ckreef Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 (edited) My entry for the Guru Baking challenge. Chinese BBQ Pork Buns (Cha Siu Bao) Chinese BBQ Pork (Cha Siu) in a special sauce, stuffed into Asian Milk Bread Buns then baked to a golden brown perfection on the kamado. When I was in my early 20's me and my friends would go eat Dim Sum for lunch a few Sundays every month. One of my favorite ala carte items was Cha Siu Bao. You could get them steamed or baked but I always liked baked better. Where I live now the closest restaurant that serves Dim Sum is about 2 hours away. Haven't had it in a long time. Here we go.......... Started with a baby hog shoulder. Butchered the meat off in chunks. Made a Chinese BBQ marinade and marinated them overnight in the refrigerator. This morning I woke up and just before lunch I cooked the Cha Siu. It was really hard not to just eat it for lunch and say screw the challenge - LOL - but I restrained and saved the meat for later tonight. This afternoon I made the Cha Siu Bao special filling sauce. I then cut the Cha Siu into small chunks and mixed it in. I had all the ingredients for the Asian Milk Bread layed out but I was caught up in the cook and forget to take the pictures. Anyway it went through an hour rise time. I then split it into balls bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball. Flatten it out with more dough in the middle and added some filling. Fold up the edges and pinch it closed. 6 stuffed buns. Cover and proof for another hour. After the proof I egg washed it and sprinkled on some toasted sesame seeds. Cooked on the KK at about 375* for 30 minutes. I had an initial kamado screw up (my fault) but was able to save the cook. 4 really good ones and 2 OK ones. The bun was soft and the flavor was spot on. Next time - less dough and more filling. This could be done with any reasonably thick filling. Hope you enjoyed a blast from my past. And yes the background is basically Japanese but it's the closest I had. Edited October 11, 2015 by ckreef 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoFrogs91 Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 Looks great ck! Very creative Benton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 Man another great entry CK. That looks delicious. We had similar idea's. I was going to do a panzarotti for my entry, back to the drawing board. Serves me right for waiting...LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bosco Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 This looks great ckreef I think you are safe with a panzarotti tiny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted October 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 (edited) Man another great entry CK. That looks delicious. We had similar idea's. I was going to do a panzarotti for my entry, back to the drawing board. Serves me right for waiting...LOL. Roll on with the panzarotti I would love to see it. To be honest I almost didn't enter this cook. It's definitely not a challenge winning money shot. But I did the work and had the pictures. Overall I felt it was an awesome cook that tasted great just not a spectacular money shot. I'm going to make these again but with a chicken pot pie type of filling. But I'll do more stuffing and less dough next time. It's always sort of a crap shoot doing something new for a challenge entry. I should have used our standard test method - test cook on the KK forum beforehand then tweak and do again for the actual entry cook. Edited October 11, 2015 by ckreef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 ckreef, that was an awesome idea for a blast from the past, wonderful idea. Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 I wish that I could find a restaurant that does Dim Sum anywhere near me. Haven't had it in way too long. One of my favs! Nice looking Bao. I buy mine at the local asian market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted October 12, 2015 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 You did a great job on those. Very uniform color and size. Should be a winner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogsfan Posted October 12, 2015 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 Yes please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skreef Posted October 12, 2015 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 I thought these were fantastic..this is def another good cook to do again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...