Banh Mi has been a favorite in our house ever since I first discovered Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. I make her carrot and daikon pickle, which is simple and so addictive! I have also made her char siu, as well as other recipes for that staple. I use a little Maggi in mayo for the spread, the usual sliced cukes, sprigs of cilantro and jalapeños to taste. If I don't have any fresh hot peppers I just squirt in some Sriracha.
For me, the whole idea of a sandwich is to make life a bit easier, so I don't make my own bread. My favorite bread is simply a good baguette. That's a bit crustier than the traditional roll, but there are such great baguettes here in the Bay Area to me it's a no-brainer. I can't imagine that a good baguette would stop anyone from eating a banh mi. Someone (maybe Andrea?) suggests using the Mexican bolillos, which are fresh and easily available if you have a big Hispanic market near by.
For the pate I rely on a very standard rather smooth chicken liver pate from my local fine foods market. Just not gonna make my own pate. I've used all kinds of meat besides char siu: grilled shrimp, bbq chicken, roast duck purchased in Chinatown. Once I made it with spicy Asian flavored pork butt, really pulled pork. All good! Most recently I used left over home made meatloaf and no pate and it was great. I have also used a coarse country-style pork pate and no other pate or meat, and that works too. The terrific thing about banh mi sandwiches is how versatile they are. If I could only take one kind of sandwich to a desert island, this would be it.
