Pulled Pork Bao

caliking · April 2013

The inspiration for this cook came from a fella named Bob, who is a regular on another forum I follow. Details can be found on his blog.

I had some pulled pork leftover from one of he first few cooks I did after I brought my large home in December 2012. I may not have posted it, since we had guests that week and the house was a little crazy in terms of cooking. I had a platesetter back then, pecan wood for smoke, 275°F-ish overnight. It was the first overnight cook in the egg.

Looked like this in the morning, back in December. Bone wiggled just right. See how shiny the gasket is?

Pulled and ready to eat (some would be frozen for later use).

Fast forward to yesterday (Sunday).

Prepped the dough. Let it rise, then portioned out and filled with the pulled pork. The formed bao's proofed for another hour while I got the steaming apparatus set up. My bao forming skills leave much to be desired.

Steaming apparatus consists of our old bamboo steamer, lined with napa cabbage leaves, and a wok I picked up at an estate sale on Saturday. Not a fancy one, but at $4 it was a pretty good deal. It fits the small perfectly, so I'll see how it lasts. Bao's were steamed for about 15mins.

They looked beautiful steaming on the counter!

And a shot of the finished product:

They were good! The bao was a little sweet, so I will add some salt next time. Also the pork dried out just a bit, so I may steam for a shorter time in the future. I'm going to be eating these for breakfast this week.

Thanks for looking.

MrCookingNurse · April 2013

8-} fancy smanshy looking good bro!

Solson005 · April 2013

Looks great and another great way to put a twist on some leftover pulled pork. I just got a food saver and will be getting to make use of my leftovers and might give this a shot sometime! =D>

SaltySam · April 2013

Great post! I love bao. LOVE IT. The first time I had it was in Okinawa, at a Lawson, which is a Japanese equivalent to a 7/11 or a Circle K. I think they served several different varieties, but the one I chose was filled with chopped pork, a little ginger and a salty (probably soy-based) BBQ sauce. It was incredible. I was blown away that I got it from a gas station. I've tried to recreate it at my house, but have never had any success. The dumplings are my downfall. Yours look delicious!

I may have to attempt it again...

.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · April 2013

Yes! Great cook. Steamer now in the list.

caliking · April 2013

Thanks for the comments, folks.

@Cen-Tex - I'm sure that new Asian market you found will have steamers. The metal ones are more durable for sure, but the bamboo ones look cooler IMO.

@SaltySam: these were really pretty easy to make. I had a cook going on the large, and then was trying desperately to not get in SWMBO's way while she was cooking (we really need 2 kitchens!). The next time I will try to make a more traditional bao and see how it turns out. Houston has tons of places making good bao's, so I may have to do some taste-tasting before I decide what to make next.

NEWB_IN_NOLA · April 2013

Bao is a wonderful delivery system for pulled pork!

Those bamboo steamers cost almost nothing and hold up surprisingly well. Great investment. We cooked a bunch of bao at a charity event using them that I posted a while back, but we did not make our own dough from scratch.

Ours was based on a modern David Chang style bao instead of the traditional version where ingredients are steamed in the buns. So we contacted a local vietnamese restaurant and they put us in touch with their distributor. The buns we used came frozen in bags and steamed really well straight from being frozen.

I have some of them leftover and next time I have spare pulled pork, they will be used with some pickled thin sliced carrots and diced cucumbers along with some mint, cilantro, a bit of hoisin and siracha.

I also want to try the traditional prep method from scratch soon. Was the dough recipe you used temperamental at all?

caliking · April 2013

@NEWB_IN_NOLA: I think your earlier thread contributed to my being bitten by the bao bug.

The dough was surprisingly easy to work with. I did not really devote much attention to it as I was cooking outside that day and running in and out. I also would not know the difference between a temperamental bao dough or otherwise, since I have considerably more expertise re: eating baos than I do making them! This was my first attempt, but it seemed pretty easy.

SmokeyPitt · April 2013

Hot pocket!

Eggcelsior · April 2013

OUTSTANDING!!!!

@caliking, I am very impressed. DO you think adding a mop sauce(like eastern carolina) would help the sweetness in the loaf "pop" and keep it moisturized? This just moved to the top of my to-do list.

The investigation begins.....

YEMTrey · April 2013

Great cook. Find something new to make on here everyday.

caliking · April 2013

Eggcelsior said:

OUTSTANDING!!!!

@caliking, I am very impressed. DO you think adding a mop sauce(like eastern carolina) would help the sweetness in the loaf "pop" and keep it moisturized? This just moved to the top of my to-do list.

The investigation begins.....

That's a good thought. If I were to do these again, I would put the sauce on the meat to keep it moist - either a mustard or vinegar sauce or hot sauce. For me, mopping the bao itself would make it messy - harder to eat while I'm driving to work!

Eggcelsior · April 2013

Sorry I wasn't more clear. What you said is exactly what I was thinking. The sauce is awesome with Hawaiian rolls. I wonder if it would be possible to put cole slaw in with it. Perhaps putting a ball of slaw in the middle and wrapping meat around it. Experimentation here I come!

Skiddymarker · April 2013

Eggcelsior said:

OUTSTANDING!!!!

@caliking, I am very impressed. DO you think adding a mop sauce(like eastern carolina) would help the sweetness in the loaf "pop" and keep it moisturized? This just moved to the top of my to-do list.

The investigation begins.....

Wow! Double Wow. BBQ pork buns at our local Asian food courts always seem to have some sauce in the meat, Like @Eggcelsior says, it might keep it a bit moist and if it is a tangy sauce it will help if the Bao came across too sweet.

Your Bao forming skills look just fine to me. Excellent cook.

Nature Boy · April 2013

Pretty cool. My late mom in law made the first banh bao that I ever tasted in 1985. It was always a a project that took her most of the day. Her dough was heavenly, and she knew exactly how to steam it perfectly on the particular bamboo steamer she had. Yours looks pretty good!

The main thing I remember is all her Bao's had at least 1/3 of a hard boiled egg, black mushrooms, and some chinese sausage. She used ground pork, but your pulled pork with a little smokiness would have been an awesome substitute for her ground pork.

Next time, try the slice of egg, the and the chinese sausage and black mushrooms!

Your pictures look incredible. I am hungry.

Cheers

Chris

caliking · April 2013

Thanks @Skiddymarker and @Nature Boy.

Next time I will make more traditional bao, with the meat cooking inside as the bao steams. I've eaten a number of variations, especially here in Houston. Future projects include things like black mushrooms and boiled egg, etc. @Eggcelsior promises to experiment with the bbq version!

Nature Boy · April 2013

I was born in Washington DC, and have no idea what is traditional. Mom in law, who grew up in Saigon, was my introduction, and the egg, chinese sausage and the black mushrooms were her way. So, it ended up being what I thought was traditional! Over the years I am seeing more and more how much Vietnamese cooking was influenced by Thailand, China and France.

Would love to learn more about what "traditional" is when it comes to this dish.

Cheers!

Chris

Dyal_SC · April 2013

How cool is that?!? If you do add sauce to them next time, do the right thing and make it mustard based.

Awesome job and fantastic idea!

Skiddymarker · April 2013

Dyal_SC said:

How cool is that?!? If you do add sauce to them next time, do the right thing and make it mustard based. Awesome job and fantastic idea!

Mustard or vinegar or ketchup - here we go!

caliking · April 2013

Well, my idea of "traditional" bao comes only from eating may bao's in Chicago and Houston, but heck how could you go wrong with putting meat inside a bun? Just about any combo will be good!

Tandoori chicken bao? Hmmmmm...

NibbleMeThis · April 2013

Bob doesn't post often on his blog these days but when he does, it is something spectacularly good. I've learned a ton from him. Little things like Red Boat fish sauce and tips like that. Great guy.

caliking · April 2013

NibbleMeThis said:

Bob doesn't post often on his blog these days but when he does, it is something spectacularly good. I've learned a ton from him. Little things like Red Boat fish sauce and tips like that. Great guy.

I don't know him personally, but I have learned a lot from him too. His cooks are always inspiring - I just have to motivate my @rse to actually try some of them for myself!

Pulled Pork Bao

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