Chef Isabel
Almussafes Valenciano
Almussafes is Valencian bar-counter food: a crusty roll filled with sobrasada, cheese, and onion, then pressed on the plancha until the bread crisps and the filling runs together.
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Brascada Valenciana
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Brascada is Valencia's esmorzaret bocadillo: thin beef seared on the plancha, onion fried until dark and sweet, and serrano warmed just enough to gloss into the bread.
Sandwiches & Wraps
Spanish
Quick Meal
Weeknight
15 min
Active Time
35 min cook•50 min total
Yield4 bocadillos
Brascada Valenciana belongs to Valencia's esmorzaret, the serious mid-morning bocadillo of a crusty barra filled with thin beef, sweet fried onion, and jamón serrano. That is what makes it itself. Take away the slow onion and warm cured ham and you have a beef roll, a decent one, but not a brascada.
The onion decides it. Cook it low in olive oil until it turns dark gold, soft, and sweet, the patience of a sofrito, the slow onion base, without the tomato. Rush it and you get wet onion sitting on meat. Give it its time, then sear the beef fast on the plancha, the flat griddle, so it browns before it dries.
If you're far from Valencia, ask for thin minute steaks, top round or sirloin, and pound them to 3 or 4 mm. A small crusty baguette stands in for pan de barra; a soft roll won't. For the ham, jamón serrano is right. If you only have prosciutto, use it lightly and warm it for seconds, because it is softer and sweeter.
This is not a dressed sandwich. No cheese, no sauce, no clever little extras. Bread, beef, onion, serrano. Siempre sale, si lo sigues: slow onion, hot plancha, quick hand with the ham.
Brascada belongs to the Valencian habit of l'esmorzaret, the sturdy mid-morning meal built around a bocadillo at the bar, with olives, cacaus, and whatever the workday has allowed. The usual brascada is filete de ternera, fried onion, and jamón serrano in barra bread; the name keeps the sound of brasa, the embers, although in many bars the flat plancha does the cooking. It sits beside other Valencian bocadillos such as almussafes and chivito, but this is the beef-and-onion one, salted by warm cured ham rather than by a sauce.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
crusty bocadillo rolls or pan de barra pieces
Quantity
4, about 320g total
split lengthwise, kept hinged if possible
thin beef steaks (filetes de ternera)
Quantity
500g
4 pieces, pounded to 3-4mm
yellow onions
Quantity
300g
thinly sliced
jamón serrano
Quantity
80g
8 thin slices
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
divided
fine sea salt
Quantity
5g
divided
freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Quantity
1g
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| crusty bocadillo rolls or pan de barra piecessplit lengthwise, kept hinged if possible | 4, about 320g total |
| thin beef steaks (filetes de ternera)4 pieces, pounded to 3-4mm | 500g |
| yellow onionsthinly sliced | 300g |
| jamón serrano8 thin slices | 80g |
| extra virgin olive oildivided | 60ml |
| fine sea saltdivided | 5g |
| freshly ground black pepper (optional) | 1g |
Equipment Needed
- •Cast-iron plancha or wide heavy frying pan
- •Wide frying pan for the onion
- •Tongs
- •Bread knife
Instructions
- 1
Soften the onion
Heat 45ml of the olive oil in a wide frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions and 2g of the salt, then cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is dark gold, soft, and sweet. This slow cook is the point of the brascada; rush it and the sandwich tastes thin.
If the onion catches before it softens, add 1 tablespoon of water and lower the heat. Do not turn the heat up to hurry it. - 2
Ready the beef
Pat the beef dry and make sure each piece is pounded to 3 or 4 mm thick. Season both sides with the remaining 3g salt and the pepper, if using. Let it sit for 10 minutes while the onion finishes. Pésalo, no lo adivines; too much salt here fights the jamón.
- 3
Toast the bread
Heat a cast-iron plancha or wide heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Brush it with 5ml olive oil and set the cut sides of the bread on it for 30 to 45 seconds, just until the crumb is warmed and lightly marked. Lift the bread out and keep it ready.
- 4
Sear on plancha
Raise the heat to high and brush the plancha with the remaining 10ml olive oil. Sear the beef in batches for 45 to 60 seconds per side, just until browned at the edges and still supple. Thin beef waits for nobody; leave it too long and it dries before you have built the bocadillo.
Do not crowd the pan. If the beef gives off liquid and sits in it, it is stewing, not searing. - 5
Warm the jamón
Turn the heat down low, or pull the pan off the heat if it is very hot. Lay the jamón serrano on the plancha for 5 to 10 seconds, only until the fat turns glossy and the slices loosen. Do not fry it crisp; that makes it leathery and too salty.
- 6
Build the brascada
Divide the slow onion among the four bread bottoms, letting a little of its oil soak into the crumb. Lay in the seared beef, then the warm jamón. Close the bread, press each bocadillo once with your palm, and serve at once, while the onion is glossy and the beef is still tender.
Chef Tips
- •Buy pan de barra if you can, with a thin crust and a crumb that can hold oil. A soft roll collapses under onion and beef, and then you're fighting the bread instead of eating the brascada.
- •Ask the butcher for filetes de ternera cut thin. If using supermarket beef, choose top round, sirloin, or minute steaks and pound them yourself between paper until 3 to 4 mm thick.
- •Jamón serrano should be warmed, not fried hard. Ten seconds on the plancha wakes the fat; a minute makes it leathery and too salty.
- •The onion is not decoration. Make extra and keep it in the fridge. With the onion cooked ahead, the whole bocadillo is a ten-minute weeknight meal.
Advance Preparation
- •Cook the onion up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate it covered. Rewarm it gently in a pan with a teaspoon of olive oil before assembling.
- •Pound the beef earlier in the day and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Salt it only about 10 minutes before cooking.
- •Do not assemble the brascada ahead. The onion and beef will soften the bread, and this bocadillo wants to be eaten as soon as it is built.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 270g)
Calories
670 calories
Total Fat
34 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
24 g
Cholesterol
105 mg
Sodium
1450 mg
Total Carbohydrates
51 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
43 g
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