Indoor Mini BBQ Pork Banh Mi
Not an actual thing. I made this this week for a fun midnight lunch for Noah’s overnight shifts. Here’s the gathering of recipes I decided to try.
Originally, I wanted to make a soft fluffy bun for it, but a banh mi travels a little bit cleaner because you can fold it shut, and it holds in the moisture a bit better. And this sandwich is very much in the spirit of a lemongrass pork banh mi to me. Nothing sacrilegious to see here.
This is a four-parter! But most of the cooking can be done in one day.
The Pork:
Originally, I wanted to just do a simple salt & pepper on the pork, but I might as well use up the old memphis rub we had in the pantry (it’s very old). And at that point, I might as well slap a bbq sauce on it. We used to do ribs this way, a long time ago.
Make rub (this recipe probably yields more than you need):
10 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp kosher salt
3 Tbsp paprika (I think a smoked would the better choice)
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp white pepper
Rub about 1.5lb pork shoulder (with fat!) liberally with rub. Place on a rack on top of a sheet tray, and marinate overnight in the fridge.
Roast on the rack in an oven at 250F for about 8 hours.
It actually takes this long for the meat to break down! Even a very small pieces of shoulder :/
Occasionally add a splash of water to the bottom so the drippings don’t burn.
Remove pork, and rest at room temperature for at least 15 min and up to 2 hours.
Pour the pan juices into the BBQ sauce (below).
If you’re roasting a boneless piece of meat, it won’t have much liquid, but you can still scrape the unburnt fond into the bbq sauce with a little more liquid, and let it cook down together for a few minutes.
Return to a 500F oven to crisp up the outsides a little bit. (I skipped this because I had a very sugary rub and didn’t want it to burn.)
Rest until cool to touch, then shred.
To serve, toss with BBQ sauce and rewarm. I like to broil for 3-5 min, until bubbly and caramelized.
BBQ Sauce:
We’ve tried several bbq sauce recipes from the internet, including the versions from Franklin’s BBQ that are floating around. But I guess nothing really stuck out as the “it” recipe for us non-bbq connoisseurs. This time I tried Weeds & Sardine’s because it stuck out in my mind. At the end of the day, it’s all pretty much the same idea.
Sweat in a pot with some oil for several minutes:
1/4 onion, grated
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup ketchup
Add the rest of the ingredients and boil:
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
3 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp fish sauce (or worcestershire but I don’t have that)
1 tsp hot sauce
3/4 tsp chili powder (I used memphis rub)
1/2 tsp chili flake
1 T yellow mustard
Simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add the pan juices from roasting the pork, and simmer a few more minutes.
Chef Brian’s slaw:
Chef Brian makes grrrreat slaw. It was one of my favorite sides at Union Loafers when I worked there, but the version in the restaurant had a slightly creamy dressing. But it’s the same idea here. Salt&sugar cure, squeeze, and dress.
Shred finely:
500g cabbage
1 carrot
1 small red onion, rinsed under cold water
Toss all veg in a bowl with:
30g salt
25g sugar
Let sit on counter for 30 minutes to draw out the liquid.
Squeeze out most of the liquid. Or spin in a salad spinner, but I hate cleaning mine.
Pack it slightly into a tall container, and pickle in the fridge for 30 minutes with:
200g cider vin
100g sugar
pinch chili flake
Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar first, before pouring it over the veg.
After 30min, a light crunchy slaw is ready to go into your banh mi! (I left it overnight and it was okay).
Oh wait we gotta make the bread.
Vietnamese Baguette (no photos of my ugly baguettes rn):
I’ll just leave this recipe here but I don’t know if it’s me or the recipe, it’s just not the banh mi I’m searching for. I’ve made it a few times at home and at work with every fancy equipment imaginable, and it’s just not the baguette from the streets of Saigon for 10 cents a piece that I so often yearn for. It’s probably me though. I’ll keep trying this recipe until I find out more… These turn out more like hoagie rolls than a thin, crispy crackly skin enveloping a ball of clouds.
Combine in mixer:
350g slightly lukewarm water
500g bread flour
12g kosher salt
4g sugar
9g instant yeast
Mix with dough hook for 5 minutes, rest 5 minutes, then knead for 5 more minutes.
Proof in a warm place until proofed (“doubled”), about 1 hr (for me, 25min in the summer).
Shape into 6 equal loafs. (I don’t have anything to say about this, except look online for baguette shaping. I am really bad at this.)
Proof again in a warm and slightly damp environment. Dough will be about 2.5x the original size.
best results from one of those metal halfpipe proofer looking things. I don’t have that, so I used a tea towel and turned it onto a baking surface gently - these are too fragile I think? They deflate a little when I do that. I think I’ll try to make my own structures out of foil next time?
Dampen the surface of the baguette, and score with a sharp blade of some sort.
Bake at 475F for about 20-25 minutes, in a damp environment for the first 10.
Create a damp environment with a combination of water bath and spraying the oven with a spray bottle, then remove the water bath after 10 minutes.
Assemble!
You need an herb for a banh mi, obviously, so I used some sprigs of parsley. There’s always a creamy spread, so I used a dash of kewpie. Then the BBQ pork mixture. Some hot sauce wouldn’t be out of place here. A few jalapenos too, because it’s a banh mi after all!
Notes:
Kenji’s pork roast method; Weeds & Sardines BBQ sauce and slaw
This recipe is missing smokiness, but that’s the price we pay for staying indoors and using a toaster oven. Some smoke would definitely be welcome. It’s a little off-balance without it, but still very delicious with the slaw.
The verdict: A good sandwich. Too much work for a small portion. I’d make a lot of pork, and eat it several different ways. It doesn’t have to be BBQ.