hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to Chinese breakfast dim sum items with a shot at the very challenging Chinese char siu bao, or BBQ pork bun. For those unfamiliar, a char siu bao (as you might guess) relies very heavily on the use of char siu pork, which is a fatty slab of pork butt or shoulder that has been glazed in a Chinese BBQ sauce, as well as any number of Chinese spices. 

Very often in many Chinese restaurants (just as with American BBQ), the recipe to that BBQ sauce is a VERY closely guarded secret. Today we’ll be doing ours with this gorgeous slab of pork butt courtesy of Taylor’s Sausage in Oakland. Then we’ll be assembling our BBQ sauce with a few classic usual suspects like dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and shaoxing wine, but also paired with some interesting cross-cultural additions with a bit of gochujang and gochugaru. Finally we’ll be rounding this all out by wrapping our char siu pork into a baked sweet bun which you might recognize as the same dough as the ones used in our sweet custard buns a few months back as well. Hope you try it.

 

Yields 12

INGREDIENTS (char siu pork)

  • 2 lbs pork butt

  • 8 cloves garlic

  • 2 inches (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice

  • 1 tsp white pepper

  • 1 tbsp gochugaru

  • 1 tbsp honey

  • 1 tbsp sweet chile sauce

  • 1/2 medium white onion

  • corn starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in water)

  • peanut oil

  • kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (char siu BBQ sauce)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

  • 2 tbsp hoisin sauce

  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 2 tbsp red vinegar

  • 2 tbsp gochujang

  • 1/4 tsp red food coloring (optional)

INGREDIENTS (filling sauce)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp black vinegar

  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce

  • 1/4 tsp red food coloring (optional)

INGREDIENTS (dough)

  • 1/2 cup white sugar

  • 1 cup milk

  • 1 tbsp active dry yeast (or 1 packet)

  • 4 cups flour

  • 2 eggs

  • 2 tbsp sesame oil

  • kosher salt

  • egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp water)

  • sesame seeds

PREP

  • CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside

  • FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside

  • DICE the onion, set aside

  • COMBINE all BBQ sauce ingredients and whisk until a smooth sauce forms, set aside

  • COMBINE all filling sauce ingredients, set aside

  • BUTTERFLY the pork butt and set aside in a rimmed pan

ON THE STOVE

  • HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 2 tbsp peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD half of the garlic and ginger, then bloom until fragrant for about 15 seconds

  • ADD the gochugaru, Chinese 5 spice, and white pepper to the wok, bloom until fragrant, then toss to combine

  • ADD all BBQ sauce ingredients plus 1/4 cup water, then reduce for 3-5 minutes and remove from heat

  • GLAZE the pork butt, then cover, refrigerate, and let marinate for 8 hours or overnight

  • ADD the pork butt to a wire rack over a foil-lined baking sheet, then bake at 400F for 60 minutes

  • REMOVE the pork butt every 10 minutes and add additional glaze

  • ADD the honey and sweet chile sauce to the glaze after the first 30 minutes, then continue to glaze the pork butt every 10 minutes until it reaches 165F internally

  • COOL the char siu pork for 30 minutes, then large dice

  • REHEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD the onions plus a pinch of kosher salt, then saute until translucent for 3-5 minutes

  • ADD the remaining garlic and ginger, then bloom until fragrant for about 15 seconds

  • ADD all filling sauce ingredients plus 1/4 cup water, then add the diced char siu pork and toss to combine

  • ADD the corn starch slurry 1-2 tbsp at a time until the filling reaches a thick sauce texture, then remove from heat

ON THE STOVE (dough)

  • HEAT the milk to lukewarm temperature (about 45 seconds in a microwave), then combine with yeast and white sugar

  • PROOF the yeast for 10 minutes until bubbles appear (if no bubbles appear, the yeast is dead, and needs to be replaced)

  • ADD eggs, sesame oil, and a pinch of kosher salt, then stir until combined

  • GRADUALLY add 4 cups AP flour until a cohesive dough forms, then cover with plastic wrap and proof the dough in an oven with the oven light on for 2-3 hours

  • DIVIDE the dough into twelve equal pieces

  • ROLL out dough until 6 inches in diameter, rotating a 1/4 turn after each roll

  • ADD 3 tbsp char siu filling to the center of the dough, and fold shut with pleats

  • TEAR off the top of your pleat, then flip over and tuck in the sides until a fall forms

  • COVER with plastic and proof for 30 minutes

  • BRUSH down with egg wash and finish with sesame seeds

  • BAKE at 350F for 20-30 minutes until golden brown

 

tagged with woo can cook, chinese bbq pork bun, char siu bao, char siu pork, taylor’s homemade, taylor’s sausage, oakland, bbq pork, barbecue