For those of you in the DC area:

Best Banh Mi:

Arugula Files: Is the Banh Mi the new Cupcake? (Plus the Best Banh Mi in the DC area)

Bánh Mì Times Three

I think we've confirmed the obvious: you just can't screw up the bánh mí sandwich.

There's the Meatball Bánh Mì, the first one we tried.

Then there's the more traditional pan-fried pork loin version, which is always a crowd favorite.

Wrapping up the trilogy is the grilled bánh mí burger.

This one might be the most family and party friendly version, since you can make the pork burgers ahead of time and there's minimal clean-up.

Burgers (makes 4-6)
1.5 pounds ground pork
a couple of scallions, chopped
1-2 Tbs minced ginger or 1 Tbs powdered ginger
2 Tbs sherry
1 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs Sriracha
1 Tbs fish sauce (optional)
dash of salt
olive oil

+ French or hoagie rolls

Gently mix all ingredients except for the olive oil in a large bowl, then shape into patties the same size as your buns. Use a fork to smash them down into nice rectangles. (And using foil or waxed paper on your counter or cutting block will save some clean up.) After you make your patties, spray both sides with olive oil. If you're ready to grill, then fire them up just like you'd do a hamburger. Or, store them in tupperware or plastic wrap until everything else is ready.

Lightly toast the rolls on the grill right before serving.


Pickled Veggie Slaw
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs salt
1 tsp Sriracha
1 4-inch chunk of daikon, grated or sliced into strips
1/2 cup sliced or grated carrots
1 cup cucumbers, thinly sliced (seeded if necessary)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt until everything is dissolved. Add the Sriracha, then drizzle over the vegetables in an air-tight bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Final Assembly
Prepare a 4:1 mayonnaise to Sriracha mixture (enough for your rolls), then add a dash of lime juice. Grill the patties, toast the rolls, spread on the mayo mix, and then fill your buns with the burgers and slaw. Extra cilantro on top is nice. And some recipes call for one slice of deli ham per bun.

Leftovers? Thinly slice the left over burgers and mix with the slaw, then serve in a tortilla as a wrap.

Braising Hell

Even the most die-hard vegan has to admit, you drive by a rib shack and the place just smells good. Might not be your cup of tea to actually eat, but the smell is like a slap of Vitalis, a cup of coffee, a good nap, and a favorite book all wrapped up in one. It's something familiar yet not boring, a little bit of everything but not too much of anything.

(Carnitas burrito, guac, and green salad with Mexican-ish dressing)

But smoking ribs is a lot of work. The really good joints, they start working 6-8 hours before the first meal is to be served. You have to get the right wood and charcoal mix, get the smokers up and running, prep your meat with a mop, rub, or sauce, and then let the smoke and time do their thing.

So it's always cool when you find a simpler way to do something that gets the job done almost as well. And I've had a ton of luck with this recipe from the folks at Spilled Milk, the foodie version of Car Talk.

(The entire Spilled Milk braising collection: braised scallions, Molly Stevens' braised cabbage, and carnitas.)

Braising seems like a winter way to cook. Slow cooking, aromatic, fills the house with warmth. But I'm not going to cut it out of the schedule just because the Weber is topped off and the sun is raining down its UVAs and Vitamin D on us. Because the Spilled Milk recipe for carnitas keeps turning out shredded pork as good as the places that pass out handi-wipes by the bucket.

We've made this three times now, with very slight changes to their recipe each time, and it's fool-proof, bomb-proof, and oh so versatile each time.

And while it's not exactly the same thing as good ol' barbecue, you do get a pile of tender pork that rivals the pulled pork from the most traditional of smokehouses.

The basic recipe is easy. Three pounds of pig (pork shoulder or country style ribs) and an onion go into the pot, all chopped. Then you pour in a mixture of one cup of chicken broth, 1/4 cup of tequila, and a few tablespoons of lime juice. Turn up to high until the liquid boils, then turn down to simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 hours. Right before you're ready to serve it, you can turn up the heat to evaporate the rest of the liquid.


The only thing I'd suggest is to do the whole thing in a Dutch oven. They called for braising the pig in a sauce pan, then moving everything to a skillet to slightly brown the meat before serving. If you use a Dutch oven, you can do the whole thing in one pot. Plus, let's say you've cooked the pig for two hours, but everyone is going to bet late for dinner. You don't want the carnitas to dry out yet, and you don't want to scoop it up and put it in the fridge. With the Dutch oven, you an turn the stove down to as low as it will go, cover it, and let it self-baste until you're ready to brown it up. Yet another example of how the Dutch oven rocks.

(Carnitas salad, cabbage, and scallions.)

The Spilled Milk recipe is for a carnitas salad, which I highly recommend. Your pork meat goes over chopped cabbage, and gets a dressing of hot sauce and lime juice.





Unless you're feeding the entire high school football team, you're going to have leftovers, and the carnitas is great in a quick burrito, taco, or sandwich. Here we mixed mayo with homemade salsa on a roll, with the carnitas, cabbage, and lettuce.




Like I said, we've made this three times now, as such:
1. No change to their recipe. The meat is tender and succulent, and the tequila gives it a brightness that goes well with the cabbage in the salad.
2. Left out the tequila and used either a Vidalia or Texas Sweet onion instead of a plain yellow. This produced a mellower carnitas, still very tender, with a stronger pork flavor.

(Left: braised carnitas with triple sec and hot sauce.)

3. The third time, I'm embarrassed to admit, we had failed to replace our vanquished bottle of tequila, so I intended to make it just like #2. But for whatever reason, at the last minute I poured a splash (2-3 Tbs) of triple sec over the pig. No idea why. Just did it. And then, because we were going straight to the burrito/taco phase and skipping the cabbage salad phase, I added the hot sauce to the liquid as it braised. Maybe 2-3 tablespoons of Texas Pete. I have no idea what the chemical formula for the reaction between triple sec and Texas Pete is, but the resulting carnitas had a tangy, slightly sweet BBQ flavor.

For the burritos or soft tacos, we warmed the tortillas in the oven, added the carnitas, some chopped cabbage, guac and salsa. Served it up with a side salad with a home-made version of a Mexican dressing (or, at least, what this haole druid thinks a Mexican salad dressing would taste).




Braised Carnitas

Around 3 pounds of pork shoulder or country style ribs
1 onion, diced
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup tequila (blanco)
Lime juice, from one lime or 2 Tbs

Carnitas Salad Dressing
Hot sauce (Frank's or Texas Pete) + lime juice (about a 3:1 mix works for me, but you'll need to play with that.)

Mexican Salad Dressing
1:1 ratio of mayonnaise to sour cream
splash of milk
splash of lime juice
dash of cumin, ancho chile powder (or other chile powder), Mexican oregano
(optional: finely chopped fresh cilantro)
Only make enough for the number of servings that you need, pour over a mixed green salad.




Leftovers

Bánh Mì the second time around

The website is called The Battle of the Bánh Mì, which is obviously a bad pun ("bad pun" being redundant, of course). But there's more to the name than just the pun. The word "battle" is not insignificant, because it is a battle of the taste buds to see which of the several thousand variations of this simple sandwich is the best.

Why all the love for a simple sandwich? The Greasy Skillet calls it "a sandwich I could marry." M. says it's the best sandwich she's ever had, which is high praise, given that we live down the road from the Choice City Deli, home of maybe the biggest and best Reuben you'll ever find (centered around a foot-high pile of bison pastrami). One the one hand, it is just a sandwich. But on the other ... oh what a sandwich it is.

Take your classic American BBQ, with tangy sauce on succulent meat, accented with sour pickles or relish ... and then put that on steroids. That's the bánh mì for you. No, that's not quite right, because this isn't an over-powering meal. Just a near perfect combination of flavors that you'll never get tired of trying.

Last month we made our first excursion into bánh mì territory, trying out a meatball version, using this Jeanne Thiel Kelley recipe. That sandwich was so good, I really doubted that there was any room for improvement. But making the grilled pork version has convinced me that there can't possibly be a wrong way to make this sandwich. Both the meatball and grilled pork versions called for fish sauce, which I omitted. Instead, I added a couple of squirts of Sriracha to the marinade, which brightened it up without scaring off my wife's western Nebraska sensibilities.

I followed a different recipe for pickling the veggies, and both ways came out great. My only recommendation would be to follow the one that you think is easiest in terms of containers and storage space. The first time, I used nothing but vinegar, sugar, and salt. The second version called for a warm water solution with a little bit less vinegar, a little bit less sugar, and the same amount of salt. It simply comes down to, would you rather save a couple of cents using less of the ingredients if it means the extra step of filling a container with water? It's really a toss up.

My recommendation: give this version a shot, and then look around at The Battle of the Bánh Mì and see which direction you can take it.

Pork:

Pork chops, loin, or shoulder works. I used a one pound pork loin, marinaded overnight in the following. An hour or so before cooking, I sliced the pork into super-thin medallions and returned it to the marinade. Then I pan-fried it with a light spray of olive oil.


2 tsp brown sugar (white sugar is fine)
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 of an onion or 1-2 shallots, chopped fine
1/3 - 1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs sesame seed oil
fresh ground pepper
a shot or two of Sriracha

Marinate in an non-reactive container for at least one hour, up to 24 hours before cooking.

I sliced the pork super thin and only needed 1-2 minutes per side on medium high heat. You can do this ahead of time and then warm it up in the oven before assembling your sandwich, or make this the last step before everyone sits down to eat, or a combination like we did: grill the meat, transfer to a baking sheet and cover and keep in the oven until chow time.


Pickled veggies: Lots of options here.

One daikon block, peeled and chopped into matchsticks
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into matchsticks
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into strips

2-3 cups warm water, depending on the size of your container

3 Tbs vinegar (rice, cider, white wine, etc)

2-3 Tbs sugar (less if you like sour pickles, more if you like sweet ... duh!)

2 Tbs sea or kosher salt


Measure cold water and nuke it for a minute or two. (Never cook with hot water from the tap ... picks up too many contaminants along the way.) Add the sugar and salt and stir until dissolved, then add the vinegar. Pour over the veggies in an air-tight container and store for at least an hour (I did mine overnight again).

Sandwich time!

High quality rolls, warmed in the oven for a few minutes.

Mix 2 Tbs mayo with a shot or two of Sriracha, mix, and spread on the bread.

Layer your meat and pickled veggies. Sprinkle with finely chopped cilantro. Eat and enjoy!

For our side dish, we made this wonderful salad from Molly Wizenberg at Bon Appètit. A very simple combination of celery root, fennel, and apple (she used Gala, but I'm addicted to HoneyCrisps), matchsticked, with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette. On paper, it sounds like way too much going on at once, but the earthy yet crisp and clean salad went perfectly with the tangy / spicy / sour sandwiches.

Hope you give this a shot, either as a pair or by themselves.

Meatball Bành Mì

Assembled banh mi: hot chili mayo (mix 1/2 cup mayo with 1-2 Tbs Srirachi) on a French bread roll, meatballs, and pickled veggies, sprinkled with cilantro.

Bành Mì is a Vietnamese baguette made of rice and wheat flour. Recently, though, it has come to mean a particular family of sandwiches using these rolls. There are no hard and fast rules, but typically it features savory pork filling surrounded by pickled vegetables and a spicy sauce. And the beauty of the sandwich is that it's really hard to screw it up. Pork and pickles just go together, and from there it's just a matter of how hot you want to go.

Pickling the veggies in the vinegar/sugar/salt brine; pork mix in 1 inch meatballs

Sriracha is often the not-so-secret ingredient to these sandwiches. Sriracha was named "ingredient of the year" by Bon Appetit, and it seems to be one of the few hot sauces that everyone can agree on. If you like it hot, use it full strength and use a lot of it. Not so hot, just water it down with ketchup, mayonnaise, soy sauce or olive oil, or whatever else your recipe calls for.

This version calls for pork meatballs, but you can find a lot of other options at the definitive Bành Mì reference site, The Battle of the Bành Mì.

http://battleofthebanhmi.com/

Two things to make ahead of time:

1. Chili Sauce Mayo: Mix about 1/2 cup mayo with a couple or three squirts of Sriracha or other hot chili sauce. Wait, I take that back ... you have to use Sriracha. I mean, you could use something else, but why? You can also add some chopped green onions, minced garlic, or minced ginger, but try it with just the Sriracha first.

2 cups grated or julienned carrots; 2 cups grated or julienned daikon; 1/4 cup rice vinegar; 1/4 cup sugar; 1 tsp sea salt or kosher salt.

2. Pickled veggies. Mix together 1-2 cups of julienned or coarsely grated carrots, an equal amount of daikon (Japanese white radish), and maybe some red peppers if you have them. In a small measuring cup, mix 1/4 cup rice vinegar with 1/4 sugar, and 1 tsp sea or kosher salt, and stir until everything is dissolved. Pour the pickling solution over the veggies and let stand for at least an hour, or even overnight.

Meatballs:


1 pound ground pork; 1/4 cup chopped basil (fresh) or 1-2 tbs dried basil; 3-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2-3 green onions, minced; 1 Tbs fish sauce (optional); 1-2 Tbs Srirachi (rooster sauce); 1 Tbs sugar; 2 tsp corn starch; 1 tsp each salt and pepper.

1 pound ground pork; 1/4 cup chopped basil (fresh) or 1-2 tbs dried basil; 3-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2-3 green onions, minced; 1 Tbs fish sauce (optional); 1-2 Tbs Srirachi (rooster sauce); 1 Tbs sugar; 2 tsp corn starch; 1 tsp each salt and pepper

Mix it all in a large bowl and roll into 1 inch balls. Keeping your hands wet will make that a little bit easier, so you might want a bowl of water nearby. You can also make these the day before, and just store in an airtight container.

Browning the meatballs in sesame oil

Set your oven to 275º and heat a large skillet (non-stick) with a few tablespoons of sesame oil. Cook the meatballs in portions, depending on the size of your skillet, turning frequently and browning all sides. After about 10 minutes, move to a large, heavy duty baking sheet and move to the oven while you do the rest of the meatballs. When the last batch is done, cook for another 10-15 minutes and then turn off the oven while you prep everything else.

Dinner Time:

Spread the chili-mayo on your roll, fill it with meatballs, and stuff with the pickled veggies. Sprinkle a bit of fresh chopped cilantro on your sandwich and enjoy.

Serving suggestion: Side salad of romaine, red peppers, and cukes with your choice of Asian dressings. We used this one:
Simmer 1/3 cup rice vinegar with 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp salt, then add 1-2 tsp minced garlic and ginger. After simmering, strain out the solids. Cool, then add 1/4 sesame oil and 3/4 cup olive oil

Dressing for the salad: simmer 1/3 cup rice vinegar with 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp salt, then add 1-2 tsp minced garlic and ginger. After simmering, strain out the solids. Cool, then add 1/4 sesame oil and 3/4 cup olive oil