Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Buns) with Meaning – and ‘The Tale of a Painting’.

December 15, 2011 at 12:48 am | Posted in Appetizers, Asian, Breads, Daring Cooks, Dinner, Lunch, Pork, Yeastspotting | 36 Comments
Tags: BBQ pork buns, Char Siu Bao, Char Siu Pork, Dough, Green Onions, Hoisin Sauce, Pork, Roast Pork, Soy Sauce

I’m in love with pork buns especially the baked kind.  I’ve been known to go out of my way just to stop at Asian bakeries to pick up varieties of their soft lovely buns..and there’s always at least two pork buns in the bag when I leave.  There’s one in my town now, and I have to steer clear or else I’ll be buying bags of buns several times a week.

Well..whaddya know…

Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles ! Sara chose awesome Cha Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Cha Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

Hmmm..Cha Sui?  I suppose that’s just another term for it?  I always thought it was Char Siu, and Char Siu pork and I go way back – well. way back two years ago.  I was actually going to recycle that photo of my Char Siu pork into this post, but once I made it again, I decided to  get at least one shot to show I actually did make it again.  It’s a beautiful thing.  Ever pick the pieces of it out of your fried rice to eat individually?

I do.

So, I’ve made Char Siu pork before, and Char Siu Bao before – steamed and baked – with great success.  I knew this was a challenge I couldn’t miss, not only because I’ve had great success with it, but because pork buns have gone up $1.25 since I last walked out of the local Asian bakery mentioned above.

On a whim, I decided to do something a little different with them this time.  I gussied them up a bit with some Chinese characters for Love, Strength, Peace and Harmony.  I mixed matcha powder with a little egg yolk, painted on the characters, let them dry, then egg washed and baked after rising.  After one bun, I nixed LOVE.

The Chinese character for LOVE has too many lines and details for such a small area.  It looked like scribble scrabble, so I let it fly solo.  The LOVE is in the buns, baby.

As I painted each character on top of the buns…a memory was tip-toeing  – with high-heels –  through my brain.

A few years ago, I decided to completely redo the breakfast nook at my parent’s house.  Every time I was over there, I could hear the strains of 80’s synthesizers when we sat in that room.  It was far past out-of-date – it was Boy George in long braided, mu mu drag, Go Go’s chic, George Michael doing the jitterbug in day-glo, fingerless gloves, out-of-date.

I pulled up every tile of the black and white checkerboard floor, stripped as much of the bright blue paint off the walls (I know, sounds tacky, doesn’t it?  But it wasn’t tacky in the 80’s), then sanded off the rest,  – repaired cracks and holes with many compounds (add more sanding) finally rolling and brushing on two coats of an Arabian sand color I thought was perfect.

I took down two doors, sanding off the burnished, worn stain, then sanding again, staining and a shellac – finishing them off with shiny, bright new doorknobs.  It was tough work for one girl, and I still have no idea how I managed it, but within a month, it was completed.  I bought a pot rack, hung their pots and pans between the nook and the kitchen, then stood back and admired what I’d done.  Trading Spaces? Pffft.

Hmmm…it needed art, a few paintings.  Maybe one by me to sort of ‘sign’ my work on the room, if you know what I mean.

I found a bunch of old acrylic paints and brushes in their basement (Yes, I used to draw and paint a bit), but no canvas, and it was too late to go out and get one.  I walked around the house looking for something – anything..I needed to paint at that moment.  I needed to put my final seal on the room before reveal day.

Out of the corner of my eye, there it sat, one of those vertical, ‘three in a row’ mallard prints that nobody, outside of He-Man hunter living in a log cabin, puts up on display (or so I thought).  I pried open the wires holding everything together..I planned on using the back of this canvas for my painting.  I was confused as to why there were so many layers to get to the canvas, and why was it signed?  Is someone proud of painted mallards on a canvas set in ugly dark green cardboard frames?

I finally got to the back of the canvas, pulled it out, and started painting a kaleidoscope of colors to fit in, but ‘pop’ in the room.  I had already decided I was going to paint the black chinese characters for Love, Health and Happiness on top of these colors, because they’re so beautiful.  After hiding it to dry for several hours, I came back and painstakingly painted on each character – using some computer print-outs as a reference.  It turned out beautiful, and once it was fully dry, I put it back into the frame, minus the dark green cardboard cut-outs.

I hung it in the perfect place and beamed at my resourcefulness.  Turning a cheap, factory made mallard painting into something beautiful!  I couldn’t wait for them to see!

They loved it – I was thrilled.   They also loved my painting.  After several compliments, my father asked..

“Where did you get the frame for it?  I was given a numbered, signed painting by (insert name of famous mallard artist who’s name escapes me at this moment – Update: I know who it is now but absolutely refuse to name him in fear he will see this post via Google and read how I completely annihilated his work thinking it was cheap, worthless and ugly) a few weeks ago as a gift for the holidays, in a frame very similar to that..it’s very expensive.”

GULP.

GULP.

I felt faint.

He saw my eyes, his face changed.

“You didn’t take that painting out of the frame, did you?  If you did, show me where everything is so we can put it all back together, we’ll get another nice frame for your painting, ok?”

Now I’m going to throw up.

He saw my face turn a light shade of green.  He knew.

I’m not going to get into details outside of some yelling and “Do you have any idea how much that painting is worth now and will be worth in several years??” “Do you have any idea how rare it is?  Only 5 exist!” type of stuff.

To this day, my painting sits in a box in my parent’s basement, never hung again.  He didn’t need to be reminded of it during his morning coffee, for the rest of his life.  I totally agree.

OK..back to the pork buns!  This was a good recipe, the dough was wonderful to work with.  However, I made a few small changes.  When I saw the recipe for the pork filling, I didn’t think there would be enough sauce to really moisten the pork, so I doubled it.  Turns out I was right, as some mentioned the pork filling being dry after it was baked and/or steamed.

Second change..I wanted a lot of filling per bun, like the ones I get at my local bakery, so I made 9 buns instead of 12..no 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon amount here..just what I call a ‘heap’ aka whatever I can fit onto the dough round and seal without leaking or tearing.

Third change – I let the buns rise for an hour before baking.  This recipe eliminated a rise, for a thinner shell of bread.  I like a little bready fluff around my pork filling.  I also baked them at 350 F for 15 minutes, instead of 200 F for 15 minutes.

Finally, I sprinkled the top of the buns without the characters with a little bit of Maldon flake sea salt.

If you get a chance, please have a look at my fellow Daring Cook’s ‘sexy buns’, by clicking HERE.  For the recipes for Char Siu Pork, and baked or steamed Char Siu Bao, Click HERE.

I’m submitting my Char Siu Bao to Yeastspotting, a weekly bread baking showcase hosted by the incredibly talented Susan of Wild Yeast.

I’m also submitting these to Bread Baking Day #45, hosted by Cindy of Cindystar.