How To Make Jamie Bissonnette Vietnamese Bologna | Tasting Table Reci[e

Lunch meat takes a spin through Saigon

Charcuterie master Jamie Bissonnette of Toro and Copa infuses classic Vietnamese flavors such as fish sauce, palm sugar and Thai bird chiles to Italian bologna. The result is a spicy, salty sausage that may become your new sandwich fixture.

To learn more, read "A Little Cure-ious."

Recipe adapted from "The New Charcuterie Cookbook" by Jamie Bissonette

Vietnamese Bologna
1 from 29 ratings
Make Jamie Bissonette Vietnamese Bologna. 
Prep Time
30
minutes
Cook Time
45
minutes
Servings
2
one-pound pieces of bologna
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds pork shoulder, deboned and diced into ½-inch cubes, chilled in the freezer for 2 hours
  • ½ pound pork fatback, diced into ½-inch cubes, chilled in the freezer for 2 hours
  • 5 ounces ice cubes
  • 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) palm sugar, grated
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1½ teaspoons black peppercorns, toasted
  • 1 tablespoon pink curing salt No.1
  • 2 red Thai bird chiles, seeded and minced into a paste
  • ⅓ cup fish sauce
  • 2 banana leaves, cut into 10- x 30-inch rectangles
Directions
  1. Combine the meat and the fatback together in a grinder that has been set up with the small (⅛-inch) plate. Grind the meat into a bowl set over ice. Add ⅓ of the ice to the meat and fat and grind again. Repeat two more times until you have used all the ice; add the sugar in with the meat on the last grind. The meat should look paste-like and be pink in color.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the salt, garlic powder, black peppercorns, curing salt, Thai chiles and fish sauce. Using your hands, knead the salt mixture into the meat like dough until the mixture is smooth and all the ingredients are mixed in.
  3. Place ½ of the meat mixture toward the front of the leaf. Roll the meat in the leaf so the leaf overlaps itself. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap; using kitchen twine, tie each end and wrap three times throughout the length of the sausage. Repeat with remaining meat.
  4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Make sure the pot can hold the sausages easily. Place the sausages in the water, turn the heat off and cover to cook for about 45 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 160°.
  5. Remove the sausages and transfer to an ice bath. Store in the refrigerator until completely chilled, about 15 minutes. When the sausage is ready, remove the plastic wrap and banana leaf and cut into chunks or slice to desired thickness.
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