This recipe came about because while I normally make the steamed version last Pennsic (XV), I made the baked version since Harry had his portable firepit with him and I had wanted to play around with my dutch oven. They came out very nicely, with a sweet crisp yeast dough bread and nice savory/sweet filling. OF course my friends who came to dinner that night wanted the recipe! The problem with this of course is once I got home I actually had no idea what the internal temperature of the dutch oven was since they don't exactly come equipped with thermostats and instruction such as place a small layer of coals under the dutch oven. Then place coals on lid. There should be more coals on top than on the bottom. Bake for about 12minutes they should be light golden brown at this point. If not, add more coals to adjust temperature. Well instructions like that don't really help in a conventional kitchen.
So last month I tried to recreate the buns in my kitchen. I think it was too cold in kitchen and the yeast dough wasn't that successful. Nevertheless, I did have buns, just not as good as the ones I made while camping. But at least now I had a general idea of temperature and cooking time.
After some discussion with some local and not so local friends we decided on a date and location to have a roast pork bun workshop.
And here are the results:
Roast Pork:
Whole pork loin (about 7 lbs or so), cut into thirds so that they look like roasts, then quartered to make long narrow strips. Place in large (2.5 gallon) ziplock bag for marinating.
Marinade:
2 small heads of garlic
1.5 jars Lee Kum Kee brand Char Siu Sauce
0.5 jar Lee Kum Kee brand Black Bean and Garlic Sauce
2 sauce jars of ketchup
1 sauce jar of Shao Xing rice cooking wine (rinse sauce jars with wine to remove any sauce left behind)
Mix garlic and the liquid ingredients together in a large bowl. Add to meat in baggie and mix thoroughly to coat. Let marinate overnight to two days in refrigerator.
Pork can either be grilled or roasted.
To grill, sear meat on all sides with grill on high. Reduce heat on grill (turn one side of grill off and turn other side as low as possible. Cook slowly on the side without direct heat with lid closed. Check and turn every 20 minutes. The edges will start to char. Baste with marinade from bag while cooking. (You will have less marinade to add to pork buns when they are grilled than if they are roasted.)
Broil 5 minutes on each side, then slow roast on a rack @ 300 – 3250 for 20 minutes, then flip and roast another 20 minutes. If not fully done, raise the heat to 350 or higher and for another 10 to 20 minutes until meat is cooked through. You may want to baste with the marinade when turning, but save the drippings. If the pork is not getting that charred outer coating you may want to baste with honey. The sugar helps the outside caramelize.
See this link for a more “authentic” recipe and cooking style
Filling, part 1:
1 pkg dried shiitake mushrooms (the 7oz packages)
place into pot and add hot water to cover. Let sit while making dough to rehydrate and soften.
Dough:
1 5 lb bag of all-purpose flour plus a little
2 1-quart packages of skim milk
1 quart plus a little of warm water
¼ C sugar
3 Tbsp yeast
4 beaten eggs
½ lb butter, cut into small pieces
Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast. Set aside to proof yeast; when it foams, it’s ready. Mix skim milk powder and flour together and add liquids. Mix together until smooth and elastic. Knead several minutes, using a little more flour if necessary. When dough is smooth and elastic, it’s properly set. Let rise, covered with damp cloth or paper towels, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour or a little more.
Filling, part 2:
Onions 3 lbs or more, to taste
Fried scallions/onions/shallots (these are very small pieces of what Michele said was actually scallions, but any of the three may be used)
Dried shiitake mushrooms (see above)
Cooking oil
Roasted cooled pork
Cut onions into about ¼ - inch pieces. Heat up the oil in the pan and add some of the fried (whatevers) and let it heat, when you can smell the fried shallots add the onions and sauté until translucent. If meat was roasted, place the cooked onions into roasting pan with drippings when soft.
Cut reconstituted mushrooms into about the same size pieces and follow the procedure above.
Cut the meat into about the same size pieces and add to the remainder of the filling.
Sauce for filling; USE ONLY IF NOT USING THE MARINADE FROM ROASTING:
Oyster Sauce approximately 5 ½ oz weight
Corn Starch approximately ¼ oz weight
Rice cooking wine approximately 3 oz weight
Water approximately 1 cup
Mix these ingredients together and add to filling mixture. On top of stove, toss together and cook until sauce is thickened and all ingredients are coated. This is important; if the sauce is too thin, it will leak through the bottom of the buns.
IF USING LEFTOVER MARINADE, make sure it boils as it started with uncooked pork. Make the sauce if pork is not used the same day it is cooked.
Set aside until dough is ready.
When dough has risen, punch down and form into cylinders about 4” diameter. Cut into circles by cutting the cylinder into 4” pieces, turning the dough before each cut. Roll dough out into a circle from the outside to the inside, so that there is a slightly thicker section in the middle of the dough. Fill with about 2 Tbsp of filling, seal the edges together, and place upside-down on a cooking pan, allowing space for rising. (This puts the thicker middle on the top of the bun.) Paint with an egg wash of eggs and a little water to provide a glossy crust. Let rise about 15-20 minutes and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 14 minutes.
Makes about 60 buns with leftover filling for about 20 more.
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