This Macau-style pork chop sandwich recipe is a spicy retort to conventionalism based on Anthony Bourdain’s favorite sandwich.
If you’re at all familiar with our website and our focus on travel and food, and everything that combines those two things. And if you love food and travel, it should come as no surprise that we’re big fans of the work of Anthony Bourdain.
Whether we’re dipping into Peruvian cuisine or enjoying the sour delights of Filipino sinigang, Bourdain’s passion for culinary delights, both simple and extreme, is never far from our hearts. And we work hard to let those passions flow through in our writing and recipes.
Anthony Bourdain encapsulates the passion for travel and storytelling that inspires countless people to shake free from their comfort zone and explore the world, both near and abroad. And, from his experience as a gifted chef, it’s no surprise that he spent much of his travel focus on the cuisine, both high and low, of the destinations that he traveled to.
Before his tragic death in 2018, Bourdain had amassed a massive collection of stories, memoirs, cookbooks, television shows, and movies that encompassed the experiences that shaped his life. One of the last books that this legend of travel had published was his award-winning “Appetites: A Cookbook.”
The celebrated cookbook was packed with insight into Bourdain’s favorite dishes. And among some of the most magnificent dishes from around the world that Appetites explores, one simple dish stood out.
Among a dazzling array of dishes from around the world, this simple and delightful Macau-style pork chop sandwich recipe was one dish that he elevated above most others.
To those that followed his career, the fact that Anthony Bourdain’s favorite sandwich was a sweet and delicious layman’s meal shouldn’t be a surprise. Above all, he was a man of the people. Someone who got as much joy chatting with locals as he strolled the streets of Malaysia as he did speaking with world-renowned chefs in New York City.
What Is The Macau-Style Pork Chop Sandwich?
Macau is a semi-autonomous region in southeast China. The region was settled by the Portuguese back in the 16th-century and, after a tumultuous few centuries, was handed back to China in 1999. With a combination of cultures and a fusion of two drastically different cuisines, it’s no shock that food in Macau has developed some truly unique flavors.
The combination of Chinese and Portuguese cooking styles, along with additional inspiration from Brazil, Goa, and other Portuguese colonies has helped the region become one of the world’s “secret” foodie destinations.
The Macau-style pork chop sandwich recipe uses a juicy pork chop drenched in a zingy chili sauce that combines soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic cloves, among other ingredients. The sandwich was so popular during the photoshoot for Appetizers that photographer Bobbie Fisher had a hard time using the models because “everyone kept eating them.”
Appetizers was Bourdain’s rant against overrated comfort food. And the Macau pork chop sandwich was his spicy retort to the club sandwich, which he railed against in the book. And it was a dish that he called “possibly the most delicious thing in “Appetites.”
Macau-Style Pork Chop Sandwich Recipe
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