Cha Siu Bao

[ckreef]

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

[GoFrogs91]

Looks great ck! Very creative

Benton

[tinyfish]

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.

[bosco]

This looks great ckreef

I think you are safe with a panzarotti tiny

[ckreef]

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

[MacKenzie]

ckreef, that was an awesome idea for a blast from the past, wonderful idea.

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[tony b]

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. 

[Poochie]

You did a great job on those. Very uniform color and size. Should be a winner.

[Hogsfan]

Yes please!

[skreef]

I thought these were fantastic..this is def another good cook to do again