Artist's Palate: Richard Wentworth's bife ana

(Image credit: press)

last updated 18 October 2022

While Richard Wentworth, a sometime Goldsmiths godfather to the YBAs, likes his work to subvert the function of the mundane object, his bife ana is pretty much just spicy pork in a bun. In this instance, he hasn't even nailed it to a shoe or dangled it from a coat rack. Here's how to make it.

Ingredients
500g rump steak, thinly sliced
2 large crusty rolls
2 tbps olive oil
Cos lettuce leaves
Salt

For the marinade:
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 small dried chilli, crushed
1 bay leaf, broken up
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp red wine
3 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Method
Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, add the steak and leave to marinate for a few hours (but no longer than 8 hours). Remove the steaks from the marinade, then strain it and set aside.

Warm the rolls in a medium oven. Heat a heavy-based frying pan until very, very hot, then add the olive oil and fry the steaks very quickly. If your pan is hot enough, they will need to be turned within a minute. Remove the steaks and keep warm, then add the dry ingredients from the marinade to the pan with some salt.

Cut the rolls in half and arrange the cos lettuce and then the steaks on the lower halves. Add the strained marinade liquid to the pan and let this bubble and reduce a little, then pour into the top halves of the rolls. Close the sandwiches and eat immediately, with both hands.

Melina Keays is the entertaining director of Wallpaper*. She has been part of the brand since the magazine’s launch in 1996, and is responsible for entertaining content across the print and digital platforms, and for Wallpaper’s creative agency Bespoke. A native Londoner, Melina takes inspiration from the whole spectrum of art and design – including film, literature, and fashion. Her work for the brand involves curating content, writing, and creative direction – conceiving luxury interior landscapes with a focus on food, drinks, and entertaining in all its forms