mess of greens: southern food & hospitality: Mississippi Banh Mi

For our anniversary, Boone and I took a jaunt to New Orleans in May for a two night get-away. My parents' next-door neighbor and long-time friend has an apartment RIGHT IN the French Quarter, so we had a pretty lovely spot to drink, eat, and wander. This is, of course, exactly what we did. Our first stop was Dong Phuong Bakery, a place my dad had heard about from friends. This tiny spot had a sit-down noodle shop on one side, and a pick-up bakery and banh mi shop on the other. Oh, y'all. I'd never had a Banh mi sandwich before, so we ordered THREE different ones (before you judge, you take look at the menu and see how you'd choose just one.) There's nothing nothing nothing good to say about colonialism. However, I guess Banh mi is one example of a food fusion that was created in French-controlled Vietnam, AND is also an example of a sandwich that was basically MADE for life in New Orleans, home of one of the strongest (if not the strongest) Franco-fusion culture in our country. It turns out that there's a pretty large Vietnamese-American community in south Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and they are shaping and molding local flavors to their own tastes, and in return, influencing the local cuisine to reflect their presence (SO AWESOME). I fell in love with the sandwich, but unfortunately, my sweet little town doesn't have our own Vietnamese Bakery. (Here's hoping.) In the meantime, I started trying to figure out how to make my own at home.

But with WHAT? I had some vension from last deer season that REALLY needed to be cooked, so I started thinking about how to combine the two and Bingo! the Mississippi Banh Mi was born.

Y'all. This is is pretty darn delicious (and it's even better when you just happen to have a pound of ground vension on hand and are wondering what to do with it). Read on to see how YOU can make a Mississippi Banh Mi at home.

Mississippi Banh Mi

For the Vension & Marinade:

1 lb of ground venison (plain or mixed with pork/bacon)

4-5 Large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 small yellow onion, minced

1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 Tablespoon Brown sugar

1 Tablespoon Hoisin sauce

1 Tablespoon Vietnamese Beef Sauce (for Noodle soups)

1 teaspoon of Sesame Oil

1 Tablespoon of Dry Sherry or Rice vinegar

For the pickled carrot/radish slaw:

2-3 large carrot (or 10 or so baby carrots) Julienned

5 radishes, julienned

1/2 Cup white vinegar + 2 Tablespoons Dry Sherry OR Rice Vinegar

1 teaspoon course salt

For the Sandwich:

1/2 cucumber, julienned or (see below) spiralized

4 or 5 stalks of cilantro

2 large, light, french baguettes (I bought mine at Walmart, can you imagine? and they were GOOD.)

Hellman's Light Mayonnaise

Hot Sauce of your choice

Pickled Mustard Greens (see recipe here)

First, you'll want to make your Venison marinade by mixing all the ingredients together and letting it sit in the refrigerator for at least 1.5 hours, if not 2. Not everyone is accustomed to the strong taste of venision, so the marinade gives the meat a sweeter flavor (like pork, sweet is a flavor profile that goes VERY well with venison).