Since I am about to travel in Taiwan/Japan in April, I was starting to think about what dishes from my youth that I missed the most. Baozi, or meat buns, were such a ubiquitous part of my childhood, being something I would eat at dim sum, for breakfast on occasion, and whenever I would visit Taiwan growing up. Many jet lagged nights where 7-11 baozi would be elementary school Fred’s go-to midnight snack. When you bite into one, the bun itself is tender and soft, while the meat filling just melts. And then there’s that characteristic puff of steam that fogged up my glasses as a kid; I used to despise that, but looking back on it, it is a reminder that the baozi were nice and warm. Baozi are a ncie comfort food, and something I definitely plan to eat my weight in April during my trip! So I figured, just to relive some of my childhood prior to going back to the motherland, why not make some? When it came to the filling, traditional meat buns feature a juicy minced meat mixture and a soft, pillowy bun. However, I wanted to go a different route. So for my filling, I went with a route similar to Taiwanese lu rou(braised meat, typically pieces of diced pork belly). Lu rou is typically served with rice, and that is another Taiwanese staple/childhood classic of mine. So then I had an epiphany. These juicy pieces of braised pork belly inside of a cloud like baozi just sounded like pure heaven to me. And trust me, it was! If I really wanted to, I’d re-dub these “Lu Rou Baozi”, because it really does embrace two of my childhood favorite dishes!

This recipe is two components: the baozi dough and the filling. Despite the dough being a yeasted one, the filling is actually a more time consuming process. You have to braise pork belly, which is a meat that generally takes a while to cook until tender. I will say, I can see why baozi typically use minced meat; the cubes of pork did almost poke out of the baozi dough, and were tricky to contain in a neat round shape. However, I did prefer the texture of the braised cubes of pork to the minced meat in this case, since it did better invoke the flavor of lu rou! For seasoning the meat, I went with red miso because I felt like it would add in an extra layer of umami from being extra fermented, and used black garlic to add some natural sweetness. Because of the combination of black garlic and red miso, it is an umami-packed flavor bomb. And I went with some Chinese five spice, which contains cinnamon, clove, fennel, Sichuan pepper, and star anise, all of which bring a nice aroma to the pork. And what better way to contain that then with a pillowy dough? Like I mentioned, the baozi dough is a yeasted dough, so it does take time for the dough to proof, or rise to achieve that soft, fluffy texture. My dough does have a touch of quirkiness to it, though. Typically whenever I bite into a soft Chinese style bao, the bun itself has a mild sweetness from having sugar added to it, but since I was on an added sugar fast, I used a tiny bit of vanilla extract to more of less accomplish the same thing(yeah, I know, a pastry cook on a sugar fast, trust me, dark times). That being said, like with jet lag, these pork belly baozi helped me tide over my sugar fast, and were an absolute delight to eat!

Makes 8 buns:
For the pork filling:
1lb pork belly, diced
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
2 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
1 tbsp rice vinegar
4 cloves black garlic
1 tbsp red miso paste
1 cup chicken stock

Poach the pork belly in a pot of simmering water until the meat turns white in color. Strain the meat out and pat dry. Transfer the pork belly pieces to nonstick pan, and render out the pork belly on low heat with the Chinese five spice until fragrant, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom of the pan from burning. Deglaze the pan first with cooking wine and rice vinegar, stirring so that any solids at the bottom of the pan come off. Then in a blender, puree the black garlic, miso paste, and chicken stock. Add the blended liquid into the pan with the pork belly, and simmer everything, covered, on medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid of the pan and continue to reduce on medium heat until the liquid has almost completely evaporated and the pork is fork-tender, roughly another 30 minutes. Allow the filling to cool before attempting to use.

For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 packet(2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cups water

In a bowl, mix everything together into a dough. Knead the dough on a slightly floured surface until it is smooth on the surface and springs back when pressed down. Allow the dough to rest, covered, in a warm area for 1 hour. Then divide the dough into 8 pieces. Flatten out each piece and place into the center roughly 2-3 tablespoons of the filling. Pinch the edges of the dough together repeatedly until they completely envelop the filling. Place the buns into a steamer and steam for 10 minutes on medium heat, covered.