Bifana Bánh Mì (Portuguese × Vietnamese)
Garlic-and-wine bifana pork with a splash of fish sauce, packed into a crisp baguette with tangy pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, coriander and chilli.
Method
Cut the carrot and daikon into thin 4–5 cm matchsticks. In a bowl, stir the rice vinegar, sugar and salt with an equal amount of water until the sugar dissolves, then add the vegetables and pickle for while you carry on.
Add in this stepCarrot 60 gDaikon radish 60 gRice vinegar 3 tbspSugar 3 tspSalt (for the pickle) 1 pinch
Pound the pork between cling film to 3 mm. Mix the crushed garlic, wine, paprika, fish sauce and pepper, coat the pork well and marinate in the fridge for . The fish sauce does the job of the salt, so don't add any.
Add in this stepPork loin, thinly sliced 240 gGarlic cloves 3Dry white wine 80 mlSweet paprika 1 tspFish sauce 1½ tspBlack pepper 1 pinch
Lift out the pork and keep the marinade. Heat the oil in a 26 cm, 1 batch frying pan over medium-high heat, add the slices in a single layer and cook for in total, turning once, until browned on both sides. Move them to a plate.
Add in this stepNeutral oil 1½ tbsp
medium-high heatPour the marinade into the pan, scrape the bottom and boil over medium heat for until reduced by half. Return the pork and toss it in the sauce; you can cut it into bite-size strips if you like. The marinade touched raw pork, so it must boil well, and the meat should have no pink inside.
medium heatPreheat the oven to 200 °C. Split the baguette pieces along one side without cutting through, put them on the oven rack and bake for so the crust is crackly and the inside warm. Meanwhile slice the cucumber into long thin strips, slice the chilli and squeeze the pickles dry.
Add in this stepBaguette (20 cm piece) 2
ovenSpread the inside of each baguette with mayonnaise, then layer in cucumber, pork and the pickled carrot and daikon, and spoon over a little of the pan sauce. Top with coriander and chilli and eat straight away.
Add in this stepMayonnaise 2 tbspCucumber ½Fresh coriander (cilantro) 5 gBird's eye chilli 1
Cook's tip
Bánh mì lives or dies by a crisp roll, so bake it just before filling and squeeze the pickles well so the bread doesn't go soggy. For heat, stir a little chilli sauce into the mayonnaise.
Cooking it at camp
Make the pickles and marinate the pork at home and pack them in a cooler. At the campsite, cook the pork in a pan and crisp the baguette on a grate over coals or a burner instead of in the oven, turning it often.