Wingin’ It: Buffalo Bánh Mì as Bills face the Dolphins

Where there’s football, there’s food. There are many great options in the category of “traditional fare” but you might be in the mood for something different. Wingin’ It has you covered with a new Buffalo sauce-inspired recipe every week of the Buffalo Bills’ season. Get ready to win big in your kitchen as the Bills get ready for the Miami Dolphins!

We’ve faced Miami enough times now during this series where I won’t even pretend to be making a connection here. Multiple people suggested doing bánh mì back when I was asking for suggestions prior to the season and, doggone it, you’re gonna get a bánh mì recipe from me. You’re all lucky I remembered it too.

You think you have a reason to be pissed at the Coral update? Maybe you recall that it wiped out comment histories for existing articles. Comments that had all the ideas you dropped me (and that I forgot to put in a draft). Well, anyway, let’s celebrate the fact I remembered this week’s recipe suggestion!

Buffalo Bánh Mì

Serves: About 4
Active Time: 1 hour (with prep)
Total Time: 90 min

Ingredients

¹⁄₄ cup hot sauce
¹⁄₄ cup white distilled vinegar
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp garlic powder, plus 1 additional reserved for later use
1 tsp onion powder
5-6 radishes, thinly sliced*
¹⁄₄ pound carrots, also thinly sliced*
1 lb pork tenderloin, thinly sliced*
6 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
Baguette
Butter

Directions

1. Combine vinegar, hot sauce, all but 1 Tbsp garlic powder, and onion powder in a large bowl.
2. Toss in carrots and radishes; set aside and let sit at room temperature for at least 15 min.
3. Add sliced pork to large mixing bowl with Hoisin sauce and garlic powder; stir in. Allow pork mixture to sit for at least 15 min.
4. Heat oil in large sauté pan on MED/HIGH. Add pork to pan and stir immediately.
5. Toss pork periodically until done—about 6-7 min; set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cut baguette lengthwise, butter and toast until desired crispiness.
7. Assemble bánh mì: Add mustard or mayonnaise to lower half of baguette. Add pork and pickled veggies and now you have a sandwich.

Wingin’ It Tips

*Everything here is thinly sliced. The radishes should be translucent and the carrots should be right there too or at least close. The pork is a little harder to be able to see through, so just do your best there.

BONUS thing! Authenticity

When this was suggested I had to look it up. Now that you know I’ve never heard of this type of sandwich you can imagine that I have no idea how authentic my recipe is. I modified this based on the concept of making things more “Buffalo” but did try to retain some things that seemed “traditional.” Here are a few considerations as you make yours:

• Most recipes called for fish sauce in addition to the Hoisin sauce. There’s potential allergy risks for me for fish sauce so I didn’t use it. Also Hoisin sauce has a ton of flavor as is. Knock yourself out though and add a couple tablespoons in if you feel like it.
• Mayo was the condiment of choice on the bread I saw. I’m not a fan of mayo and don’t see where it would enhance the flavor profile here. I used Weber’s mustard. Between the mustard and horseradish notes, it paired very well with my Buffalo pickled veggies.
• Distilled white vinegar isn’t an item most recipes specifically ask for but I rolled the dice on it to keep the hot sauce flavor intact while allowing the pickling chemistry to work as well. As it turns out, even though we don’t use it often here in the U.S. for cooking, it is apparently commonly used in Vietnam to...drum roll...pickle veggies. I blindly stumbled into some authenticity on this one.

For those of you more familiar with this than I am, definitely weigh in on whether this is a “fun spin on a classic” or “blasphemous deviation.”