I feel like the Banh Mi Sandwich has been trending lately; I keep seeing it pop up on Food Network shows like Chopped or Diners Drive-ins and Dives, and variations of this traditional Vietnamese sandwich are showing up on menus even at high end restaurants. I don’t mean to sound pretentious or anything, but in some ways I feel like I was ahead of the curve on this particular trend (which actually I think is starting to fade now – I may have been ahead of the curve, but now I’m late to the punch). I remember probably about 6 years ago my dad mentioning the banh mi sandwich to me after reading about it in some obscure foodie article about the 5 best places in New York City to get Banh Mi Sandwiches, and thinking that it definitely sounded like a strange combination of ingredients – making it something I couldn’t wait to try.
So on a sunny afternoon my dad and I walked over to one of my favorite parts of New York City, that weird yet culturally rich downtown area nestled between Chinatown and Little Italy, where the narrow streets are littered with Italian bakeries and delis that I know too well, alongside hole-in-the-wall dumpling spots and stores selling traditional Chinese goods. It seems that here, within this odd cultural melting pot, there is a small cluster of Vietnamese restaurants making traditional Banh Mi sandwiches stuffed with roast pork, pickled vegetables, liver pâté and cilantro, all in a fluffy French baguette. We choose one of these tiny Vietnamese restaurants that had snagged the top spot on the list, and sat on a stray stoop to eat our sandwiches straight out of the white butcher paper they came wrapped in. The ingredients sound weird, but honestly they work really well together, and instantly I had the desire to tell everyone I knew about this French/Asian/Vietnamese sandwich that turned out to be incredibly delicious. At the time, everyone I told seemed to have no interest whatsoever in Banh Mi sandwiches – the same people who now are saying to their friends, “You haven’t had a Banh Mi?! You need to try one!”
For those of you who still don’t know what a Banh Mi sandwich is (don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you), here’s a little history. The term Banh Mi in Vietnamese actually refers to any kind of bread, but most commonly is a single serving baguette that was introduced by the French during their colonization in Vietnam. The Banh Mi sandwich, also called a “Vietnamese sandwich,” or “Vietnamese Po-boy,” is a product of French influence in Vietnam along with traditional Vietnamese ingredients, combining the French baguette, liver pâté, and mayonnaise, with the Vietnamese roast pork or pork belly, carrot, daikon radish, and cilantro. There are a ton of variations of this sandwich, but the classic version known as banh mi thit nuong contains mayonnaise, liver pâté, head cheese, pickled vegetables like carrots and daikon, fresh cucumber and cilantro, and pork (either grilled, roasted, or ground pork sausage).
Braised pork shoulder straight from the oven
For my take, I wanted to do a slight variation on the traditional Banh Mi Sandwich, and my biggest departure is in using my Porcini and Wild Mushroom Pâté instead of liver pâté. The mushroom pâté still brings the same richness and meatiness to the sandwich, but makes it a little bit lighter and also gives you a great vegetarian option if you just leave off the pork. You could replace this with any store bought or homemade version of liver pâté, or just leave it off all together if so inclined (honestly though I think the mushroom pâté is my favorite part of this sandwich). For my meat, I decided to slow braise and then shred a pork shoulder – its really easy to do since you can just throw it in a dutch oven or slow cooker with some chicken stock, ginger, and garlic, and just forget about it – the only thing is you need about 5 hours for it to cook. If you don’t have the time or don’t want to wait to eat these wonderful sandwiches (who could blame you) you could just as easily brown up some ground pork in a pan or grill a pork tenderloin with some of the same seasonings I use for my braised pork shoulder. Then all you need is some pickled daikon and carrot, fresh cucumbers and cilantro, spicy siracha mayo, and a baguette to put it all together on! If you’ve never had a Banh Mi sandwich, I promise you’ll love it, and if you have, let me know what you think of my variation on it!
- For the Braised Pork:
- 1 2-3 lb pork shoulder (bone in or out)
- 1 head garlic, cloves roughly chopped
- 1 small knob (about ¼ cup chopped) fresh ginger
- 5 stalks fresh lemongrass
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup black vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- (for any of these last 3 ingredients you can replace with any flavors or sauces you like or have on hand, such as fish sauce, ponzu, rice wine vinegar, etc)
- salt and pepper
- For the sandwiches:
- 2 carrots, thinly sliced in or shredded
- 2 daikon radishes, thinly sliced or shredded
- 4 cups water
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 large cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced
- 1 bunch cilantro
- ¼ cup mayo
- siracha or hot sauce to taste
- 2 cups mushroom pâté (or pâté of your choice, to taste)
- 2 large baguettes
- For the braised pork:
- Preheat the oven to 325 - I use a dutch oven for this recipe, but you can make it using a crock pot by using a large pan for searing the meat and then adding all ingredients to the crock pot.
- Liberally salt and pepper all sides of the pork shoulder. Using a 7 qt dutch oven over medium heat, sear all sides of the pork shoulder. Remove the pork shoulder and set aside.
- Remove excess fat from dutch oven so you are left with about 2 tablespoons. Add roughly chopped ginger and garlic and sauté until slightly browned and fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce, black vinegar, and sesame oil (or flavorings of your choice) and cook until reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Add pork back to dutch oven. Add lemongrass and chicken stock so it comes about to about halfway up the pork.
- Cover dutch oven tightly with lid and place in the oven. Cook 4-5 hours, or until the pork is completely tender and shreds easily with a fork. Turn the pork once during the cooking process.
- Let the pork cool completely before shredding with forks or with your hands. Strain excess cooking liquid to remove all bits of garlic ginger and lemongrass - discard this, but reserve the liquid to add back to the shredded pork to keep it moist.
- For the sandwiches:
- Pickle the vegetables: Combine 4 cups of water, vinegar, salt and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add thinly sliced carrots and daikon radish. Let sit for a minimum of 30 minutes, and up to a week.
- Combine mayo and siracha to taste to create siracha-mayo spread for sandwiches.
- Assemble the sandwiches: This part is all up to you! Onto the baguette, add as much siracha mayo, pâté, pickled vegetables, cucumber, cilantro, and braised pork as you like. Enjoy!
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