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[The Ghetto Cook] V-2: The Real Pan Fried Buns

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Newbistic China2912 Posts September 02 2011 09:00 GMT #1 The Ghetto Cook V-2: Real Pan Fried Buns Introduction Hello and welcome to the conclusion of the first two-part installment of TGC. In the first half of the installment, I followed some lady's recipe for pan fried buns to unsatisfactory results. For this installment, I have done some research online and pieced together a recipe that will show you how to make REAL, tasty pan fried buns. These buns are soft and fluffy on the outside, juicy and meaty on the inside, and 100% authentic Chinese food to boot. This walkthrough will be divided into two sections initially, one for the dough and one for the filling. You will need approximately 3 hours to make this dish. Part A: The Dough From these humble beginnings, awesomeness pours forth. Ingredients: Flour Sugar Yeast* Water** You will also need: a container with a lid, a spoon, another deep container/pot with a lid, some way to measure flour and water. *This is just to rant about how fucking expensive yeast is where I live. That tiny bottle, 4 oz, costs $7, which goes completely against my cheap-ass instincts. The only semi-redeeming factor is that it'll last for 4 months and can make all the bread you'd ever want to eat in that period of time. But jesus fucking christ, if you buy the little individual packets it's even more expensive ($40+ per pound), you'd think some fucking gangster had figured out extorting home bakers is far more profitable than selling crack to hobos. **Must be warm water between 110-120F, or something like 40-45C. This is VERY IMPORTANT to kick start your yeast. Procedure: Begin by pouring about 1/3 teaspoon of yeast into your liddable container. Dump 1/3 teaspoon of sugar on top of that, and wiggle your container around to mix the two. This step is to proof your yeast, and to start up your dough. Proofing the yeast is to test it to see if it works. Sub crack cocaine and yellow sand for yeast and sugar if the latter is not available, Now, add 3/4 cups of warm water between 110-120F to this mix and cover the lid. Let sit for 5 minutes. What I did was to simply guesstimate the temperature of tap water compared to body temperature. However, this is very risky and not very accurate. If you use water too cold the yeast won't start, and if you use water too hot you will kill the yeast cells, so try to be accurate. At the end of five minutes, uncover the lid. There should be some foam floating above a cloudy yellow liquid. If there is no foam, that means you fucked up on the water, and you should restart the proofing process. If you don't, your dough won't rise and you'd just be wading further up shit creek without a paddle. If you do see foam floating on the liquid, your yeast works. Gradually dump and mix 1 5/8 cups of flour into the liquid. Use your fingers to work the dough into a cohesive lump, then move it onto a large, flat, floured surface to knead the dough. What kneading in progress looks like. Look ma, no hands. To knead the dough, grab the lump of dough on two ends and gently pull the ends away from each other about 1-2 inches. Be careful not to tear the dough. Then, fold the ends together so you again have a single lump, and push the ends together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the process. Continue to knead the dough for 8-10 minutes, and you will discover the dough becomes smoother. After 8-10 minutes, shape the dough into a smooth ball. Now, get yourself a deep container or pot, and lightly oil the bottom. Place the ball of dough into the container and roll it around a bit until it is covered in oil, like so: Frosty the Snowman's left testicle. Or a ball of dough. Place a lid on that container and let sit for 90 minutes. Meanwhile, you will have time to start on the Part B: The Filling Sorry, no ingredient spread picture You'll have to settle for in medias res. Ingredients: Pork, preferably already ground ## Chinese rice wine* Salt Bouillon, optional Scallions, minced, optional Soy Sauce 1 Egg *I didn't have any, but this ingredient is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ## If you don't have any ground pork, you can ground your own. The pork I used was a pork chop. Simply debone, and cut into 1-inch pieces. Group them together single layer on your cutting board, and rapidly chop away. Rearrange the pieces on the board every so often and change the direction of chopping. After about 10-20 minutes, becomes Pork is tougher to hand-grind than chicken, so you'll have to keep at it. Anywho, onwards. Procedure: Mix ground pork, Chinese rice wine, minced scallions, 1 tsp bouillon, about 1 tsp salt, a splash of soy sauce, and the egg together in a container. You'll get something that looks like this: It's an orgasm of flavor that keeps coming and coming. Set the mixture aside and wait until your dough has finished rising. Part C: The Final Showdown If you're at this step, your dough might look something like this: Insert crass Incontrol joke here Gently punch the dough down to deflate it, then roll it into a long log on a flat surface. Cut the dough into 12 equal shapes. Use your hands to individually flatten each piece into a circle, and place a generous portion of filling in the center. Wrap the dough completely around the filling and seal with your fingers. The yeast-risen dough should be very flexible and elastic, so you don't have to be afraid of the dough breaking. If the dough is a bit too sticky to work with at this point, don't flour it, but instead lightly grease your hands with oil. Dough meets filling, one wrapped around the other like star-crossed lovers ready to be fried then devoured. Once all the buns have been made, let them sit somewhere room temperature for another 20-30 minutes. At the end of that time, pre-heat a nonstick pot at medium heat, and pour in about 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Place all of your buns into the pot, packed all together. YEAH, JAM DEM BUNS RIGHT UP AGAINST ONE ANOTHER. PUSH THEM TOGETHER JUST LIKE THAT. Cover the lid and let the buns fry at medium heat for about 6-10 minutes. O NOT* open the lid at any point in time in these initial 6-10 minutes because you want to build up heat and steam. The buns will only be browned on one side, so the steam is absolutely essential to cook the top of the buns. After the first 6-10 minutes, pour 1/3 cup of cold water into the pot and cover the lid once more. More unhelpful pictures in which you aren't sure what the fuck is going on Cook until the water is all gone (you will begin to hear the sizzle and pop of oil again), which should take about 5 minutes, then cook with the lid uncovered for a couple more minutes. Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top if you have any. Plate and serve hot. The buns should be browned and crispy on the bottom, while light and fluffy on top. I recommend Chinese brown vinegar combined with chili paste as a dipping sauce. The Result What victory looks and tastes like. 4.5 / 5 Only because I had no Chinese rice wine D: To be completely honest though, this stuff is pretty cheap street food in my hometown of Shanghai, but it's damn good. I'll probably continue to make this in the future to hone my skills further. Additional thoughts and tips: -Try to use pork with a moderately high fat content. The higher the fat content, the juicier the buns. -Chinese rice wine, if you can get it, makes this dish go from awesome to holy fucking shit awesome. Conclusion These pan fried buns are completely more awesome than the ones I made in part I of this installment in every way possible. Use this recipe over that one. As always, questions and comments are welcome, especially if you're an expert on this dish and know what I've done wrong. Also, if you love cooking, please check out the previous installments of TGC: Broccoli and Cheddar Soup Cheapass Chili Scallion Biscuits Fake Fried Rice Pan Fried Buns Part I Also, the next installment I'm planning is going to be fucking epic, so stay tuned! ~~FIN~~

BLinD-RawR ALLEYCAT BLUES50389 Posts September 02 2011 09:08 GMT #2 I love food blogs and especially TGC.

mel_ee 2448 Posts September 02 2011 09:14 GMT #3 I liked your food blogs! However I dont like reading them at 2am in the morning then feeling hungry after...growl.

Eiii United States2566 Posts September 02 2011 09:14 GMT #4 Alright, this looks delicious. I'm gonna have to give this a shot later.

Grettin 42381 Posts September 02 2011 09:19 GMT #5 Oh god i'm so hungry after i read this. Looking so delicious.

Ghin United States2391 Posts September 02 2011 09:37 GMT #6 wow those look amazing <3

Sealteam Australia296 Posts September 02 2011 09:48 GMT #7 Man you might make me actually cook.

Newbistic China2912 Posts September 02 2011 20:07 GMT #8 On September 02 2011 18:48 Sealteam wrote: Man you might make me actually cook. I hope so, cooking is fun But if you're still lazy you can just buy frozen buns from a store and pan fry them using the method detailed above, skipping almost 3 hours of work. If the buns are pre-cooked fry them naked in the oil for only a minute or two before adding the water and covering the lid.

paper121 50 Posts January 25 2013 17:49 GMT #9 i am so sorry to necro this, but started reading your blog from pony tales and saw this gem. this is my favorite thing to eat in mornings. But it is so hard to find some good buns outside of shanghai. anywho, you left out the most important ingredient. the ingredient that gives it the legendary squirting juice. and that is some pig skin

Disregard China10252 Posts January 25 2013 18:06 GMT #10 Hes not making soup dumplings as Shanghai is central for that. And they pretty much always incorporate lard in the skin, it just makes it so much better =) If you have chives, the flavor combination with pork is amazing. Also leek and pork is a very popular combination.

paper121 50 Posts January 25 2013 22:14 GMT #11 well the more lard you add the more soupy, but adding mostly skin gives it just enough so that there's small pocket of juice. plus it turns from normal buns to dem sticky icky icky buns.

sugarbanana 1 Post August 26 2019 13:30 GMT #12 Bot edit. User was banned for this post.

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