Banh Mi (Vietnamese Pork Sandwich)
A shatteringly crisp baguette filled with savoury pork, quick-pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, coriander and chilli — the four-taste balance in a sandwich.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Serves
- 4 sandwiches
- Level
- Easy
By Maya Chen
Method
- 01
Make the pickle: dissolve 2 tbsp sugar and a pinch of salt in the rice vinegar with a splash of water, then add the carrot and daikon. Leave at least 20 minutes, longer if you can.
- 02
Marinate the pork in the fish sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, garlic and lemongrass for 15 minutes.
- 03
Sear or grill the pork over high heat until caramelised at the edges and just cooked through; rest briefly. (Skip if using cold cuts and pate.)
- 04
Warm the baguettes in a hot oven for a few minutes until the crust is crisp, then split lengthways, leaving a hinge.
- 05
Spread one cut side with mayonnaise and the other with pate.
- 06
Layer in the pork, then a generous tangle of drained pickled carrot and daikon.
- 07
Add cucumber strips, plenty of coriander and as much sliced chilli as you like.
- 08
Finish with a few drops of Maggi seasoning or soy, close the sandwich and press gently. Serve immediately while the crust is crisp.
The banh mi is the most delicious legacy of the French colonial period in Vietnam — a baguette reimagined through a local lens. The bread and the pate nod to France; everything else is unmistakably Vietnamese, and the whole thing runs on the same four-taste balance that defines the cuisine.
The bread and the pickle
Two things separate a great banh mi from an ordinary sandwich. The first is the bread: light, airy and crisp, with a crust that shatters rather than chews. Warming the baguette in a hot oven before filling restores that crackle even to a supermarket loaf. The second is the quick pickle of carrot and daikon, which brings the sour-sweet sharpness that cuts the richness of pork, pate and mayonnaise. Make it ahead and drain it well so the bread stays crisp.
Balancing the fill
Building the sandwich is an exercise in contrast: rich mayonnaise and pate against tangy pickle, savoury pork against cool cucumber, and fresh coriander and chilli lifting the whole thing. A final few drops of Maggi or soy add the last note of salt and umami. Keep the layers generous but balanced, close it, press gently, and eat straight away.
