banh mi burgers

This falls into the home cookin' category... although not sous-vide home cookin'.

Vietnamese saigon subs with grilled pork have been one of my favorite sandwiches for years.  There was a bakery out in New Orleans East that sold them for under a buck each.  The sandwich is a simple balance of flavors, textures, and heat.  A few years ago, I decided to make banh mi burgers while barbeque'ing at home.  The simple idea was to make a burger patty of seasoned ground pork and serve it on a bun (instead of French bread) with the traditional dressings.

The is almost a universal rule among the apartments and condos of the greater Miami area that prevents anyone from barbeque'ing or operating a grill for fire-hazard reasons.  I've never lived in a place where this was a reality, but I'm slowly adjusting to my grill-less life.  To compensate somewhat for the loss of grill flavor, I used a smoke gun to put a little smoke on the raw pork patties before searing and cooking... but feel free to light up your grill and take this one outside if you live in a free country and not in Miami.

This is just like the traditional sandwich in every way except for the form of the meat.  Buy quality ground pork and mix it with minced onion, garlic, green onion, cilantro, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and a touch of sesame oil.  Shape the meat into burger sized patties.  The other sandwich ingredients can be arranged on the side... sliced cucumber, pickled juliennes of carrot (rice vinegar and salt), thinly sliced jalapenos, cilantro sprigs, shredded iceberg lettuce (not traditional, but it is a burger), and mayonnaise (kewpie if you've got it!) and soy sauce.  For the bread, I kept more with the traditional bread texture and went for Chicago hard rolls instead of softer burger buns.

This is really simple, and probably not totally post-worthy... but it is the beginning of summer, and if I had to submit a 30 minute meal for the season this dish would top the list.  Side items may consist of anything from a simple broth soup to an Asian themed slaw to green papaya salad and most definitely an ice cold Heineken or 33. 

The needle on the comfort meter is pegged out on this one.

Comments

[sygyzy]

It's amazing how often I am seeing banh mi sandwiches pop up on food/chef sites. Not to be nitpicky but if you are going for "like the traditional sandwich in every way except for the form of meat," you need homemade mayo, pate spread. Why not the crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, French roll?

[chezjjp]

Nice one chef! The bahn-mi is so sad though without sketchy "French influenced" cold cuts. Perhaps some thinly sliced homemade forcemeats are in order?

Strangely, I'm really fascinated by those kewpie bottles and their weird flexibility. I think Hellman's should just convert everything they've got to that format....

[chadzilla]

The sandwiches were just to represent an easy summer time meal. I just changed the meat because they are banh mi burgers.
I think many chefs are doing versions of banh mi because they are the epitomy of soul food even if one did not grow up eating them to gain a reference for them.
Let's also not forget that there are many versions of the Vietnamese sandwich. They do not all have pate or Vietnamese cold cuts with pig lips in them. The version I always go for is the basic barbequed pork rendition... although I did just eat one recently that had chicken, pork, and fried egg on it... that was total perfection... bliss on bread.

[John]

Kewpie lovers unite! Why is it I only have to go 3 miles to get jamon Iberico bellota or Waygu beef but have to drive 20 miles to buy Kewpie at the Asian grocery?

[foodplayer]

good food like this is always post-worthy

[Capt. Charlie]

Chad,
Those look good. We used to always stop out on Chef Hwy. at that Vietnamese bakery for extra greasy banh mi on our way back to Bay Saint Louis. Thanks for the memories! I wonder if that place is still open?
C.

[chezjjp]

There's this really amazing little place in NYC Chinatown that is called Saigon Bakery (somewhere on Mott St. around Canal) that is at the back of a jewelry shop and has spicy pork banh mi's for $3.50. They are a total must-have.

I like to use a tiny amount of Kewpie with togarashi in spicy tuna tartare -its a great binder!