Bife à Parmegiana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Meat mallet or heavy small pan for pounding
• •Wide heavy skillet, at least 28 cm
• •Three shallow dishes for breading
• •Small saucepan for tomato sauce
• •Rack or paper towels for draining
• •Medium baking dish

Instructions

1. 1

   Thin the steaks

   Put one steak at a time between two sheets of plastic or parchment and pound it until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Stop when the surface looks even, not torn. Thin meat cooks fast enough for the crust to stay crisp, and thick meat makes you choose between burnt crumbs and raw middle, which is a ridiculous choice and we refuse it.

2. 2

   Season the meat

   Season the steaks with 1 teaspoon of the salt, the pepper, 1 grated garlic clove, and the lime juice or vinegar. Rub it in and let the meat sit for 10 minutes while you set up the sauce and breading. Season the meat itself, not only the crust, because a beautiful outside with a bland center is dinner wearing makeup.

3. 3

   Start the sauce

   Warm 2 tablespoons oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring now and then, until it goes soft and see-through, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and cook for 1 minute, just until you smell it. This is the refogado, the base of the sauce, and burnt garlic turns bitter and follows you all the way to the table.

4. 4

   Simmer the tomato

   Add the crushed tomatoes, 1/2 cup water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring sometimes, until the sauce thickens enough to leave a line on the spoon. Taste it. If the tomatoes bite too hard, add the sugar. The sugar is not candy, it's a tiny correction for sharp tomatoes, especially outside their best season.

   Use canned crushed tomatoes or passata when fresh tomatoes are tired. That's an honest shortcut. Tomato powder or a seasoning packet is not the same thing; it's salt and disguise.
5. 5

   Set the breading

   Put the flour in one shallow dish. Beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon water in a second. Put the breadcrumbs in a third. Line the dishes up farinha, ovo, rosca, because order saves your patience. The flour dries the steak, the egg sticks to the flour, and the breadcrumbs stick to the egg. Skip one and the crust falls off, then acts innocent.

6. 6

   Bread each steak

   Press each steak into the flour and shake off the excess, dip it in the egg, then press it firmly into the breadcrumbs on both sides. Set the breaded steaks on a tray for 5 minutes before frying. That short rest lets the crust hydrate and cling, so it doesn't abandon the meat in the pan like a bad friend.

7. 7

   Fry until crisp

   Heat 1/2 cup oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat until a breadcrumb dropped in bubbles right away. Fry the steaks one or two at a time, about 2 minutes per side, until deep golden and crisp at the edges. Don't crowd the pan. Crowd it and the temperature drops, the meat releases water, and you steam the crust soft instead of frying it crisp.

8. 8

   Drain and layer

   Transfer the fried steaks to a rack or paper towels and salt them with a tiny pinch while they're hot. Spoon a thin layer of sauce into a baking dish, lay the steaks on top, then spoon more sauce over each one. Keep the sauce mostly on top, not drowning the sides, because the bottom crust deserves to remember who it is.

9. 9

   Melt the cheese

   Cover the sauced steaks with mussarela and a little parmesan if you're using it. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the cheese melts and bubbles in spots. If you want more color, use the broiler for 1 minute and stand there watching. Cheese goes from golden to punished very fast.

10. 10

    Serve the plate

    Finish with parsley and serve right away with arroz soltinho, feijão, and couve or another green. The rice catches the tomato sauce, the beans bring the caldo, the green cuts the richness, and the steak sits where it belongs: as part of the pê-efe, not above it.

Chef Tips

• •Buy steak that can be pounded thin: rump, top sirloin, or eye of round. Expensive meat is not the point here. Technique first, every time. An ordinary steak handled right makes a very good lunch.
• •Plain breadcrumbs are enough. If you use panko, it gets extra crisp, but it also drinks more oil and feels less like the Brazilian lunch-counter version. Both work. Just don't buy a flavored crumb full of powder and call that seasoning.
• •If you're making the full pê-efe, soak dried beans overnight, at least 8 hours. They cook more evenly and sit easier in your stomach. Then finish them with a real refogado and mash a ladle of cooked beans into it, because the beans themselves make the caldo creamy instead of watery.
• •Fry before saucing. I know someone will ask if they can bake the breaded steak raw under sauce. You can put anything in the oven if you're determined enough, but you won't get the same crust, and this dish is built on that crisp first bite.
• •Leftovers keep 3 days in the fridge, but the crust softens under the sauce. Reheat uncovered in a hot oven until the cheese loosens and the edges crisp a little again. The microwave works in an emergency, and it will also remind you why the oven exists.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept in the fridge, or frozen for up to 3 months.
• •The steaks can be pounded and seasoned up to 8 hours ahead. Keep them covered in the fridge and let them sit out 15 minutes before breading so they fry evenly.
• •Bread the steaks up to 2 hours ahead and keep them on a tray in the fridge, uncovered. The dry air helps the crust set.
• •For the full pê-efe, cook feijão a day ahead. Beans taste better the next day, and then dinner feels like assembly instead of a small domestic trial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 610g)