So, we previously did a post on making the delicious (and semi-trendy) Vietnamese sandwiches called Báhn Mì. And now… we’re riffing on it. We found this recipe in an issue of Bon Appetit magazine. It is basically a meatloaf infused with asian flavors, served as an open-faced sandwich with Báhn Mì style condiments. Delicious!
Growing up, my family did not have meatloaf, and for most of my life I have been disturbed by it as a dish. It really isn’t much to look at, and the traditional ketchup glaze was …. not my thing. Since I’ve grown up though, I’ve certainly tasted many a tasty meatloaf… but this is the first one we’ve ever made.
A fairly diverse and varied group of ingredients. Plenty of chopping to do! We had to substitute ground turkey for ground pork, as the store was out of ground pork, but I’m glad we did. The end result was great, and I can pretend it was healthy!
Cubed, crustless, stale, Texas toast-style bread. I had no idea you could buy loaves sliced this way. They’re pretty great. This bread gets put into some chicken stock until its basically mush.
Chopped scallions and celery in the measuring cup, and more minced ginger than I’ve ever seen. Ginger is kind of woody and it can be a bit of a workout to mince it sufficiently, but it adds awesome flavor and aroma.
Bacon. Natch. All the chopped items from above, plus a massive amount of garlic get cooked in the bacon fat with the bacon. Apparently I forgot to photograph that.
Our mushy bread and our Asian-style glaze, which is made of rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, and hoisin sauce. I think of hoisin as kind of a chinese bbq sauce. It’s thick and sticky and good also.
The veggies and bacon, strained from excess grease, get mixed in with the bread. Also added is Chinese 5-Spice powder. Unlike Allspice, which is really just one spice, Chinese 5 spice has five spices in it. Typically it is a blend of fennel, cloves, and cinnamon, along with star anise and Szechuan peppercorns.
If you get into trying Chinese-style recipes, there’s an initial investment you sort of have to make into prepared ingredients that you probably think you’ll never use again… 5 spice powder, rice wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, black bean curd, oyster sauce, sriracha sauce… but if you like making these recipes, then having these on hand is a life saver, cause they’re in practically every one.
The meat, along with 2 eggs and a bit of hoisin glaze, gets mixed into everything else and put into a greased loaf pan to bake. Pretty standard meatloaf procedure, as I understand it. (That’s canned water, not beer.)
As I’ve said, on its own, meatloaf is not a pretty, pretty princess. I omitted the shot of it in the pan with all the fat that rendered out of it while it baked. But it is REALLY flavorful.
Now, part of what makes báhn mì unique is the blend of vegetables. This recipe calls for carrot, radish and cucumber. I think they picked cucumber and radish to try to emulate the more exotic daikon, which looks like a cucumber and is a type of radish… but that’s just a theory. Here they all are pickling in the fridge in vinegar, salt, sugar, and oil.
Slices of meatloaf get fried a bit on each side to brown up. Why on earth I photographed the non-browned side and not the other… I’m getting sloppy.
A little toasted bread, a little hoisin glaze, meatloaf, pickle, and cilantro.
Bangarang, that’s a super sandwich! It’s got some of the báhn mì flavor, but clearly the meatloaf is the star of this show.
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