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