Recipe - steamed roast pork buns - second week
The filling.
If you're smart you will buy 1 to 2lbs of roast pork in Chinatown and use that.
If you're like me or at Pennsic where that isn't feasible here's how I made the
roast pork.
2lbs of pork loin. If the skinny on is available at the store use that one.
Otherwise get the fat one and have the store quarter it lengthwise or do it
yourself.
Day 1. Then marinate it in Lee Kum Lee Char Siu sauce and ketchup. One to one
ratio. Then add 4 or 5 cloves of crush garlic. I just flatten them with the
flat of my cleaver so I don't have to chop it. Add enough rice wine to make the
sauce runny. Then I marinated the meat overnight in my cooler. I think this is
why I didn't manage to kill anyone. My cooler was cold and there is just so
much salt and alcohol in the sauce that it helps keep down the bacteria.
Day 2. Grill the pork. First I seared the outside. The Lee Kum Kee sauce is
basically honey and sugar. It should form a crunchy coating nicely. Charcoal
fire preferred unless you like trying to scrape carmelized sugar off your grill.
I then lowered the temperature and let it cook at a low heat. Basting with the
remaining sauce to get a nice crunchy crust. I only had one burner of the grill
on. And the meat was on the opposite grill. Then I closed the grill and
wandered around camp cleaning up and just hanging out. Probably about 1/2 an
hour to an hour? really not sure. I turned off the grill before I went to the
HH commons and just let it sit there in the retained heat. After commons I
tossed the cooled meat into ziplock baggies and placed it in the cooler. Mendee
and I stuck a couple of slices off the end. It was yummy. If you want to know
how to do this in a regular oven. I have no clue. I don't make this at home, I
go to Chinatown and buy roast pork. You're probably just bake it like any other
roast... Helpful aren't I?
Oh yeah... the BBQ sauce from the night Jackie made roast pork. 1:1:1 ratio of
Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce, Black Bean with Garlic Sauce, and Ketchup with
enough Shiaoxing rice wine to make it runny and happy. This is also the sauce I
usually use to marinate baby back ribs that I show up with at demos and other
random events. Jackie did the mixing and the cooking, so you'll have to ask her
how she cooked hers.
In case you are wondering about the ketchup. These sauces especially the garlic
and black bean sauce are very very very salty. I use the ketchup to cut the
salt. You can imagine how salty these things are that I can use ketchup to cut
the salt! The ketchup also makes the sauce not as thick and overpowering. It's
also easier to use as a marinade. It also adds a nice tartness. IMHO.
If you're smart you will buy 1 to 2lbs of roast pork in Chinatown and use that.
If you're like me or at Pennsic where that isn't feasible here's how I made the
roast pork.
2lbs of pork loin. If the skinny on is available at the store use that one.
Otherwise get the fat one and have the store quarter it lengthwise or do it
yourself.
Day 1. Then marinate it in Lee Kum Lee Char Siu sauce and ketchup. One to one
ratio. Then add 4 or 5 cloves of crush garlic. I just flatten them with the
flat of my cleaver so I don't have to chop it. Add enough rice wine to make the
sauce runny. Then I marinated the meat overnight in my cooler. I think this is
why I didn't manage to kill anyone. My cooler was cold and there is just so
much salt and alcohol in the sauce that it helps keep down the bacteria.
Day 2. Grill the pork. First I seared the outside. The Lee Kum Kee sauce is
basically honey and sugar. It should form a crunchy coating nicely. Charcoal
fire preferred unless you like trying to scrape carmelized sugar off your grill.
I then lowered the temperature and let it cook at a low heat. Basting with the
remaining sauce to get a nice crunchy crust. I only had one burner of the grill
on. And the meat was on the opposite grill. Then I closed the grill and
wandered around camp cleaning up and just hanging out. Probably about 1/2 an
hour to an hour? really not sure. I turned off the grill before I went to the
HH commons and just let it sit there in the retained heat. After commons I
tossed the cooled meat into ziplock baggies and placed it in the cooler. Mendee
and I stuck a couple of slices off the end. It was yummy. If you want to know
how to do this in a regular oven. I have no clue. I don't make this at home, I
go to Chinatown and buy roast pork. You're probably just bake it like any other
roast... Helpful aren't I?
Oh yeah... the BBQ sauce from the night Jackie made roast pork. 1:1:1 ratio of
Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce, Black Bean with Garlic Sauce, and Ketchup with
enough Shiaoxing rice wine to make it runny and happy. This is also the sauce I
usually use to marinate baby back ribs that I show up with at demos and other
random events. Jackie did the mixing and the cooking, so you'll have to ask her
how she cooked hers.
In case you are wondering about the ketchup. These sauces especially the garlic
and black bean sauce are very very very salty. I use the ketchup to cut the
salt. You can imagine how salty these things are that I can use ketchup to cut
the salt! The ketchup also makes the sauce not as thick and overpowering. It's
also easier to use as a marinade. It also adds a nice tartness. IMHO.
Day 3 - The buns
Dough.
Before you start. Start soaking 2 handfuls of dried shitake mushrooms in hot water.
I started with 5 cups of flour and a cup of water and a package of yeast, usually and a spoonful of sugar. But we had egg mixture leftover from the french toast from breakfast. I don't recommend the egg. It totally changes the texture of the dough.
Knead together flour, and water and yeast mixture. Make a firm elastic dough. Something like pizza dough. This takes a while. Once done kneading, place in a bowl in a warm, humid place to rise (this would be anywhere at Pennsic this year :) I used the Silverhorde dining pavilion as it was especially hot and muggy. I was actually afraid I might kill the yeast. Leave it for an hour or 2 until the dough doubles in size.
Back to the filling. while the dough is rising...
roast pork
onions
shitake mushrooms
oyster sauce
hoisin sauce (I forgot to add it)
enough olive oil to saute the ingredients.
1. Dice into 1/4" to 1/2" pieces an equal amount of onion as you have pork by volume.
2. Dice the shitake mushrooms.
3. Dice up the roast pork.
4. In a large pan heat up enough olive oil to LIGHTLY coat the bottom of the pan.
5. Once the oil is hot, toss in the onion and lightly saute to sweat the onions.
6. Once the onions are translucent and sizzling happily, toss in the mushrooms and meat.
7. Mix to together oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, and water, with a teaspoon of cornstarch in a separate cup. You don't need a lot, just enough to coat and filling and make nice gravy.
8. Pour liquid into the pan and let simmer until the gravy has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
9. Filling MUST BE COOL before stuffing the buns, otherwise you will KILL the yeast!!
Back to the dough.
1. When the dough has risen to 2x its original size. Punch it down. Add about a cup of flour and knead it into the dough.
2. Let dough rest for another 15 to 30 minutes until the dough doubles in size again.
3. Cut off a manageable chunk of dough. Knead, roll, stretch lightly, until you have a snake about 1" to 1.5" in diameter.
4. Cut about 1" pieces of dough. Don't forget to rotate 90 degrees after every cut.
5. Roll out dough into about 4" circles about 1/8 to 1/4" thick.
6. Place a table spoon of filling in the circle.
7. Crimp edges together so they form little pouches or bao.
8. Set aside. Keep going. Allow the buns to rise and get poofy.
9. Start boiling water under the steamers.
10. Line bottom of steamers with either wet cloth or large napa cabbage leaves.
11. Place buns in steamers racks. Make sure to leave room for buns to rise.
12. Steam buns for 8 minutes.
13. Remove from heat. Take buns from steamer. Put more buns in steamer. Keep steaming until all buns have finished cooking.
14. I made steamed bread from the leftover dough. Just cut the dough pieces bigger. These should cook for 8 minutes as well.
Yes slow food.
But it was worth it!
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