My friend Irene Khin Wong, the owner of Saffron 59 in New York City, inspired this banh mi experiment. A while back, Irene instagrammed a photo of an afternoon tea party that her company had catered for a client. I spotted a pile of lovely tea sandwiches, my favorite part of afternoon tea. We had a little Instagram exchange about banh mi tea sandwiches and that got me thinking: How would it work out? What kind of bread should I use? How would I construct such a small banh mi?
I thought about banh mi tea sandwiches for a while then headed to my kitchen to tinker. Here are a few tips on how I approached making delightful little sandwich bites.
Bread. That was the first consideration. No baguette-type roll would work. I’ve used sliced bread for banh mi before (see the photo on page 109 of The Banh Mi Handbook for a sample idea). To keep the sandwiches together after they’re cut, a relatively dense sliced loaf was needed. It could not be too thick either. So I went to a local bakery that sold white loaves of sandwich bread. I found what was called a “Francese” loaf, which I turned out to be a white bread with a light crisp crust and even, tender crumb – important because I didn’t want big holes in the cutie sandwiches. That would be no bueno.
A Francese loaf is the Italian take on French bread. It usually looks like a ciabatta but at the Buttery, the Francese dough is baked free-form as well as into a loaf pan for sandwiches.
The filling had to be somewhat “glued” together in that it needed to lay flat and hold its shape once cut into small sandwiches. I went with a simple vegetarian filling for my experiment: the edamame pate on page 48. It’s a perky green and had great flavor. I had some fuchsia colored daikon and carrot pickle made from watermelon radishes to liven things up further. Tea sandwiches need to look attractive. I imagined that banh mi tea sandwich eaters would have spicy personalities so that gave me permission to employ jalapeno and homemade sriracha aioli. To avoid too much heat, I used homemade plain mayo too. Then there was the cucumber and cilantro as well.
I lightly toasted the bread because I didn’t want it so crispy that it would fall apart once cut.
I first laid down the usual suspects, the mayonnaise, then a bit of Maggi Seasoning sauce. After the edamame pate was lavished on – all the way to the edges, I added the pickle. The pickle was chopped into large dice to disperse it evenly and ensure that it would stick to the pate. (There is a lot of truth in approaching sandwiches like a construction or building project.)
The chile and cucumber were sliced thinner than usual and I arranged them in quadrants to ensure that each portion would get an even amount. Similarly, note how the cilantro was chopped and arranged. No one wants to floss with a sprig of cilantro, especially when nibbling on tea sandwiches. Then I closed everything up and cut the sandwiches into triangles. You could cut squares but I wanted to see if they'd hold up in a trickier shape.
Arrange them crust side down in a row like this to show off the colors; stack a couple on one side like bookends to prevent wobbling. Or, offer your sandwiches as short stacks like at the top; it's easier to manage and keep steady.
Pretty sandwiches sometimes look better than they taste. My banh mi tea sandwiches tasted great. I had a lot so I brought them over to our neighbor Dan, a formidable looking former Navy man. He immediately tried one in a couple of bites and said, “Boy these have a little heat to them. I like it.”
You could swap out the edamame pate with liver pate. Any item from the charcuterie chapter of The Banh Mi Handbook would work; thinly slice when needed.
For striking color and flavor try the sardines in tomato sauce on page 76. The herbed salmon cakes on page 79 would be ultra pretty with their orange color. For a vegetarian yellow take, try the coconut curry tofu on page 108. Slice them on the diagonal into thin pieces.
If tea is not your thing, serve the sandwiches with bubbly. Cocktails (try the gingery cocktail from the recent newsletter) or beer would work too but that would be late afternoon or evening fare. Whatever direction you take, you’ll make dainty sandwiches that pack a punch.
Thanks Irene and Saffon 59 for seeding this delightful small bite.
