Steamed Bao Buns cooked to fluffy perfection, stuffed with the most delicious candied orange marmalade and vinegar pork. Packed with a sriracha aioli coleslaw. About the best meal you could have right about now. And while I may have made these a few weeks ago and just now got around to posting the recipe, I will say I have craved these everyday since making them.
I don’t have one of those bamboo steamers that people typically use to make these and when I decided I wanted to make them, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer to order one. So I improvised and used my pasta pot and added a small amount of water to the bottom pot, brought that to a boil and used the cage to steam the buns. While this worked, the depth of the pot did make it a little difficult to reach in and get the buns out without them sticking to the side of the pot or falling so you do see my fingerprints in a lot of them from getting them out. However, I think that is the beauty in this recipe. That you can see they are not perfect and therefore homemade.
Or at least that’s what I am going to tell myself…
In all seriousness, these were amazing. They turned out just as fluffy as when I get them in restaurants so I was really proud of myself. While I kept the Bao Bun recipe to a very standard recipe, I did make sure to make a pulled pork for stuffing them that has a little bit of a twist to them.
I have been meaning to make more crockpot meals on Sundays because typically Chris and I get distracted and end up forgetting to make dinner and just eat whatever we have in the fridge but then that leave us with no lunches the next day when were working. So, if I start to prep dinner early Sunday mornings before leaving the house, then I can enjoy my day while still feeling like I am accomplishing something.
So I knew I wanted to make an easy crock pot pulled pork with some sort of sweet glaze I could cook down after to then coat the finished pieces of pork. When you use a marmalade like the orange marmalade in this recipe, you can cook it down to remove moisture towards the end and what happens is pure magic. The sauce gets thick and sticky and just coats the pork so beautifully. Each piece you get is just mouth watering and bursting with all different flavors. It’s perfect for these buns.
Bao Buns with Orange Marmalade and Vinegar Pork
Ingredients
For the Buns
- 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fast action dry yeast
- 50 ml milk
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp baking powder
Orange Marmalade & Vinegar Pork
- 4 1/2 pounds pork shoulder
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp red-pepper flakes
- 3/4 cups orange marmalade
- 1/4 cups red-wine vinegar
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 4 cloves garlic
- sea salt, for serving
Instructions
- Start by cooking the pork. Place the pork inside a crockpot and turn it on to start cooking. In a medium bowl, whisk the rest of the ingredients besides the sea salt. Pour the marmalade mixture over the pork. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (or on high for 4 hours).
- Start the Buns by mixing flour, sugar, salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook, dissolve yeast, and a pinch of sugar in a tablespoon of warm water and wait 5 minutes until bubbles form on top. Then mix in flour mixture, with milk, vegetable oil, rice vinegar and 200 ml of water. Once incorporated, knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise for 2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Place the dough on a work surface and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Knead for 5 minutes. Then roll into a log and cut into 18 pieces. Flatten each piece into a circle, then oil the surface with a brush and fold one side over the other.
- Cut 18 pieces of parchment paper and place each bun on top of a piece of parchment. Transfer to a baking tray and cover with a clean towel. Let the buns prove in a warm place for an hour. Or until they double in size.
- Heat a large steamer over medium-high heat. I used my pasta cooker. Steam buns for 8 minutes until puffed up.
- When pork is done cooking, take the pork out of the slow cooker and strain the liquid, getting rid of the bits. Place the liquid in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Once it simmers, turn the heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes until it reduces and thickens.
- Shred the pork, cover with the reduced sauce and place on a bun with some coleslaw and parsley for garnish.
Notes
