| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 6 hr 35 min |
| Prep: | 10 min |
| Inactive: | 4 hr 10 min |
| Cook: | 2 hr 15 min |
| Yield: | 12 buns |
Ingredients
- 1 (1/2 to 1-pound) rack spareribs
- 3/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 cup shredded cabbage
- 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1/2 warm water
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- 1 tablespoon canola oil, plus more as needed
Instructions
- For the filling:
- Put the rack of spareribs into a large resealable plastic bag. Pour in the hoisin sauce, close the bag and toss gently to coat. Put the bag into a bowl and marinate the ribs in the refrigerator for 3 hours or up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Put the ribs into a sheet pan along with all the marinade. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, slide it into the oven and bake until the meat easily separates from the bone, about 2 hours. Baste them every 30 minutes during the cooking process. Remove the ribs from the oven and let them rest.
- When cool enough to handle, pull the rib meat from the bones and coarsely chop. Then, in a large bowl, toss the pork together with the cabbage and scallions. If the mixture seems too dry, add in a bit more hoisin sauce.
- For the dough:
- Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl. After a few minutes, the yeast will begin to foam and bubble.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the warm milk, canola oil, and the activated yeast. Work the dough to produce a shaggy mass. Turn it out onto a floured board or countertop and knead until the dough becomes smooth, soft, and pliable, about 5 to 10 minutes. Put it into a lightly oiled bowl and turn it over once to coat. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise undisturbed for 40 minutes to 1 hour. The mass should double in volume.
- For the assembly:
- To form the buns, remove the dough from the bowl and roll it into 1 long rope. Cut the rope into 12 equal portions. Roll each piece and set them aside in a bowl. Using a rolling pin, flatten each ball into 4-inch circles, leaving the center slightly thicker then its edges. Put a heaping tablespoon of the filling into the center of each disk and pinch the tops closed to seal.
- Arrange the buns on a parchment lined sheet tray and cover them with a clean kitchen towel. Alternatively, place the buns into a large 3-level bamboo steamer lined with parchment paper, 4 buns per level. Allow the buns to rest for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, fill a bamboo or stainless steel steamer with water and bring it to a boil. Cut 12 (4-inch) rounds from some parchment paper. When ready to cook, place the buns on the parchment rounds and into the steamer.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 276 |
| Total Fat | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 38 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 24 mg |
| Sodium | 306 mg |
Reviews
Can’t wait to make these. The recipe doesn’t specify steam time, but, in the video, Brian says to steam for 12 minutes. Glad I watched, and he makes it look easy.
What’s the steam time?
Thanks for the recipe.
5 stars for the dough. It comes together cleanly in our KitchenAid mixer. We used Swan’s cake flour at first and the dough came out somewhat translucent up top. We switched to King Arthur’s cake flour and it came out beautifully. The dough is easy to work with. Once the yeast has proofed, we add the warm milk, sugar and oil in before adding to the dry ingredients. The dough comes out best for us this way. Thank you Brian for this amazing recipe. I make a batch of this every week and freeze it for my family to have throughout the week. It’s a winner.
I used only the dough recipe, which was absolutely first class. I used a food processor for the mixing/kneading, and did very little hand kneading. Provided you wait until they rise before steaming, you should get very fluffy buns.
For the pork, I used the marinade recipe from Fine Cooking with a 1.5 lb pork tenderloin + 1/2 lb applewood smoked bacon. After 18 hrs, I dropped the tenderloin in a stove top smoker and smoked with cherry for 20 min. Next I put the tenderloin back in a ziplock bag with the marinated bacon and cooked in a sous vide water bath at 135-140F for 4 hrs. Then I chopped up the meat, added 4 C of shredded Napa cabbage and 2 bunches chopped green onions. I simmered this for a while, then separated out the meat and reduced the sauce before adding it back. Finally, the meat was ready for the buns. A lot of work, yes, but these came out AMAZING!
WOW!!! Are these good. I wish I wouldn’t have halved the recipe. The dough is fantastic and soooo easy to work with. You could fill these bun with so many things. The possibilities are endless.
The dough recipe is perfect – came out nice and spongy. However, the filling was just OK. Next time, I will try a different filling.
@ sandyfranklin Agree with you. I use this for inside recipe, can also use turkey or chicken for pork. I use a wok but large pan okay.
1/2 cup lower-salt chicken broth 2 T oyster sauce 1 T dark soy sauce 2 T ketchup
2 T granulated sugar 4 tsp cornstarch Kosher salt&freshly grnd pepper to taste 1-1/2 C Chinese Barbecued Roast Pork left over ribs meat or country style ribs or buy at Chinese type market or deli counter.
2 T peanut oil 1/2 C small yellow onion-cut into 1/4inch dice
1 T. Chinese rice wine-Shaoxing, 1-1/2 tsp Asian sesame oil. Stir together broth/oyster sauce/ketchup/ sugar/cornstarch/soy sauce/1/2 tsp. salt, and a pinch of pepper. Put peanut oil in wok, cook onions @ med. til browned-add meat-cook 2-3 mins., add Rice wine around edge to steam, then make well in center of meat, & stir bowl of ingredients before adding to wok. Stir fry 2-3 min or til nice & thick. Add Sesame seed oil @ end&combine 1-2 mins & remove to bowl & refrigerate til cool. HAPPY DIM SUM-ing!
1/2 cup lower-salt chicken broth 2 T oyster sauce 1 T dark soy sauce 2 T ketchup
2 T granulated sugar 4 tsp cornstarch Kosher salt&freshly grnd pepper to taste 1-1/2 C Chinese Barbecued Roast Pork left over ribs meat or country style ribs or buy at Chinese type market or deli counter.
2 T peanut oil 1/2 C small yellow onion-cut into 1/4inch dice
1 T. Chinese rice wine-Shaoxing, 1-1/2 tsp Asian sesame oil. Stir together broth/oyster sauce/ketchup/ sugar/cornstarch/soy sauce/1/2 tsp. salt, and a pinch of pepper. Put peanut oil in wok, cook onions @ med. til browned-add meat-cook 2-3 mins., add Rice wine around edge to steam, then make well in center of meat, & stir bowl of ingredients before adding to wok. Stir fry 2-3 min or til nice & thick. Add Sesame seed oil @ end&combine 1-2 mins & remove to bowl & refrigerate til cool. HAPPY DIM SUM-ing!
These were great. I went to an international store and purchases a 2 lever bamboo steamer. Instead of the ribs i went to Kroger and purchased some prepared pulled chicken and added the cabbage hoisin sauce and the scallions. I just purchased a kitchen aid stand mixer with a dough hook and have been wanting to use it. This was the perfect opportunity. They came out just like his. Great recipe.
I was craving for the authentic steamed char siu buns back in HongKong. I have been searching like crazy for the perfect steamed buns recipe and I have finally found it. The dough was so easy to work with, it was malleable and not too sticky. My buns came out perfect, they were soft, fluffy and shiny on the outside. Thanks Mr. Boitano!