Slow Cooker Banh Mi Sandwiches

I know it’s still summer weather but we had a request for a total make ahead dinner and we need those a few nights a week here too. This recipe gives the option to cook the pork in a slow cooker, or in the oven. If you have a slow cooker, you won’t need to heat up the whole kitchen, but your alternative would be to sear the meat in a Dutch oven, then cook on the middle rack of the oven until the pork is tender.

I find that most markets carry a bone-in or boneless chunk of pork shoulder/butt, but rarely both. Either is fine, but with the bone-in pork, you’ll want to add an extra half hour or so, as it takes longer to get tender. It’s also harder to cut the bone-in into smaller chunks for the browning step, but you can ask your butcher to do this or just cut around it. I included enough toppings and such for four sandwiches, but you will likely have some leftover pork.

Authentically, bahn mi sandwiches usually include pâté, which we don’t use. An alternate option would be to smash avocado onto one side of the bun.