Now that I've done a number of banh mi book events, I know what it's like to make banh mi for a hungry crowd with high expectations. It's a lot of organization and fast work. But what if you're hosting a party? How can you efficiently make sandwiches for guests, keep calm and have a good time? I was thinking about this because leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, there's always lots of talk about how to make food for a crowd. My strategy is to do things so that takes minimal effort for me once guests arrive. Then I can be a really good hostess.
The Banh Mi Handbook has a number of variations listed on page 10, one of which is the giant banh mi. Use a full-size long loaf – like a baguette or ciabatta – to house your sandwich. After assembling, cut it into short sections.
The banh mi above features the Korean bulgogi beef and kimchi recipe on page 99. Yun Ho Rhee, a frequent visitor to this site and Seoul resident, contributed the recipe to the book. He also mentioned a Korean cheesesteak version, which I included in the recipe’s “Notes” section.
Since a melty, beefy, spicy sandwich seemed like it would pair nicely with hot wings, potato chips and other party-ish noshes, I made a giant version of Yun Ho’s Korean cheesesteak banh mi as a test run of sorts. My neighbor was happy with the resulting leftovers. Some tips I'm passing on to you...
When taking the giant banh mi route, consider cutting the full baguette in half to make sandwich assembly go faster. It’s easier to manipulate the shorter length of bread when the hinge remains. Once the finished banh mi is cut and on display, no one will know that you took the half-sie route.
Read the recipe and you’ll see that beef can be made up to 3 days in advance. Return it to room temperature before cutting and heating in a skillet. This is a large amount so use a skillet for warming the beef and melting the cheese and another for kimchi.
I opted for pre-sliced provolone for its texture and wonderful funk. To facilitate melting the cheese and keep things warm as you assemble the banh mi, put a lid on the skillets. I made a whole baguette, which is about 28 inches long and yielded about 8 portions.
A new idea I came up with is the banh mi wedge. Use a medium or large round loaf of bread instead of a roll or baguette. We bought a medium size sheepherder’s loaf and after my husband used some to eat with pate, I looked at the loaf and realized that its light crumb and crisp crust would be great for banh mi. Since few people could get their mouth around an 8-inch (20-cm) wide sandwich, my thought was to cut it in to wedges.
I didn’t hollow out the bottom but should have to create a nice trough to hold the ingredients: homemade plain mayo, Maggi seasoning sauce, Hanoi grilled chicken (page 57), lemongrass green tomato pickle, jalapeno, cucumber and cilantro. When the sandwich was cut into wedges, things at the edge easily fell out. Having the bottom cradle the filling was important. Arranging the ingredients in a flower petal-like manner ensured that each wedge got a nice distribution of ingredients. Every bite had a bit of everything.
Finally, I thought of the current trend for “toasts” – which I thought of as a twist on open-faced sandwiches. I made two banh mi toasts for lunch the other day on toasted slices of a French white loaf. Then I layered things on – more or less like how you’d make banh mi crostini. The difference is this: the vegetable garnishes, as needed, the cucumber, chile, and pickle were into smaller pieces. You don’t have to do that (I kept the radish and carrot pickle their regular size).
The green banh mi toast was comprised of: mashed avocado, smeared Laughing cow cheese, black pepper, English cucumber, jalapeno, cilantro and green tomato and lemongrass pickle.
The super colorful banh mi toast offered: homemade sriracha aioli, Maggi seasoning sauce, crispy fried egg, watermelon radish and carrot pickle, cucumber, jalapeno, and cilantro.
Picking up the toasts to eat was a little cumbersome so I ended up cutting each into smaller squares – a great way to make one sandwich feed many people. When making banh mi for Super Bowl Sunday or any large gathering, assemble a few large sandwiches then cut them up into small portions. You’ll have an instant party spread. Or, set up a banh mi bar and let guests go at it. (Hint: That’s even less work for you.) Enjoy.
Related posts:
- Banh Mi Party Tips
- Banh Mi Crostini Recipe
- Lemongrass Pork Sausage Banh Mi Recipe (great for advance prep)
- Spam Banh Mi Recipe (this would lay flat nicely in the giant or wedge, thinly slice or chop for the toast)
