Sardine Banh Mi

I’ll happily eat any baguette that’s stuffed with meaty sardines, but add some mayo, pickled daikon, carrot, and plenty of fresh, peppery cilantro, and now we’re really talking. As author Andrea Nguyen explains in her 2014 cookbook, The Banh Mi Handbook, the combination hearkens back to the first half of the twentieth century, when French colonialism introduced tinned ingredients like sardines to Vietnamese cuisine. Whether packed in oil or tomato sauce, the fish are a satisfying sandwich f