Michael Ruhlman

The Bánh Mì

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • Serves

    4

Appears in

From Scratch: 10 Meals, 175 Recipes, and Dozens of Techniques You Will Use Over and Over

From Scratch

By Michael Ruhlman

Published 2019

  • About

I include this recipe here because it makes use of three preparations in this book: slow-roasted pork, meat loaf (traditionally this would be a country pâté), and pickled vegetables. But this classic Vietnamese sandwich is first of all about the bread: a French roll with a thin but crunchy crust and a soft crumb. They’re hard to find if you don’t have a Vietnamese bakery near you, so feel free to use a well-made baguette. Or, by all means make your own rolls (see the Note).

With all that bread and meat, you need to make sure you’ve got plenty of fat in the form of mayonnaise to keep it succulent—mix some Sriracha with it to keep those flavors zinging.

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup/180 milliliters mayonnaise
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons Sriracha
  • Juice of ¼ lime, plus 4 lime wedges for garnish
  • 4 French rolls, lightly toasted and cut open
  • 12 ounces/340 grams (8 thinnish slices) Meat Loaf or country pâté
  • 12 ounces/340 grams Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder, sliced and reheated in a microwave or oven until warm
  • 20 or so cucumber slices
  • 1 cup/100 grams pickled carrot and daikon
  • 4 or 5 jalapeños, seeded if desired and thinly sliced
  • Leaves and thin stems from 1 bunch cilantro

Method

Combine the mayonnaise, Sriracha, and lime juice and stir till combined. Slather both sides of the interior of the rolls with the mayonnaise.

Layer the sandwiches with the meat loaf slices, slow-roasted pork, cucumber, pickled carrot and daikon, jalapeño, and plenty of cilantro. Serve each with a wedge of lime.

© 2019 All rights reserved. Published by Abrams Books.