Steamed Baozi

Our Baozi!

For our first experience, we chose to visit Northern China with Baozi, also known as Bao buns. We were inspired by the Disney short "Bao" that appeared before the film Incredibles 2. 

Bao (meaning "bun") originated from Northern China is the 3rd century, but quickly spread to become a staple across China and even other Asian countries. The have a militaristic origin with the buns made for battles. The wrappers tend to be thick and fluffy, made from the wheat grown in the Northern China flatlands, but there are many varieties. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Chengdu all have their own distinctive regional spin on the classic dish, with fierce pride over the buns. Families also like to put their own spins on the dish, and the buns become a very personal reminder of home in many areas. This was very evident in the Bao film, available on Disney Plus! You can read more about the history of the buns here: https://www.chungying.co.uk/about/blog/a-brief-history-of-bao.

To make the buns, we started by making the dough and letting it rest. Then the ground pork filling was made separately. When the dough was ready, it was rolled out, stuffed, pinched, and put into a multi-level bamboo steamer with lettuce leaves on the bottom to direct the steam. The buns can also be seared in a stove top to finish them. More on the recipe is available here: https://redhousespice.com/steamed-bao-buns/.

One of the biggest things we learned cooking was how distinctive the cooking style was! Wrapping the buns definitely took some getting used to, with the filling often spilling out. Steaming them was also a very interesting cooking method that we were largely unfamiliar with. It was really nice to be able to customize the type of bun wrapping we did, and we could see how the filling could be largely customized as well. It's clear how this dish easily becomes personalized between families and varies greatly between regions.

After cooking, we shared the buns with our friends. Our friend Adam, who has family from China, said that the buns did slightly remind him of the ones his grandmother would make for holidays when they would visit. Our other friends who were unfamiliar with the dish were very intrigued by the steaming stack of buns, and were also reminded of the Pixar short film. In all, the buns were delish and we really enjoyed the cooking experience. The bun itself was light and fluffy, which was probably the newest sensation. The filling reminded me of dumplings that we have in many restaurants here in the US. We were exposed to new, foreign cooking methods and strategies, and gained a bit of appreciation for similar dishes that we were used to ordering in restaurants. Given the opportunity to make these again, We would like to play around more with the filling and experiment with different fillings and try using Chinese spices for more regional flavors. We really appreciated this opportunity and it made me excited for what was to come next!