OT - Bahn mi

byrne092

One of our favorite local restaurants added a bahn mi style sandwich to their menu recently, and we liked it so much we had to try to recreate it! The pork belly was sous vide and then crisped up on the CI, crispy SPAM, pickled onions, partially pickled jalapenos, lots of cilantro, carrots, kewpie mayo on homemade pullman bread.

JohnInCarolina

Love the Banh Mi!  Good stuff!  

blockmaster

Anytime we have leftover steak we make Banh Mi the next day. One of my favorites

McStew

this makes me want to go back to Vietnam just to have one again.  

HellrodKC

did you pickle the onions and jalapenos yourself? I haven't been happy with the few times I've tried

byrne092

@HellrodKC yeah I did. I actually almost forgot about them, so I whipped them up real quick. Pour hot/boiling water over the thinly sliced/diced onions and let drain. Combine vinegar (i used ACV), sugar, salt; whisk till combined, add thinly sliced onions and let them sit on the counter. You can add all sorts of things to add flavor, but i just kept it simple.

I added the jalapenos to the mix for a little bit while preparing the sandwich, just wanted to take a little of the bite out of them. 

caliking

Dude... that looks killer.

And I like how you roll with both pork belly AND SPAM!!

HeavyG

Looks good.

Next step...the bread.

byrne092

@caliking Haha thanks, not a Spam person, but this was great! Definitely not a calorie counter sandwich!

@HeavyG Yeah, we didn't use the baguette style bread. This was my first attempt at making bread, while I doubt it was as good as it could have been, it was still really good! By toasting it, it created a nice crust and easy chew. Went nicely with the texture of the rest of the sandwich. 

Botch

My local Vietnamese place makes the best Pho, but their Bahn Mi leaves a lot to be desired; would love to eat a few of those in your pic!  Bravo.  

HellrodKC

byrne092 said:

@HellrodKC yeah I did. I actually almost forgot about them, so I whipped them up real quick. Pour hot/boiling water over the thinly sliced/diced onions and let drain. Combine vinegar (i used ACV), sugar, salt; whisk till combined, add thinly sliced onions and let them sit on the counter. You can add all sorts of things to add flavor, but i just kept it simple.

I added the jalapenos to the mix for a little bit while preparing the sandwich, just wanted to take a little of the bite out of them. 

Thanks! I've always just heated the vinegar/salt/sugar mix and let them sit. I'll try the boiling water part next time.

And Let's Go Blues!

KiterTodd

Love me some Bahn Mi and your fusion version looks fantastic!

Thanks for sharing.

GATraveller

Oh man that looks killer!  Bahn Mi is one of my favorite sangwiches - right up there with a cuban!  SPAM is underappreciated IMHO.  I need to give one of these a go real soon.  Thanks for sharing.

Stormbringer

Crispy spam in banh mi does sound interesting, from your description it sounds like a substitute for the paste found in some banh mi rolls.

I've been to Vietnam a few times and enjoyed banh mi there, so decided to make it at home. The only thing that I find very hard to replicate is the roll itself, traditional banh mi rolls have an incredibly light crumb, a result of the high temperature and humidity of Vietnamese climate (or so I believe).

This is our standard recipe, using panini rolls as a substitute:

https://thecooksdigest.co.uk/2016/09/02/banh-mi-panini-a-vietnamese-sandwich/