All that matters for this contest is that you incorporate some form of pork (cured, roasted, braised, smoked, barbecued, whatever) into a sandwich. Other than that, the details are up to you!
These are not your usual contests. We have a slightly nutty system but it works. Together, the Food52 community has created two cookbooks this way -- there’s no stopping us now. Read about it
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Yes, a lot of ingredients, and all of them worth it. Can you guess which ingredient we forgot to include?
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This is an unconventional banh mi in that it calls for pork tenderloin rather than for fatty ground pork.
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After slicing it you pound it flat between sheets of plastic wrap. A stress-reliever!
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Meanwhile, Merrill makes pickled carrots and radishes for crunch and tang.
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This is a very simple sweet pickle, made with cider vinegar, sugar, salt and water. No heating, just a little time to sit and pickle.
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Amanda makes the pork marinade with soy sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, maple syrup, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, scallions, and black pepper.
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Pretty right? Sarah said it reminded her of a Klimt painting.
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So much for Klimt! Klimt meets Victoria Reynolds?
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After marinating, the pork gets caramelized in a skillet.
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We discuss the size of bread to use.
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Time to assemble -- first mayo, then pate and lettuce.
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A layer of pork.
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Then the feisty ingredients: pickled radishes and carrots, and sliced jalapeno. Oops! Forgot the cilantro. But please don't when you make it -- the cilantro brightens up all the flavors.
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Usually we shun peeling the likes of peaches, tomatoes and nectarines, but in this case it makes for especially delicate slices of fruit.
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Amanda pulled out her nifty serrated peeler, which easily catches hold of the delicate skin and strips it away.
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The nectarine slices should be thin, but not so thin that they fall apart while browning.
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Since we didn't have a panini press, we used a nonstick pan slicked with a bit of vegetable oil for this step.
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All it takes is about 30 seconds on each side to achieve some lovely caramelization.
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Great recipe detail alert! RaquelG has you butter the cut side of the bread, which will become the outside of the sandwich -- making for a really crispy panino.
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Simple components, winning combination: first fontina (thinly sliced), followed by prosciutto and several nectarine slices.
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A kitchen helper looks on as her mother adds black pepper and arugula and prepares to close up the sandwich.
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Our flattening technique works surprisingly well. (We tested this the first time around with a panini press, which is a bit lower maintenance -- but not much!)
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Flip the sandwich carefully, or you'll lose the innards.
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