What is bánh patê sô?
The French colonized Vietnam for six decades. As a result, the French influence in the food is unavoidable and many French themes are present in Vietnamese cuisine. One of the French influenced Vietnamese dish is called bánh patê sô, also known as “Meat Pie”. In French, it is known as pate chaud, meaning “hot pie”. It is a savory pastry containing ground beef, onion and garlic wrapped up inside a flaky and buttery pastry.
Bánh patê sô (meat pies) are great for after school snack, appetizers, breakfast or side dish. I like to take one with me when I pick up my son from school for a snack…they are great for eating on the go. Or be like my husband and dip into the sauce or dressing of your choice. Siracha anyone?
The making of these buttery meat pies
Growing up, my mom’s bánh patê sô was filled with ground pork, onion, garlic and patê giving it a creamy and decadent taste. Patê is commonly made from ground meat, herb, spices, and wine, or cognac. However, if you’re like my husband and don’t want anything to do with patê…don’t worry, this dish is adaptable. You can adjust the filling to fit your dietary needs and/or taste. I used ground beef for the recipe below because that’s what I had handy 🙂
Not only is it easy to eat on the go, it is also easy to make. Now, before you say…but there’s the words flaky, buttery pastry in the description, which means a time-consuming dough is required. Nope, not in my kitchen. There’s no shame in using pre-made ingredients like puff pastry to save some time. Now that the dough part is taken care of…all that’s left is the browning, seasoning of the ground pork, and the assembly of bánh patê sô.
If you find yourself with left over meat pie filling, check out my trứng hấp (Vietnamese egg meatloaf) post.
Reheating of bánh patê sô
I definitely did not grow up in a big family or have a big family of my own, so I’m not sure why when I cook, I make enough for an army. My husband always says “I can only eat so much in a day.” So if you’re like me, and made too many of these delicious bánh patê sô, rest assured, you can freeze them. After you bake them, let them cool completely. Then place the zip lock bag in the freezer.
The next time that you need an on-the-go snack, pop them in the oven at 350oF or in the microwave. I personally prefer the oven for reheating because it maintains the flakiness of the pastry.
Bánh Patê Sô (Meat Pie).
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ white onion chopped.
- 1 tsp fresh garlic minced.
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1.5 tsp fish sauce more or less depending on taste.
- ½ tbsp butter melted. Or you can use 1 beaten egg.
- 2 boxes of frozen puff pastry
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400oF with a pizza stone inside. If you don't have a pizza stone, no worries, you can bake these on a cookie sheet as well.
Instructions for making the filling:
- Defrost the puff pastry according to the instructions on the box.
- Place the ground beef, salt and pepper in a pan to cook.
- When the meat is cooked, add chopped onion, garlic and fish sauce. Let the mixture cook for another 5 minutes. At this stage, I usually give the meat filling a taste and add more fish sauce if needed.
- Set the mixture aside to cool. In the mean time, prepare the puff pastry…
Instructions for filling the puff pastry:
- Unwrap the puff pastry and cut into 9 squares.
- Put 1.5 tablespoons of meat mixture on to every other puff pastry square.
- Take the puff pastry square without the meat and place it on top of the puff pastry square with the meat.
- Seal the two squares together by pressing a fork on to the top puff pastry.
- Brush the top of the puff pastry square with butter or beaten egg
- Place the meat filled pastry on the pre-heated pizza stone (or regular cookie sheet) and bake until golden brown on top.
Do you have a favorite savory snack that you grew up with? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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This was one of my favorites from this food blog! It’s like a ravioli, but better. Great flavor, you add a little Sriracha for dipping sauce and good to go!