Banh Mi With Char Sui Pork

Photo: Rosemary Mullally

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons maltose or corn syrup

1 1/2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese rose wine (玫瑰露酒) or sake

3 dashs white pepper powder

3 drops red coloring (optional)

1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Preparation

Blend and heat in a sauce pan until slightly thickened and sticky.

Makes enough for 1 lb of pork. I used 2 small pork tenderloins(maybe a bit more than 2 lbs) and the jar was more than enough. If you make the same amount of pork that I made and use the recipe instead of the jar, you’d want to double the char siu sauce recipe.

After the sauce has cooled(if you are using a jar, ignore this), cut the pork into 1/2 lb pieces and put it and the sauce in a zip lock bag. Massage, making sure all surfaces are covered. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the pork from the refrigerator and “s” hook it. Pour the sauce from the bag into a small bowl and reserve. Position the oven rack at the very top of the oven, hook the pork pieces onto the rack(making sure they don’t touch each other) and position an aluminum foiled broiling pan underneath. Roast for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Remove pork from the rack by pushing the hooks off the rack with a knife tip or something. The pork will fall into the broiling pan. Remove the broiling pan and baste the meat with the reserved sauce using a paint brush or, as in my case, a wallpaper brush. The hooks should have cooled and you can easily hook the meat back onto the rack. Continue to roast for 20-25 minutes. Unhook from rack and remove from oven.

In imitation of the Vietnamese sandwich(Banh mi), I shredded some carrots, mixed them with vinegar and sugar, allowed the mixture to sit for 30 minutes then drained. I thinly sliced a cucumber lengthwise, then placed it in a bowl. I removed a few lettuce leaves and placed them also in a bowl. I had on hand a jar of garlic mayonnaise and a fresh baguette.