Vietnamese Chicken Liver Pâté and Chả Lụa for Bánh Mì

The two cold cuts that make a bánh mì thịt nguội: a smooth chicken-liver pâté seasoned with five-spice and fish sauce, and chả lụa, a pork sausage wrapped in banana leaf and boiled. Enough for 8 sandwiches.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Pâtés and Terrines section and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

Pâté

• 8 ounces chicken livers, cleaned
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 8 black peppercorns
• 1 slice crustless soft white bread, torn (⅔ cup)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ cup (2 ounces) finely chopped shallot
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cognac or brandy
• ½ teaspoon five-spice powder
• ½ teaspoon fish sauce
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Chả lụa

• 2 tablespoons plus 1½ teaspoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 pound fatty (85% lean) ground pork, chilled
• 2 pieces banana leaf, 6 × 10 inches
• 2 pieces of foil, for wrapping the logs

Per sandwich

• 1 Vietnamese-style baguette, 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons pâté, ½ teaspoon Maggi seasoning, 10 slices chả lụa, ¼ cup đồ chua (pickled carrot and daikon), 5 chile slices, 6 cucumber slices, ¼ cup cilantro

Directions

Pâté

1. Simmer the livers in the stock with the bay leaf and peppercorns until just cooked, 5–6 minutes (see the safety note).
2. Put the livers and bread in a food processor with ⅓ cup of the strained liquid; keep the rest.
3. Brown the shallot lightly in the butter, 4–6 minutes. Off the heat, add the garlic and cognac.
4. Purée everything with the five-spice, fish sauce, salt and pepper, loosening with more liquid if needed; it firms as it rests. Keeps 1 week refrigerated.

Chả lụa

5. Pulse the fish sauce, oil, tapioca starch, baking powder, sugar and water with the pork until it gathers into a ball. Rest 5 minutes, then process to a smooth pink paste, about 2 minutes.
6. Form two 6½-inch logs. Roll each in banana leaf, then foil, and tie, then boil gently 25 minutes, chill and slice.

Assemble

7. Split and butter each roll. Spread with pâté, season with Maggi, and fill with chả lụa, đồ chua, chile, cucumber and cilantro.

Notes

Source Adapted from Saveur Editors, “Classic Sausage and Pâté Bánh Mì Sandwiches,” Saveur (2019). The source prints the fish sauce as “2 bsp.” — read here as 2 tablespoons.

Chicken liver as a stand-in The Saveur headnote says this quick pâté replaces “a time-consuming old-fashioned loaf of pork liver”; the traditional Vietnamese pa tê is a baked pork-liver loaf.

Food safety: chicken livers Chicken liver pâté is the most documented Campylobacter vehicle in restaurant food: of 28 US chicken-liver outbreaks in 2000–2016, 24 were blended dishes such as pâté and 26 involved undercooking (Lanier et al., Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 2018). Pink is not a reliable test in either direction. USDA and CDC say 165 °F (74 °C); Washington State University found that holding livers at 70–73.9 °C (158–165 °F) for 101 down to 26 seconds is safe for Salmonella and still leaves them tender and faintly pink (Poult. Sci. 2021). A probe thermometer is the only way to have both. For this recipe: the source allows “a little pink”; take the livers to 70 °C (158 °F).

Also in the collection The collection’s Đồ Chua and Bánh Mì Thịt (Vietnamese Pork Sandwich).

The Pâtés and Terrines section’s Around the World page (/pates-and-terrines/around-the-world/) covers the history and technique behind this dish.

The photo The photograph shows a pâté-and-chả bánh mì from a shop in Nagoya, not this recipe.