#39 – BANH MI SAUSAGE at THE MEAT HOOK

Once again Time Out New York released their Top 100 Dishes of the year and once again, I’m going to eat my way through every one. And no price point or subway delay will stop me. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100.

Nobody told me I’d have to cook on this Time Out adventure. I thought it was all about eating. That’s why I signed up. And while I think I probably have talent as a cook, I have no technique and very little experience. So I don’t want the fate of one of the 100 dishes to rest on my lack of culinary skills.

The Meat Hook is an awesome little butcher and provisions shops in Williamsburg. The meat counter is very exciting, with plenty of animal parts, beautiful red beef cuts, and a rotating array of artisanal sausages. The Banh Mi sausage is not something they always have in stock, so I had called a handful of times in the past before I got an affirmation that they were selling it.

There it was – the sausage that was supposed to fool you into thinking you were eating a Vietnamese sandwich. I asked the counter guy how he recommended preparing it and I got a bit of an elitist attitude back. But I gleaned enough instructions to decide I would cook it in a pan with some oil at low temperature.

When I got home and pulled out all my pots and pans, I attempted to do just that. But here my experiment went awry because I couldn’t quite figure out when the sausage was fully cooked. I didn’t want to eat raw pork and I also didn’t want to cut it open and ruin the beautiful presentation. See, here is where my lack of technique really shows through.

I eventually got it nicely crisp and browned on the outside, but it was still soft and fleshy to the touch. I think it was fully cooked, but each bite was rather unpleasant with soft mushy fat. I may have to do this one over.

Regardless, I wouldn’t think that my ineptness at pan frying would have ruined the flavor. And I didn’t care for the flavor. It didn’t taste much like a banh mi sandwich except for maybe some cilantro flavor. Otherwise, it had a rather unctuous pork flavor. Where was the crunch from the carrots? The spice from the jalapeños? The bite from the pickles?

Is it really possible that I didn’t cook it long enough (or too long) and I killed all the flavor? I think I may have to start calling The Meat Hook to see when it’s back in their meat window. I just might have to practice on a few other sausages before then.

Would The Meat Hook’s Banh Mi Sausage make my Top 100 of the year? Maybe if they cooked it it would, but with my lack of confidence in the kitchen, I turned this delicious sounding concoction into a 5 out of 10. Or maybe I’m just using myself as an excuse.