Ramsay’s Portuguese sarnie causes outrage
GORDON RAMSAY has caused uproar in Portugal after he made his own unconventional version of the country’s national dish – the bifana pork sandwich.
In a Youtube video, made as part of his TV show Uncharted, the 54-year-old shocked Portuguese viewers when he added cheese and other ingredients to the snack before declaring it a “beautiful, traditional bifana”.
Portuguese MP Duarte Marques was so offended by Ramsay’s take on the bifana that he took to Twitter to criticise the chef. He wrote: “It looks pretty good but it’s not a bifana. Go to Vendas Novas and taste a real one.”
The town of Vendas Novas, near Lisbon, is known as the birthplace of bifana, with traditional recipes including just pork, marinated in wine, oil, garlic and spices.
The mix is then grilled in bread before being garnished with mustard.
Social media users also expressed their outrage at Ramsay’s take on their national dish, with one commenting: “That’s a
Philly cheesesteak sandwich, definitely not a bifana.” Others complained about the chef ’s inclusion of cured ham, salad, grilled peppers, chilli, onion and sheep’s cheese. Portuguese comedian Rui Sinel de Cordes posted a video on Twitter of Ramsay humiliating a contestant on his own Kitchen Nightmares TV show. In the clip the chef presses two slices of bread against the woman’s ears and makes her describe herself as an “idiot sandwich” after she made a mistake. Defending Ramsay’s controversial bifana, Rui Paula, a Portuguese chef with two Michelin stars for his Casa de Chá da Boa Nova restaurant in Porto, told The Daily Telegraph that while it wasn’t conventional, the British chef shouldn’t be criticised for putting his own spin on a classic recipe. He added: “Indeed, it’s not a traditional bifana, although in my humble opinion I believe that every dish, no matter where it comes from, can be interpreted by anyone, chef or not. “And we have to be proud that such a chef as Gordon Ramsay, talks about our food and wants to do it in his own way.”