Rory’s Corned Beef and Cabbage Banh Mi

I love getting cooking tips from strangers. Last year after Saint Patrick’s Day, a guy waiting alongside me at the Whole Foods butcher counter told me that he waits until after Saint Patty’s to buy corned beef. The price goes down so I buy a bunch to really enjoy it, he said. He looked like he was in his early 30s and more of a dude than someone who monitored prices at the Whole Foods butcher counter.

I kept his tip in my back pocket and passed on the corned beef for March 17. My husband Rory was okay with it, despite his fondness for wearing a shamrock lapel pin and other greenish clothes on St. Patty's Day. Rory's surname is O'Brien. His only caveat was that I make him a corned beef sandwich. Can I make a Viet-Irish banh mi? He agreed. 

The corned beef price at Whole Foods didn't change on March 18.  I was crestfallen and worried that we'd totally lost out because I was trying to save money. Finally on Friday, March 20, the price dropped from around $8.99 to $5.49 per pound. I scored a nearly 2-pound piece made from the brisket. 

I brought home the discounted corned beef and Rory’s eyes lit up. It’d been so long since I made corned beef and I forgot what we were supposed to do. Any tricks? We checked James Beard’s American Cookery (a favorite classic reference book) and basically we just needed to boil the beef. I used a pressure cooker on high pressure for 45 minutes, then let it naturally cool. Perfection. We ate some for dinner and saved leftovers for sandwiches. 

Rory suggested thin slices so I chilled the cooked beef overnight to make cutting it easier. Meanwhile, I made my citrusy red cabbage banh mi pickle (it’s in the banh mi cookbook on page 34) but used green cabbage instead for an Irish-Vietnamese thing. The recipe uses brown sugar for the brine, which made the cabbage look like it was seasoned by fish sauce, Rory said. I assured him that it hadn't been. Here's a comparison:

Out of curiosity, I made a batch of pickle with regular white sugar and it turned the cabbage nearly white. Fascinating. The flavor was a tad more complex with the brown sugar in the brine. The cabbage pickle experiment over the weekend made it so Rory didn’t get his corned beef and cabbage banh mi for several days. He patiently waited.

Finally, everything was ready and I packed him his special request banh mi for lunch. This is what I did:

Thinly sliced the corned beef, then lightly seared it. It was cooled before I assembled the sandwich.

The roll was refreshed to a crisp, then lined with mayonnaise, Maggi seasoning sauce. Then I added the corned beef. Not wanting my husband to fumble with the cilantro, I put it into the bread before closing it up.

Whenever I make banh mi for a road trip, picnic, or Rory’s lunch, the vegetables get packed separately. That prevents things from getting soggy. Given that, I kept the pickle separate from the cucumber and chile. If I pack the items in little plastic containers, I can layer them nicely.

I wrapped the banh mi in parchment and secured it closed with a light rubber band. At his desk, Rory assembled the sandwich. 

When Rory got home from work, he reported this: “The corned beef and cabbage banh mi was a hit with everyone!”

I looked at him quizzically, wondering if he shared his lunch with colleagues.

“It was just me!” he laughed. “Do we have more corned beef for another lunch?”

Yes we do.

Then he added, “When you’re out of corned beef, can you make a pastrami banh mi?" 

Of course. There's nothing better than cooking for someone you  love.