Pork and Hot Honey Steamed Buns
Featured locally made ingredients: Mike’s Hot Honey (available for purchase here), Beth’s Farm Kitchen Watermelon Rind Pickles (available for purchase here), pork cheeks from Fleisher’s in Brooklyn.
Disclaimer #1 - This is a rainy day kind of project. One to do when you have a couple of hours for some meditative chopping, simmering, kneading, and mixing.
Disclaimer #2 – I’m pretty much a sucker for any thing-stuffed-in-another-thing food. Whenever I see a form of dumpling, bun, turnover, or savory pie on a menu, I know without question what I’ll be eating next. During my stint as a law firm junior associate, the partner I worked for told me at a team dinner that I should open a restaurant featuring these bites and call it Stuffed. Still thinking about that.
I’ve long been weak at the knees for the magnificent steamed pork buns which seem to be everywhere, from the quick utilitarian versions at the most basic dim sum spread to the cheffy versions I first became aware of at Momofuku Noodle Bar a few years ago.
I wanted to try creating this at home, from scratch, with a few of my own touches. I love pork cheeks, in all their sticky glory, which seemed like an interesting alternative to the more ubiquitous and fatty belly. From my first taste of Mike’s Hot Honey, I also thought it would be an interesting player in any kind of Asian-influenced glaze or marinade since sweet and spicy are two key elements I’m usually looking to play up. Finally, I recently participated in the Kickstarter for the Sansaire sous vide machine, and was looking to put my new toy through its paces – doing a side by side comparison of sous vide pork cheek with a more traditional braise or roast fell nicely in line with this little project.
Just a bit of what I've learned so far about sous vide (which translates to “under vacuum”). It is essentially putting food in a sealed bag, taking as much air out of the bag as possible, and submerging it in a water bath set to the exact temperature that you want the food to reach. That sounds rather dull – but has some interesting implications! Since the temperature of water (which is a more reliable and steady conductor of heat than, say, fluctuating air in your oven) can be precisely controlled, you don’t have to worry about overcooking and can let time, temperature and enzymes work some and culinary alchemy. Also, since the food is sealed up with very little or no oil, water, or air, its flavors can intensify. An egg cooked sous vide at 63°C for about an hour acts like a poached or soft boiled egg, but somehow manages to be more custard-like and richly eggy tasting than either. A carrot, even one slightly past its prime, cooked at 183°C for an hour manages to maintain a bit of its crisp bite while tasting like the most glorious braised and glazed carrot you’ve ever had.
One drawback to cooking sous vide, for me, is that it removes much of the sensory experience that is the heart of preparing a meal. For example, learning how wobbly a poached egg is when it is the perfect consistency or sensing through the glorious smells wafting through the kitchen how the braise in the oven is going. There’s a bit more about sous vide here.
Finally, we’ve been trying not to eat much meat around here lately. When we do, I try to get it from a local butcher where I know the meat has been responsibly sourced (like the local greenmarket or Fleisher's). Of course, that's not a perfect solution, and I'm not always as strict about this as I want to be. In this spirit, I’m also working out a recipe for a vegetarian bun which I hope to share soon.
I know – get to the recipe already!
Inspired by Serious Eats, Steamy Kitchen, Momofuku Cookbook, Sounding My Barbaric Gulp, Use Real Butter, and CD Kitchen
Ingredients
Pork makes enough for 6 medium buns, Dough makes enough for 15-20 buns (can be frozen)
For the Pork
1 tbsp ginger, roughly chopped
1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped
2 scallions, white and tender green parts, roughly chopped
3 tbsp hot honey (divided)
2 tbsp brown sugar
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup mirin
1 tbsp fish sauce
½ tsp 5 spice powder
1 lb pork cheeks (about 5 medium sized cheeks)
For the buns (you can also use frozen buns which can be found in Asian groceries)
2 tsp active dry yeast
¾ cup water, between 100-110 F
2 cups and 2 tbsp cake or pastry flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp and 1 ½ tsp nonfat dry milk powder
1 ½ tsp kosher or sea salt
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
4 tsp rendered pork fat or vegetable shortening at room temperature
¼ cup oil
Quick Cucumber Pickles
1 medium sized cucumber, cut into thin slices (about 1/8 inch thick)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp hot honey
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
Tahini – miso hoisin sauce
2 tbsp tahini or smooth peanut butter
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp miso (I used white miso)
2 tsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp hot honey
2 tsp rice vinegar
Garnish
Sliced scallions
Thin slices of carrot (I used a peeler to get thin ribbons)
Watermelon rind pickles, sliced (optional - I had the sweet and gingery pickles from Beth’s Farm Kitchen on hand)
Quick Cucumber Pickles
Equipment needed
Sous vide setup if using the sous vide approach
Parchment paper
Bamboo steamer (or you can set up another steaming rig by putting a roasting rack into a deep pot with water simmering underneath and a heat proof plate on top)
Make the pork marinade
Put the ginger, scallions, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, mirin, fish sauce, five spice powder and 2 tbsp of the hot honey in the jar of a blender or, if using an immersion blender, in a jar or container large and deep enough to blend together. Blend into a relatively smooth puree.
For sous vide pork
Place the pork cheeks in a Ziploc or food-grade vacuum sealer bag and add 1 tbsp of marinade per cheek into the bag (save remaining marinade for another use). Either vacuum seal or seal by slowly dipping the Ziploc bag into a large pot of water to displace the air within until the ziptop is at the top of the water and seal shut. Massage bag to distribute the marinade. Set your water bath for 77°C, lower in the sealed bag, and cook for 8-10 hours.
After the pork cheeks have finished cooking, remove the bag from the water bath and let cool slightly (or place in refrigerator until ready to use). Put about a tablespoon of neutral oil into a skillet and place over medium-high heat. Remove the pork cheeks from bag (reserve the liquid in the bag – it is the most amazing, luscious broth you have ever tasted!), sear for 1-2 minutes per side the hot skillet until the cheeks develop a little color. Rest the cheeks for a few minutes and then slice into 1/8 inch thick slices. Put the liquid from the bag into a bowl, mix in the remaining 1 tbsp of hot honey, and add the sliced pork back into the juices until you are ready to serve.
For braised pork
Marinate pork cheeks in the puree, refrigerated, for at least 5 hours and up to overnight. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Bring the pork cheeks and marinade to room temperature. Place a skillet with about a tablespoon of neutral oil over medium-high heat. Remove the pork from the marinade and sear in the skillet until they develop some color on both sides. Put pork in a small to medium roasting pan, casserole with a lid, braiser, or Dutch oven. You could also create an aluminum foil envelope that is well sealed and set on top of a baking sheet in case of spills. Add about ½ of the marinade and enough water to cover the bottom half of the pork. Cover with foil or with a lid set slightly ajar and roast for 3 hours. Check the pork every 30 minutes to make sure the water has not evaporated – this is very important since the sugar content could cause it to burn - and turn the cheeks over about halfway through the cooking time.
Meanwhile, boil any remaining marinade over a low heat until reduced by about half and reserve. When the pork has finished roasting, let rest for a few minutes and then slice into 1/8 inch thick slices. Pour any pan drippings into reduced marinade, mix in the additional 1 tbsp of hot honey, and add pork slices to rest until ready to serve.
(Braised pork on the left, sous vide pork on the right)
Make the steamed buns
While the pork is roasting, mix yeast and warm water until yeast is dissolved and let sit for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients for the buns. Add the yeast and water mixture and knead with hands for about 15-20 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic (you could also use a stand mixer with a dough hook – but, alas, there is no room in our kitchen for one). Form dough into a smooth ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and put the dough somewhere warm (like a turned off oven) until it has roughly doubled in size (about 2 hours).
Cut out approximately 20 3x3 inch squares of parchment paper and set the stack aside. After the dough has risen, knead it a bit to form a ball, and then divide in two. Take each half and roll into a log, and then cut into roughly 1-2 inch pieces. Roll the pieces into a ball, and then roll out to flattened ovals, roughly ¼ inch thick. Brush with oil and then fold into half-circle shapes, place on a piece of parchment and repeat until all of the dough has been rolled out. Cover the half moons with plastic wrap or with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.
At the end of the second rise, prepare your steamer. Steam the buns, on their parchment squares and in a single layer, for about 10 minutes (do not steam too long or they will dry out). After steaming, remove, split along the seam and fill or let cool completely and the freeze in a ziploc bag until ready for use (you can reheat in the microwave for about 20 seconds or re-steam for a couple of minutes).
Make the quick cucumber pickles
Mix together all ingredients for the pickles and let stand for at least 10 minutes (you can store in the fridge for a few days as well). These pickles are quite salty, so use sparingly.
Make the tahini-miso hoisin sauce
Mix together all ingredients for the hoisin sauce until well blended. Let sit for a few minutes for the flavors to combine.
Finally – eat!
Whew! After all that, the assembly is easy. Split open a warm, steamed bun along the seam, spread a little hoisin sauce on the top and bottom. Fill with some pork, a few slices of cucumber pickles, a bit of carrot, a few slices of the watermelon rind pickles, and scallions. Enjoy, and repeat!
I liked the braised pork and the sous vide pork for different reasons. The sous vide pork was uniformly luscious and sliced a bit more evenly. The braised pork shredded a bit like bbq pork shoulder and cooked a little more unevenly, but had an interesting contrast between crispy, caramelized (if slightly dry) exterior with lush interior.
Recipe developed by Pia Sen