From deep-fried brie to banh mi, from squashed Cuban rolls to street-food skewers, a baguette can play host to just about any filling.
Whether you’ve scooped up a long crusty baton from your local bakery, or you’re making your own classic French bread (give it a go with leading French baker Eric Kayser’s ; you can do it by hand or using a stand mixer), you can turn it into a meal to suit every taste. Vegetarian? Francophile? Mad for meatballs? The baguette is there for you, and so are we. Here are our favourite ways to stuff this crusty French classic.
Banh mi, all the ways
It’s a Vietnamese classic, and we can’t get enough of it. "The French introduced baguettes to Vietnam, however, the Vietnamese created a large variety of delicious and creative fillings to go inside them. This fish cake baguette is one of my favourites as there are great contrasts of textures – from the crisp baguette to the bouncy fish cakes," says Luke Nguyen of this from his Street Food Asia series.
Pork banh mi is often made with deli-style pork, or pork terrine, but goes for hearty pork meatballs.
What’s that you say? You want a vamped-up vegan version of the Vietnamese classic? (Go on, try saying that quickly!). We gotcha. Marinated and pan-fried tofu (kinda sticky, kinda crisp), satay sauce and pickled veg come together in a taste explosion in this . 
Vietnamese baguette with fried fish cakes Source: Alan Benson
Pork meatball banh mi Source: Smith Street Books / Chris Middleton
Tofu banh mi Source: Chris Middlton
Pressed for time
Just a few fillings in this and dead simple to make, but put it all in a sandwich press and you’ve got melty, crusty ‘grab it with two hands and dig in’ deliciousness.
The Cuban Source: Smith Street Books / Chris Middleton
Cheese, please
Yes, there’s turkey and cranberry sauce but the star player is the deep-fried brie. This is one sweet, rich and oozy baguette!
Deep-fried brie and turkey baguette Source: Smith Street Books / Chris Middleton
Throw another prawn on the baguette…
Take a trip to the southern USA with these ; the prawns take a bath in a punchy Louisiana marinade, then after a visit to the grill, they’re stuffed into crusty French bread and drizzled with a caper, mustard and mayo sauce.
“Be generous with the butter,” says Karen Martini of these Aussie , perfect for using up any leftover prawns. Buttered baguette rolls are stuffed with prawns, grilled pancetta, cabbage, mint, and chilli sauce.
Louisiana prawn po'boy Source: Smith Street Books
Prawn baguette with minted cabbage and sumac Source: John Laurie
Feeling French
Given her heritage (her mother is French) it’s not surprising that author and TV host Justine Schofields’s fave baguette is a French classic. “A classic baguette is a vehicle for so many different dishes … For me, butter, quality butter, ham and cornichon is the ultimate sandwich, non-negotiable! So French! It's jambon-buerre in French. A butter and ham sandwich, it sounds like nothing, it sounds 'oh, whatever'. But it is quintessentially French,” she says when SBS Food chats to her about her favourite fillings.
Her is another nod to France’s love of this crusty baton, inspired by a visit to New Caledonia, where there’s a strong French influence on the local food.
“In Nouméa, all over New Caledonia, you see people carrying their baguettes all day, whether it's at lunch, or breakfast, or even at dinner, because without baguette on the table, the table is not complete,” she says. The island paradise also has an amazing array of seafood, so the baguette recipe she shares in Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia brings together two of the key parts of New Caledonian food. “This is the ultimate crab and prawn sambo,” she says.
Francophile crab and prawn baguette Source: Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia
Street food skewers
Kreung – a fragrant paste made from lemongrass, turmeric, garlic and galangal – is at the heart of the marinade used to make these char-grilled , a popular Cambodian street food.
Khmer beef skewers Source: Luke Nguyen's Greater Mekong
The perfect pork roll
Braised and fried pork is the basis of Peru’s pan con chicharron. This n of the popular pork roll uses roasted pork belly, piled on a crusty roll or chunk of baguette with fried sweet potato, a spicy onion salsa and chilli mayo sauce.
Use your hands for this one…
Mexico’s are messy but marvellous! These rolls are a speciality of Jalisco and its capital, Guadalajara. Birote, the bread that is traditionally used for this sandwich, is quite dense, with a thick, hard crust, which prevents the roll from falling apart in your hands. A denser style of baguette will do nicely as a substitute.
Join Justine Schofield for Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia, double episodes 8.30pm Mondays from 27 April to 18 May on SBS Food Channel 33, and then on . Those Francophile prawn baguettes are in Ep 8, Monday 18 May, while in Ep 3 on May 4 she's making a rich octopus stew, mopped up, of course, with baguette.
Bake your own
Baguette
