½ tablespoons sweet paprika
• Coarse salt, to taste
• Finely chopped chili pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Prepare strong embers, spread them evenly, and set the grill about 4 inches above them.
2. Lay the steaks on the grill with no seasoning at all.
3. As soon as they begin to heat, season the top with a little coarse salt.
4. When small “pearls” of juices begin to bead on the surface, turn each steak — the embers should still be very hot.
5. Salt the second side lightly as well.
6. Remove from the grill when the juices bead on the surface again — the steak should be beautifully crusted outside and pink inside.
7. For the sauce: mix the chopped garlic with the remaining sauce ingredients, then whisk in the juices released by the resting meat. Serve alongside the steaks.

Recipe Notes

• Boiled, roasted or fried potatoes, turnip greens, mushrooms or a simple salad are the classic sides — Portuguese tomato rice is also wonderful here.
• Choose a steak with long, even lines of marbling and at least 1 inch of thickness.
• In the US, USDA Prime and Choice grades have the most marbling.
• If humane raising matters to you, ask your butcher for free-range or grass-fed veal — they will know the meat’s origin.