Francesinha poveira

Francesinha poveira

A francesinha fast food restaurant in Póvoa de Varzim
Origin
Alternative name(s)	Francesinha
Place of origin	Portugal
Region or state	Póvoa de Varzim
Details
Type	Sandwich
Main ingredient(s)	Bread (Pão Cacete or Pão de Francesinha), linguiça, fiambre, cheese, mustard

Francesinha poveira, or simply francesinha, is a fast food from Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. It resembles a hot dog only in shape, but the sandwich is made of linguiça (somewhat similar to a sausage), fiambre (a kind of ham), cheese and mustard in Pão Cacete or Pão de Francesinha, a bread that could be described as midway between a baguette and a hot dog bun.

History

Francesinha poveira is the fast food variety of the francesinha dish that appeared in 1962 in café Guarda-Sol in Passeio Alegre beach square in Póvoa de Varzim. Opened since June 1922, Guarda-Sol is the oldest café-bar of Póvoa, and also the first beach bar in Portugal.

Francesinha poveira is based in the one from Porto. As a curiosity, the Portuan variety was created by Povoan Daniel Silva. The Povoan variety appeared from the manager need, Alberto Moreira, to have a new distinct product, and for that, he went to Lisbon, to find the right person for the job, and hired António Carriço, originally from Fundão. António had the initiative to ask the baker that supplied Guardassol to create a kind of bread that should be like a small baguette, soft and tasty, with this idea the "francesinha bread" (pão de francesinha) appeared.

Francesinha sauce

Francesinha is filled with a specific gravy made up with butter, margarina, ketchup, piri-piri and salt, with Cognac, brandy, port wine or whisky.