Andrew Lekashman - One Sandwich - The Joy of Sandwiches (Page 113)

Bánh Mì Thịt Luộc Mắm Nêm

Bánh mì thịt luộc mắm nêm is the central-Vietnamese roll built on deliberately plain poached pork, soft cool belly under a fierce fermented-fish sauce: the Đà Nẵng rice-paper plate folded into a loaf.

Bánh Mì Thịt Kho

Vietnam's everyday bánh mì thịt kho: pork belly braised low in a burnt-sugar caramel and fish sauce, no eggs, no coconut water, spooned warm into a crackling baguette.

Bánh Mì Thịt Kho Trứng

In bánh mì thịt kho trứng, a duck egg spends hours in the pork's own caramel and fish sauce until the white turns tan and rubbery and the yolk goes dense all the way through.

Bánh Mì Thịt Kho Tàu

Bánh mì thịt kho tàu loads the Tết clay pot into a roll: pork belly and egg braised soft in caramel, coconut water and fish sauce, sweet-salty and sauce-heavy where the cold-cut bánh mì stays cool.

Bánh Mì Thịt Heo Mắm

Bánh mì thịt heo mắm hands the seasoning to mắm nêm, the pungent fermented-anchovy sauce let down with pineapple and chilli. Plain pork, a loud sauce, the central coast in a loaf.

Bánh Mì Thịt Băm

Bánh mì with thịt băm (minced/ground pork); stir-fried seasoned ground meat.

Bánh Mì Thịt Bằm Trứng

For bánh mì thịt bằm trứng, minced pork is beaten raw into egg and cooked as one patty, cheap, fast, and built for a cart with no cold-cut tray.

Bánh Mì Than Hoạt Tính

Activated charcoal turns the bánh mì loaf jet black and changes almost nothing else. The detox marketing is not real science, and a standard bánh mì is waiting inside the photogenic black shell.

Bánh Mì Tết

Tết fills a Vietnamese kitchen with rice cake, pork roll, and braised pork days before the holiday, so that week's bánh mì is built from what's already cooked, not one fixed recipe.