(News Agency Here) Previously, I wrote about the food chronicled by Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian historian who was with Ferdinand Magellan when he landed in the Philippines. Wanting to learn more about this, Fr. Kevin Crisostomo of St. Joseph the Parish-Tambo interviewed me on his online show Kape at Kampay on the topic, “500 Years of Food, 500 Years of Faith.”
One of the viewers asked about pandesal, the quintessential Filipino bread. A viewer, whose comments the host read online, claimed that the Portuguese also have pandesal.
The traveler in me—I have been to Lisbon and Fatima and went to the corner bakery every morning—wondered if this was true and perhaps I just missed it.
In fact what the Portuguese have is not pandesal but something similar called papo seco or Portuguese rolls. These are light and airy, with a crusty outer layer. Like pandesal, these are served as dinner rolls, used for sandwiches, or dunked in soup or stew.
A popular Portuguese sandwich that uses this bread is called bifanas. Marinated pork slices simmered in a sauce of white wine, garlic and paprika are placed in the papo seco with either mustard or piri-piri sauce… Read More
