Steamed bun trio / why let pork belly have all the fun

Left: Peking duck steamed bun with hoisin sauce and scallions. Center: Vietnamese-style pork belly steamed bun with cilantro and sriracha. Right: Crispy salmon steamed bun with creamy dill sauce

Hey all, it's been a while since my last post, but I've finally gotten everything together from my last project.  A relatively new trend that's been cropping up is places serving pork belly steamed buns.  From appetizers on Momofuku menus to food trucks and entire eateries devoted to serving these treats, this somewhat traditional Taiwanese snack is now being repopularized across the US.  However, I've been a bit disappointed to note the lack of variety in most steamed-bun related offerings: the majority of menu items are all pork belly, usually with cucumbers, pickled whatnots, or other tasty toppings.   Not that there's anything wrong with a deliciously roasted pork belly, but truth be told, the steamed bun has much more potential than this.

The first time I ever had this sort of steamed bun was actually back in Houston, served with slices of peking duck and hoisin sauce, and scallions.  I see this as a more traditional form of the steamed bun, and am surprised to not see this offered in more steamed bun venues.  I see the steamed bun as a flexible tool, that can be served with any fatty meat (crispy texture a plus), complementary sauce, and fresh green herbs, and so created a delicious new type of steamed bun: crispy salmon with a creamy dill sauce.

The general process for making steamed buns involves a simple yeast-based dough that's allowed to rise, rolled into a cylinder, cut, and then rolled again into 1" diameter balls that are once again allowed to rise.  I tinkered around with dough formulations from online, and found that several recipes rather overcomplicated things.  I've posted a recipe reduced to the more essential ingredients, and determined that cake dough is necessary for the characteristic puffiness of the steamed bun (using bread flour resulted in flat although deliciously chewy buns - similar effect as in my cookie article)

Left: Yeast based steamed bun dough before rising. Center: Dough after rising. Right: Dough cut and rolled into 1" balls 

These dough balls are flattened out into ovals, allowed to rest, and then steamed for 10-15 minutes.  This is a good time IMO to introduce some extra flavors.  I slid in a slice of ginger to add a faint ginger scent to the buns.  Once finished, these buns can be frozen for weeks and reheated as needed.

Left: Flattened dough balls with slices of ginger. Center: Steamed buns set up on a rice cooker steamer.  Right: Steamed buns steamed and finished

For the meat, simply sear off a skin-on salmon filet.  Alternatively, you can try your hand at roasting a peking duck or use my braised pork belly recipe.  For this project, I modified the recipe to include fish sauce and lemongrass in the marinade, for a more Vietnamese flavor.  All three of these meats are wondrously fatty and have crispy textures to balance the soft chewiness of the bun.

Left: Braised Vietnamese-style pork belly with lemongrass, Center: peking roast duck, Right: seared salmon filet with dill

All that's left is choosing herbs and sauces to complement the meat.  For this Vietnamese-style pork belly, I used sriracha and cilantro.  For the peking duck, the classic pairing of hoisin sauce and scallions.  For the crispy salmon filet, a creamy dill, mustard, and sour cream sauce.

Left: finished steamed buns. Center: chopped scallions, cilantro, and dill, clockwise from top left. Right: creamy dill, mustard, and sour cream sauce for crispy salmon steamed bun

Assemble and enjoy!  Check out my pages to the right for more detailed recipes - to be added soon.

Left: crispy salmon steamed bun with creamy dill sauce. Center: Vietnamese-style pork belly steamed bun with cilantro and sriracha. Right: Peking duck steamed bun with hoisin sauce and scallions