EDIT: Guys, huge important thing that I want to put up here. We recently found out (9/12/18) that the Chinese baker's ammonium - choufen - is roughly half ammonium bicarbonate and half baking soda. If you're working with pure ammonium bicarbonate (i.e. baker's ammonia in the West) instead of that 4g Chinese baker's ammonium go with 2g ammonium bicarbonate and 2g baking soda. We've had a couple people that live in the USA/Europe report an extremely intense ammonium smell from their buns... we believe this is likely the reason, as we've had reports of successes from people Hong Kong and Singapore-based. Update on Oct 19th, 2021. We did a video using the active rice wine starter, which is kinda similar with sourdough starter in some ways, and here's the video and you can read the pinned notes for more details about the starter and the dough. kzbin.info/www/bejne/noOWanZrfNKlZ8U _____________ So a few notes: 1. Many recipes (both on the Chinese and English language internet) use yeast instead of a natural sourdough starter. This will not give the correct texture to the Char Siu Bao. The basic idea behind Char Siu Bao dough is that mix of lactic acid from the starter and the super alkaline baker's ammonia. 2. If you make this, there's two big issues that people tend to run up against - first, yellow dough. If your baozi end up yellow that's a sign that the dough is overly alkaline, and that the dough has not been fermented for a long enough period of time. The splash of vinegar helps preserve the color as well. What we used in the video was about a half tablespoon of vinegar essence, which's about 20% acetic acid. 3. Second issue is lack of 'cracking'. Your Baozi shouldn't be opening along the pleats, the ammonia should spread the Baozi when steaming so that it cracks naturally. This could be caused by either (1) not enough leavening agents (2) not incorporating the ammonia well enough into the dough (3) wrapping the Baozi too loosely or (4) your steaming heat not being hot enough. 4. Speaking of which, restaurants use these really intense contraptions that shoot pressurized steam up into their steaming racks. Using that sort of set-up, they can steam these in like five minutes. Point being though, make sure you seal that guy in real good with those wet towels if (like us) whatever you're using doesn't have a heavy lid. 5. Lastly, I know this all might've seemed a bit overwhelming. This is a restaurant dish, ain't exactly something that a normal person would whip up on a Wednesday night. A deep dive into Dim Sum reveals just how incredible that meal is - this stuff's like a level of complexity that most other cuisines would reserve for like special occasion festival foods. It's really a testament to the brilliance and organizational prowess of these places that they can pump out mountains of this stuff for like a few bucks a pop. So even if you never make this, I hope that you can appreciate it a little more next time you're out at Dim Sum :) Oh, and to all the Cantonese speakers out there apologies for my brutal mispronouciation of 臭粉, and continuously (mistakenly) defaulting back to the Mandarin pronunciation for Char Siu Bao sauce. In the future, I think I'm just gunna use Cantonese name for the dishes themselves but Mandarin for any ingredients/techniques... at least until the day I properly learn Cantonese. My English in the narration's bad enough as is, whenever I toss in Mandarin it's worse, and any time I try to reach for the Cantonese things just start sounding downright silly. Edit: To all of y'all that're saying that this's too difficult... listen, I get it. But here's something I don't quite understand: go search KZbin for Western-style sourdough bread. You'll find precisely zero comments saying "ahh... this is too involved!" Like proper sourdough bread, proper Char Siu Bao *is* involved. If you're not into making it yourself, totally understandable - give you local Dim Sum restaurant some more well deserved business!
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
So more notes from me, lol EDITED on 27th Aug, adding note No. 8. 1. Making sure you're using a clean container: When making the mother and the starter dough, make sure the container is clean and free of oil. We don't want too much "extra" bacterial in the fermentation process. Also, before you knead the dough together, remember to wash your hands thoroughly with hand soap/detergent. Knead with a wet hand is OK. 2. Using stand mixer: You can totally use stand mixer, in fact it'll save you a lot of the trouble avoiding sticking to your hand, and it'll easier if you're making a bigger batch. Just follow the steps, and mix the stuff in on speed one. Be careful not to overmix. 3. The texture of the dough: This is a relatively soft and sticky dough. It'll be quite sticky at the time after the dough is form with the dry ingredients and before adding the lard. If you'e familiar with bread making, I'd say it's similar to a 60-65% hydration dough. 4. Remember to use a damp towel to cover the bowl when resting the finished dough. Wet it again at the half hour mark if your towel is getting dry. Because you really want to keep it soft and moist. 5. Using the sound to check alkalinity: Experienced Chinese pastry chefs can judge the alkalinity by the sound of the dough. Basic idea: if the dough's sound is dull and heavy, then it's on the alkaline side (not enough fermentation thus not enough small wholes); if the dough sounds too much like a smacking (we describe the sound as "pia"), then it's still on the acidic side (too heavy on fermentation and too airy inside). So the sound should be somewhere in between. Of course, smelling it at the earlier stage before adding dry ingredients would be more helpful, lol. 6. Beaware of the bun breaking: While we want to bun to crack, we don't want it to break along the pleats. One possible culprit here would be the filling. If the filling gets into your pleats, it may cause breaking along the pleats or leaking. So if you're not too confident in wrapping baozi, try to switch the ratio of the filling to half char siu and half sauce, this will make it less "saucy" and makes it easier to wrap and ensure the pleats are intact. 7. Making and storing a bigger batch: We made a very small batch here, because we already have multiple testing batches lying in the fridge and freezer, lol. Right, you can totally make a bigger batch. After steaming, you can stored the cooled down ones in ziplock bags or air-tight container and freezer them (I have a batch that's been freezing for 6 months, lol). They freeze really well. When you're about to eat them, just take them out directly from the freezer, put them in a steamer and steam on high heat for 12 minutes, then they'll be ready to serve. 8. About the ammonium bicarbonate smell So right, the ammonium bicarbonate flavor is quite strong if you eat right after steaming. I'd recommend that after steaming, you let it sit for an hour or two and let any remaining ammonium bicarbonate gas evaporate and then steam it again for 8 minutes to heat it up before serving (and obviously you can also save them up and reheat it whenever you want). Resting after steaming is how some restaurants do in order to achieve a better taste (same idea of letting alkaline noodle rest after making it and thus getting rid of the alkaline taste and smell). *IMPORTANT* : Our bottle of "Choufen" (the smelling powder/ammonium bicarbonate), is a mixture of ammonium bicarbonate *AND* sodium bicarbonate, but it doesn't give out the ratio. Some product you'd be using may be higher in ammonium bicarbonate content and giving the buns a stronger ammonia smell. For us, the buns would have a slight hint of ammonia, but it disappears after we let it sit for two hours and re-steam it. I think the smell may have to do with the ammonium bicarbonate ratio. Also, for the stuff that we're using, the suggested ratio printed on the jar is 1-3% of the total weight of the flour (which the high end is way higher than the ratio called for if just using *pure* *ammonium* *bicarbonate* ). You should refer to the label on the product you're using and see what is in it (pure ammonium bicarbonate or a mixture with other leavening agents) and what percentage it suggests. If you're using *pure* ammonium bicarbonate, the percentage should weight 0.5%-1.5% of the starter dough, instead of the 2% "choufen (smelling powder)" that we called for in the recipe. In this case, you can use 1% *pure* ammonium bicarbonate and 1% baking soda (1% of the weight of the starter dough, i.e. 200 grams in this recipe), it should work similarly with "Choufen".
@teiklee85006 жыл бұрын
Chinese Cooking Demystified t
@rhijulbec16 жыл бұрын
Chinese Cooking Demystified Love these explanations! Thank you and Steph for doing them, Chris. Now. Chris. A request ~ and a bit of "motherly" advice. Stop self deprecating! There's never anything to apologize for! Things beyond your control ~ lighting in your kitchen, your voice, for goodness sake. Yes, saying your pronunciation of a second language could use improvement is ~sort of ok. But for goodness sake, so, so few people learn to speak a second language, let alone different dialects! You should be deeply proud! But to say your English voice is "bad enough"? No, just no! It's yours. It's not harsh, whiny, too high pitched, too low, not loud enough, too loud~do you get the picture? We ALL hate the sound of our own voices. So take my word for it, please. It is absolutely no problem listening for 5, 10 or 15 minutes! Your timbre, enunciation and pronunciation are perfect. Nuff said. ☺ Old(ish) subscriber rant over. ☺ You are both doing a bang up job at this! I'm so proud of you. This is so obviously a labour of love and it's deeply appreciated. Love Jenn 💖 in Canada 🍁
@randomstoragespace6 жыл бұрын
@@thisissteph9834 you realise I am Correct and block instead. Interesting approach. I enjoyed how you mentioned the chef 除胁 from the CCTV show like he is a close mentor to you too.
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
@@randomstoragespace Well, really, if you're so good then do a video or recipe to prove it, share your great knowledge with the world, be a force of good. We need legit resources. I delete all your previous comments because it's annoying to see a jerk being mean to others. I'm done dealing with crazy attention whores that bark like a mad dog. And apparently, you even bothered to register a new account and come back to keep barking. Never mentioned Chen Xun as my mentor, I said I learned the importance of heat from him. Btw, you got his name's characters wrong. So guess you can't read Chinese?
@natecote10583 жыл бұрын
I only trust chinese food recipes if the cook mixes with chop sticks. you guys are amazing. truly feels demystified.
@amandaholm46592 жыл бұрын
It is really all in the chop sticks 😌
@callumhinwood83144 жыл бұрын
I did it I finally did it, I made them!!!! They’re amazing although so much work but totally worth it. The flavours were so perfect especially combined with the home made char siu recipe. Absolutely better than the frozen ones I buy, it’ll be hard to go back to them after the leftovers run out. I think the only thing that I needed to do differently would be cover with a lid and towel to get more intense steam.
@pur3devil4 жыл бұрын
Wow! Thanks for showing us how it is made! The difficulty and lengthiness of making char siu baos are no joke! it just shows how much detail is required to perfect the art of Chinese cuisine. I’m really glad you’re also sharing and keeping this available for generations to come because I’m so scared that one day no one will continue to make these authentic beautiful dishes.
@omniscientsights2 жыл бұрын
I’m Cantonese and I’ve had these since I was a little kid. They’re still my favorite food to this day.
@void.reality6 жыл бұрын
Another dish that I have taken for granted for decades. BBQ pork buns were the highlight of mum taking us as kids to yum cha / dim sum 30 years ago. I'll never make this at home, but I now have a profound respect for Char Siu Bao. Thank you for making these videos!
@carolinesulisthio23106 жыл бұрын
I really love watching your channel! Although there are so many complaints, but this is the real way how to cook authentic chinese dishes. Seriously, if people don't like it, they should just buy from store. I fully support the hardwork you put in making the authentic way. thank you! i will definitely try this one
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
Cheers! So right, you can tag us on Instagram if you made this~
@alanmak9846 жыл бұрын
Personally I have great respect for dim sum because of the amount effort and complexity in making them to just a satisfactory standard.
@khanomkrokfrombccanada86924 жыл бұрын
I have been looking for chinese steam bun recipe and watch so many videos This is first video that use natural yeast dough I will try this recipe for sure This video teach more detail Very clear Thank you to Steph for sharing the recipe and all details and explanation Thank you Chris to speak english very clear and not too fast not too slow just perfect Like teacher like professional
@aviatorix88056 жыл бұрын
I might have to work my way up to this recipe, but I am elated that you created such an in-depth video on the subject. Thank you.
@Jiji-dv2tl5 жыл бұрын
Watching from California! Thank you both so much for this incredible recipe. I look forward to perfecting it this coming year for my boyfriend who's Cantonese :)
@danielmark87746 жыл бұрын
Of all the videos I've watch in the past, I must give you full props on the ingredients and spot on methods! My father was a Dim Sum Sifu in Guangzhou and showed me how to make this once, But over the years, I have forgotten some of the ingredients and you brought it all back. Special thanks for such an awesome legit video!
@stormbob6 жыл бұрын
That is a whole lot of work and like Steph said, "a bit on the complex side." I'll continue to get my bao at restaurants, but my respect to Chris and Steph for even attempting this. (Side note: that is the largest container of cream of tartar I've ever seen, and probably enough cream of tartar to last an entire Chinese village for an entire century. I shudder to think what a container that large would cost in the US, considering that a standard spice jar-sized container is $3.)
@ChineseCookingDemystified6 жыл бұрын
lol we live next to the wholesale market for the district, kinda by design. The selection's incredible, but for some products they only have large restaurant-sized containers. That container was about 40 CNY (5-6 bucks US), so not that bad. But yeah, we'll never ever be able to finish it. But yeah, Steph's been working on this for ages. Tough recipe, lots of variables, and there's so much nonsense out there (in Chinese, no less) that can throw you off course. Like, not using yeast was a big 'aha!' moment.
@kidzvrevo43906 жыл бұрын
Me too.. I better buying in the the restaurant
@jeffleong99862 жыл бұрын
The way you make these with all the time and effort is the true definition of cooking with love!!
@jellyclam4 жыл бұрын
I tried a few of your recipes and they always come out great! I tried the char siu bao after watching the video 30 times, and it was a success. Fluffy and cracked like at the restaurant. I tried using 3g or 4g (the brand i use is Pure bought on amz), the 4g def gives an ammonium smell but leftovers heated the next day didn’t have any smell. Didn’t notice any difference in fluffiness/cracking. Keep on posting more ‘technical’ cooking videos, thank you!
@hopeking35712 жыл бұрын
Did you use 4g or did you add the 2g of baking soda mentioned, I also bought the pure brand but not sure which route to take
@jellyclam2 жыл бұрын
I added 1g baking soda to the 3g ammonium, and also tried just the 4g ammonium by itself. The mix is better than just the ammonium by itself!
@markthorne69276 жыл бұрын
I love Char Siu Bao. Chinese food is amazing.
@novaprospects4 жыл бұрын
Wow so many steps to this recipe, not to mention all the different ingredients and prep work.
@ayip17295 жыл бұрын
When she opened the steamer and I saw all those fluffy baos...I squealed with joy! What else can I use the dough for?
@bggines_12607 ай бұрын
My friend chef used to do this some three decades back🤭! I hepled him with the wrapping and i also remember him using the old chinese weighing scale like the ones you hold by hand doing some balancing act!😊 Thanx for sharing the ingredients!🥰
@MrLubolubo6 жыл бұрын
All the work you guys do is bang on. You're incredibly thorough and true to the original processes and recipes. But when are you doing Har Gow???
@justingyi47024 жыл бұрын
Made these today for the first time (roast pork was purchased in Quincy, MA and had 5+ year old sourdough on hand but all else was from scratch following the recipe precisely). We were able to purchase all ingredients including the choufan and soy paste! The bao turned out wonderfully well - except for the very strong ammonia smell due to the choufen. Next time, i will try 2gm of that powder and hope the smell is not so bad. I also adjusted the filling in each bun to have more meat (25 grams of filling per bao, utilizing a total of 120g of char siu - since we felt that the recipe as given was somehow light in the meat for each bun). Thank you so much for a fantastic recipe. Looking forward to your northern mantou recipe.
@ChineseCookingDemystified4 жыл бұрын
If the ammonia smell is strong after the first steam, you can freeze the steamed baos in the freezer in ziplock bag for a couple days, this would help with the smell a lot. Ours doesn't have the smell after the sitting. Some people report failure of the dough, but seeing you had success with an old sourdough, now I'm guessing the failures may be caused by young and not strong enough starter.
@justingyi47023 жыл бұрын
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Hello again! So far, I have made your recipe about 5 times. Being a sourdough fanatic, I have tried tweaking the recipe in several areas. Just wanted to say first that this recipe makes the very best char siu bao I have tasted - including in very good restaurants. The one thing I wanted to let you know is that the buns do stand up to extended steaming (to about 12-15 minutes depending on how well the steam is trapped inside the steamers). I have found that wrapping the connecting area between the water and the lowest steaming tray will greatly help retain the steam inside the trays. Adding a few more minutes to the initial steaming also greatly reduces the smell of ammonia. My research of that particular chemical indicates that the ammonia smell dissipates with longer heating - thus making sure the heat stays inside the steaming units and increasing the cooking time helps to remove that strong smell. Lastly, I have also found that reducing the amount of choufen slightly, will work to puff up the final product and yet lessen the ammonia. Hope this is helpful to everyone who is trying to make this wonderful recipe. Thank you for your hard work and sharing.
@r00zTa4 жыл бұрын
much more complicated than I expected but they are so worth it nice work
@SammyBirdTheGreat5 жыл бұрын
These comments are some of the most wholesome and helpful I’ve ever come across!!!
@erinhowett36306 жыл бұрын
I wanted to tell you guys that because of you, I ventured in to my first Asian supermarket. And now it's my happy place.
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
So what's your favorite stuff from Asian supermarket so far?
@erinhowett36306 жыл бұрын
Steph - Chinese Cooking Demystified Sweet potato noodles, shrimp crisps, Szechuan peppercorns. I made chili oil!
@erinhowett36306 жыл бұрын
Steph - Chinese Cooking Demystified Oh, and black rice!
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
Haha, black rice is my favorite in mixed grain rice. Btw, have you ever tried stir frying sweet potato noodles? They have this dish in Korea. I love that texture~
@erinhowett36306 жыл бұрын
I got the idea for potato noodles from mu shu pork video (i think) where you talk about spring pancakes and what's tasty in them but don't actually make the pancakes. You show a stir fry with potato noodles and cabbage. But then I saw the sweet potato ones and wanted to try them, now I'm hooked! Question about something else I picked up though. I got these tiny dried shrimp that I've been using to flavor soup and oil and such, but they seem kind of inedible. Are you supposed to eat the tiny shrimp? I'd say they're about as big as my thumbnail. They make my broth taste great, but I'm a little put off by the idea of eating un-deveined shrimp.
@JJoeisCooking5 жыл бұрын
This is one of the first Chinese eating experiences I had. Still a favorite.
@tediekgb Жыл бұрын
This channel is the only one that gets it right….for all their recipes
@ceceyam5 жыл бұрын
You two are an absolute powerhouse. Your videos are incredibly detailed and well thought-out. Thanks for the vinegar tip on how to keep the bread white. I always wondered why my family's 饅頭 never look quite like the ones in restaurants and bakeries. Hope to use the 叉燒 filling recipe in conjunction with the 菠蘿包 recipe to try replicating the 叉燒包 from Tim Ho Wan!
@thisissteph98345 жыл бұрын
Haha, the baked char siu bao at Tim Ho Wan uses a different topping than the one we showed in our bolobao video. We'll definitely make the baked version some day~
@ceceyam5 жыл бұрын
@@thisissteph9834 I'm looking forward to it!!
@allesuye25515 жыл бұрын
Wow, I salute you both for such a detailed video plus all the update information and explanation. Really appreciate all your work. Thanks!
@thisissteph98345 жыл бұрын
Cheers and thanks~~
@8siufei86 жыл бұрын
This is definitely the definitive video on the preparation of this Chinese Yum Cha favourite. Many thanks for your extremely thorough presentation. Others pale by comparison.
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
Cheers~ We did hope to "demystify" how the dough is made since there's like no information online about the two starters.
@kwaiholi59736 жыл бұрын
John Robins 111:
@spaceinvader3846 жыл бұрын
So much detail on both theory and action, same as usual and topped it up with a little bit of history too. This makes it look easy but it's hard to perfect. Glorious video. Love it. Congrats to both of you nice people for sharing.
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
Cheers and thx~ :)
@micah48015 жыл бұрын
Your char siu bao look legit! Even down to the square paper and how they crack open. I am learning so much from your videos. Also, that is the biggest container of Cream of Tartar I have even seen.
@ChineseCookingDemystified5 жыл бұрын
Yeah these were a lot of blood sweat & tears to figure out lol. Most Dim Sum restaurants nowadays understandably buy premade 'Char Siu Bao leavening' mixes that they can use with their sourdough. We kept on having an issue with having ours overly alkaline, so I recommended Cream of Tartar (how Western cooking would deal with the problem). Then as it turns out, some of the leavening mixes actually do contain Cream of Tartar!
@felixt2124 жыл бұрын
as someone who has worked in a Chinese dimsum kitchen on the dimsum section I can say this is a really good vid!
@ericstorm4613 Жыл бұрын
Amazing. So detailed and consistent through out. You guys love your videos!
@huima72644 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the recipe! It is a very good recipe. I used western sourdough starter with success and didn’t use cream of tartar. I tried the recipe twice. Just as you said the result might not be great at the first go. The result of the first time was kinda dry and didn’t puff up so much. So I made some changes: 1. Slightly increased the amount of ammonium carbonate. 2. I substitute some part of cake flour with wheat starch. 3. Added some egg white. 4. Doubled the amount of lard. The result was great, not yellow at all, exactly like what you have in a dim sum restaurant.
@lor92894 жыл бұрын
ทำปลาหมึกแช่
@ChineseCookingDemystified4 жыл бұрын
Cool! Thanks for sharing the notes, this is such a difficult thing to make that feedback and notes are always helpful for others that're having troubles.
@Clairevoyante6 жыл бұрын
I'm a simple woman. I see bao, I like.
@callumburns48094 жыл бұрын
These are a serious fav of mine and always wanted to know how they were made, think these are above my cook capability, but again luved the video as always!!!
@jamescecil34176 жыл бұрын
Made them exactly as you showed all the way, scallion oil - awesome also added it to your congee with a soy, downed the whole pot. Char siu - Deelish! The bao had the right consistency but it still had the ammonium bicarbonate pungency to a still edible but not too pleasant degree I steamed for around 12 minutes, I'll try backing off a bit on the Ammonium bicarbonate and steaming a bit longer next time.
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
So right, the ammonium bicarbonate flavor is quite strong, you can try to dial it down a bit, but not too much as it's the key for the cracks. Another thing is that after steaming, you can let it sit for an hour or two and let the smell evaporate and then steam it again for 8 minutes before serving. That's how some restaurants do in order to achieve a better taste (same idea of letting alkaline noodle rest after making it and thus getting rid of the alkaline taste and smell).
@meganchow37453 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much for your clear explanation and recipes. I made the bbq buns several time before, but it turned out did not look right. Your bbq buns look perfect and I will try it make it later.
@DirtyGingy5 жыл бұрын
As someone that only speaks English, I want to thank you and mildly curse you for making me want to get my passport. Maybe some day I can just disappear for a year and take in the sights of sichuan, then maybe Laos, Thailand, Singapore, and a few other regions. Really, thanks for the inspiration. My kitchen is not the same anymore.
@thisissteph98345 жыл бұрын
It's always nice to see comments like this:) We love exploring China and Asia, and it's always nice being able to show people what it's like (food-wise) here~
@mykeforu3 жыл бұрын
i died at the "ammonia bicarbonate is basically baking soda on steroids" LMAAAAAAAAO
@juliecheong30276 жыл бұрын
Your video is really god sent. I had wasted a ton load of ingredients trying to make char siu pau. I gave up, after my fifth try, produced buns that were spotted brown after steaming and not to mention dense and doughy as usual, as well. Any idea as to why the dough became dotted with brown spots after steaming? Does using Crisco or any type of vegetable shortening affect the dough? Indeed, most recipes found on KZbin or online are way too simplistic in my opinion. The results always taste bread like. Bread dough that has been steamed instead of baked. Never ever did I get fluffy, cotton soft textured buns like those sold at dim sum restaurants. From the looks of that steamed pau of yours, I am sure I have found a recipe worthy of an attempt again. Thank you for giving me hope again.
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
I hear you sister, lol. I had the same problem and I almost gave up on char siu bao too. But with enough obsessiveness and getting tired of the bullshit floating out there online, I dig deeper on old Cantonese cookbooks and interviews on old dim sum chefs. So long story short, the brown spots means the dough is overly alkaline and the ammonium bicarbonate is not mixed well enough. I don't know if you used a sourdough starter, the sourdough would help balance. But sometimes it's not enough, that's why I added creme of tartar to add acidity and ensure the consistent air is being created in the process. If you want to make sure you get it white, you can mix in 1/8 tsp of white rice vinegar in the dough besides adding vinegar in the steaming water. You can use shorterning to help with the color too, but I prefer the taste of lard. For the texture, cake flour is one of the keys. Don't use AP, thay may be the cause of the bread like texture. You can tag us on instagram with result of this recipe, we may be able to help you trouble shooting if it's not there (so many variables in the process so I can't guarantee that you'll be there 100% the first time you make it :) ). But I do hope you give a try and success!
@dragonfly16206 жыл бұрын
First off, it's almost impossible to get the fluffy and snowy white homemade Pao at home because of the addictive and the processed flour used by restaurants. For the brown spots though, did you let the buns cool for few minutes after steaming before lifting the cover? After the heat is turn off, let the buns rest for about 5-10 minutes before uncovering the lid.
@ChineseCookingDemystified6 жыл бұрын
+Jocelyn Chong kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXnVn5KmfbxlqdEm2s Joking aside... to reiterate, it has nothing to do with the flour... but rather the balance between the alkalinity and the acid in the dough :) Yellow spots = an overly alkaline dough.
@alyssabrown64806 жыл бұрын
@@thisissteph9834 Once I mistakingly using baking soda and my entire batch turn brownish yellow after steaming. 😂
@thedang4phim5 жыл бұрын
Hello there,first of all,I thankful when I found your recipy. I'm done many recipy with yeast,ofcouse the buns turned out dry and not taste like real Chinese bun. Your generosity sharing this recipy, I THANKYOU from my heart, I am going give it a try or even have to do it twice or more, I still want to make homemade buns for my family. Wish me luck and I keep watching your next videos.
@zalibecquerel34636 жыл бұрын
My god this is complicated. I loved every minute of it! Thank you!
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
It's complicate, but now with the starter lying around, it feels like I can just make it for breakfirst in the morning, lol.
@jayoppie30216 жыл бұрын
I love this recipe! It looks complicated but once i try it and see the end result I'm sure I'm gonna be hosting yam cha more often 😍 I've tried your sui mai recipe and it's incredible! Thanks always.
@lilyandmimi87284 жыл бұрын
Jay Oppie where you found the recipes ? I cant found it 😭😭
@ronnieng46495 жыл бұрын
Thank so much for sharing, looks indeed yummmy hense similar to those serve in dim sum restaurant
@SeanQuinn4 Жыл бұрын
Just made these using lorann's baker's ammonia and the recommended 2g/2g baking soda. I also subbed potato starch for the mung bean flour. I accidentally omitted the lard in the final dough, but the texture seemed okay without it. However, the ammonia smell still overwhelmed me to the point of not being able to enjoy them, even when cut. We steamed for 10 minutes, but perhaps we needed more time, as some of the bottoms of the baozi still had some soft/wet spots where they were thinner. That was a bummer, but thankfully I made 1kg of char siu for this, so our freezer is stocked for additional iterations. I will happily report that the potato starch seemed to be a good call for the bao sauce, though. Good overall consistency especially considering I also used lard as my scallion fat.
@lucialebar40204 жыл бұрын
How come 8 buns go in the steaming tray and 10 buns came out
@Cerelac893 жыл бұрын
finally someone said this, I also found the bao that entered the steamer was different from the one that came out. The folds of the buns are also different.
@janychau5 жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing this! You put a lot of effort into this and it does make me appreciate what's goes into making the (not so) humble char Siu bao. It's worth a go!!!! I'm game! Thanks
@gingerginger9996 жыл бұрын
THis channel is so good; recipes are explained in great detail!
@karenkuakaylin42342 жыл бұрын
Wow it's a lot of time to prepare the mother DOUGH RECIPE..Pau looks smiling at you ALSO patience must be there too
@pipsasqeak8206 жыл бұрын
5:06 I could listen to that sound all day
@44tknguyen6 жыл бұрын
I knew your instructions are the best! Thank you!
@alexk15933 жыл бұрын
thank you for all the great content. really enjoy all your videos.
@PandemoniumMeltDown4 жыл бұрын
Makes one desire these chefs live a thousand years so they can spam us more precious recipes XD. I love Bao!
@geoseeker1013 жыл бұрын
Yeah when I have a spare 3 days to make some Bao dough... This will be my go to recipe
@michaeltiefenbach72064 жыл бұрын
Wow! I've made steam buns before and I always wondered how to make this style of buns. I didn't realize how much more time and effort goes into this style. 😢
@CeCiLiA2601 Жыл бұрын
Hello, thank you for sharing this recipe. I would like to ask for the reactivating of Mother Dough, the addition of 100 flour and 50 water is regardless of the amount of mother dough needed to be activated? For example if I have 50g or 150g of mother dough from the freezer to be activated, do I use the same 100g flour and 50g water addition to both, if not what is the % to add actually? Also, the activation of mother dough schedule ends in the am to proceed to making of sourdough, which means one would end up making the Char Siu baos in the evening? Unless I have miss a step somewhere? Thank you so much for you help on this 😅🙏🏻
@Satoshi98013 жыл бұрын
I don't know if I'll ever make these. I'll probably just stick to basic baozi. Nevertheless, I find this video fun to watch because of all the components that make up this dish.
@thomasnowell6 жыл бұрын
Thanks for another great video. I have huge respect for the both of you for going into the depth and explaining why everything is done. May I ask where you (narrator) are from? Your accent/dialect is fantastic!
@jo-annnguyen73746 жыл бұрын
I made it, the dough came out perfect just like at Dim Sum place. I need to practice more on the folding technique. Thank you Chris and Steffanie :)
@jo-annnguyen73746 жыл бұрын
I wish i can attach the picture of my baoz
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
Oh cool! You can tag us on instagrame~ same name as the channel
@TristouMTL2 жыл бұрын
I'm late to the party, but thank you, thank you, thank you for this recipe! Yes, I will make it, someday, when I manage to get enough courage. But even if it's not a dish to be whipped up on a busy Wednesday evening, it is soooo nice to see the whole thing done properly! I've had real Char Sui Bao and I've had the cake-like cheap stuff, and there is no contest: the cheap version has the wrong texture, the wrong taste, and you (or at least I) end up eating just the the filling and throwing out most of the tasteless bun. Properly made, everything comes together to be exactly right, and the dough's extremely light but still firm texture and its slightly sour taste complement the smooth filling perfectly, and instead of feeling cheated as if you just ate a Twinkie, your mouth is left happy, you have a huge smile of satisfaction, and a nice warm belly.
@choitran3445 жыл бұрын
wow!!!!!! i didnt realise making bao was this complicated....thankq for sharing!
@ChineseCookingDemystified5 жыл бұрын
Haha Char Siu Bao's sorta its own special thing... you can find a more 'general purpose' Baozi here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/onjVZHttjbugpMk
@toddstropicals6 жыл бұрын
Glad I have my Chinese grandma down the street, she makes them for me providing I make the char sui and give her some lotus tubers 😀
@timhalford6843 жыл бұрын
Your videos are at another level. Made another batch today but with limited resources, no ammonium bicarb and very low protein flour. The buns were cracked wide open. Do you reckon there's a relationship between flour protein/gluten formation and the amount of cracking? I'm imagining tearing a cake vs tearing bread. Thanks for all the content.
@matthewl67004 жыл бұрын
Hi! As for the mung bean flour, I see two kinds here, one is raw and the other is baked. Which one is in this recipe, or is okay to use either?
@fuzzitiger6 жыл бұрын
Ah ha!!!!! The secret of the dough! Thanks so much for sharing!
@lenang93322 жыл бұрын
Nice cooking 👍 you make amazing cha chiu bao. 😊
@southpark55555 жыл бұрын
Thumbs up on this video. I've been searching for years now on a 'real' (proper) steamed bun recipe/technique, and pretty much all of the OTHER online instructions either end up with results that are absolutely not the real excellent ones shown in this video (ie. the proper chinese chinese dim sum restaurant ones!), or just some kind of smooth skin bun that is not fluffy at all. This video is the only one that appears to give the proper and full run-down and secrets on how to make the dim-sum restaurant (proper) steamed bun. Thanks very much for presenting this video. I will try it. I believe finally we have the real deal here. I had - for a very very very very long time - been interested in how they actually make the steamed buns exactly like the ones shown in the video. I had never succeeded --- the reason is --- those other so-called steam-bun recipes turn out to be totally simplistic, and missing all these critical steps (which those so-called instructors or home-cooks probably had absolutely no idea about). But - also - there are many published cook-books that also teach simplistic misleading steps --- like mix flour/water/yeast/baking powder etc. Totally misleading. So, once again - hats off to the maker of this video clip - I genuinely thank you for teaching us the proper way.
@ChineseCookingDemystified5 жыл бұрын
Cheers, appreciate it! Just a heads up that it *is* a tough recipe, took a while to get down and people's results have been roughly 50/50 - some people've been happily able to recreate with success, others have generally had issues with their starter or the ammonium bicarbonate they're using. So if you don't happen to get it on the first try, let us know and we'd be happy to help troubleshoot :) I think the big problem with Char Siu Bao is that it's very much it's own thing - they branched off from other Baozi quite a while ago. So I think maybe some English language writers might know how to make Baozi, throw their hands up in the air (as it isn't easy), toss some Char Siu in a Baozi and call it 'Char Siu Bao'.
@southpark55555 жыл бұрын
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Thanks for the heads-up! Very good point you made too about the Baozi!!!!! I think you hit that one right on the head! I believe you're right about it. You certainly covered all bases with this topic. That's why I'm extremely impressed about all this. I will remember this.....about what you mentioned. Thanks again! Best regards.
@patavinity12626 жыл бұрын
Best channel on KZbin.
@georgefisher9455 жыл бұрын
Great video. Thank you for making it.
@casaskitchen79205 жыл бұрын
hello please give me a recipe and how to make it more detailed bánh bao xá xíu , Thank you
@lisachen20792 ай бұрын
For the Starter Dough, do you use 75g or 80g of water? The recipe said 80g, but I think you said 75g. I like to make these baos, but i don't want to mess up. Please let me know. Thank you!
@NewbiaLeogetti2 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much for this detailed recipe. Since you recommend 2 g of ammonium bicarbonate and 2 g of baking soda, could I go ahead and just use all baking soda? I’d like to avoid spending money on something I will only use 2 grams of.
@thuykuty51253 ай бұрын
Very nice the work done
@Cypher4026 жыл бұрын
You guys rock! Dim Sum might be my favorite food on the planet. Any plans to make Lo Mai Gai?
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
Lo Mai Gai is on the list. It should be coming out in the coming monthes. We wanna pace out the dim sum recipes though, something like one in a month or two. And it also takes a lot of time to test~ Like this one took more than half a year, lol.
@Cypher4026 жыл бұрын
Awesome!! Thanks for the reply. Wowzers, that's amazing. Thanks for all the hard work. This is really exciting and humbling to see how this amazing food is made on a high level.
@justingyi47024 жыл бұрын
@@thisissteph9834 The work you put into researching this recipe shows! Just made 10 char siu bao using your recipe, and although there is a strong ammonia aroma to them, they will NOT last the night..... I WILL finish them.....Thank you so much!
@TheCelestialhealer2 жыл бұрын
Really great work you guys!!
@boredombuster20006 жыл бұрын
Hey, I have an idea! So a while ago when I was at the Chinese supermarket, I was looking at the ingredients of Lee Kum Kee's various brown sauces and saw that their hoisin was made with sweet potatoes, char siu with honey, and so on ... So what I'd love to see is an explanation of these different brown sauces, what makes them tick, and how to make them at home.
@tessafromsandiego8884 жыл бұрын
Hi, I’m trying to prepare the scallion oil, is it ok to use other type of oil instead of peanut oil? I have olive , avocado or canola at home? Is it that critical. Thank you, I enjoyed your videos very much and I would like you know that I was successful on making your Baozi. Thanks again.
@enkii824 жыл бұрын
it's fine. you just have to add a bell pepper and cilantro.
@littleidiotka3 жыл бұрын
Never tried other oil, olive oil is bitter in my opinion. But you can try using sesame oil
@griff17094 ай бұрын
what should you do with the starter dough if you want to steam for dinner later in the day? Put it in the fridge, make the final dough and rest that in the fridge or just steam and resteam later?
@Englishnini8 ай бұрын
Thank you for showing how to make the mother dough, what do you do with the left over?
@Arkadiy96111 ай бұрын
Hello, watched a Chinese dim sum restaurant make these in China. They used "alkaline" water in the doufh, what would that be in your recipe? That had ammonium, baking powder, and the water was to balance out the sourness.
@ualuuanie3 жыл бұрын
LOL who would have thought a small little bun like that have so many processes and ingredients
@SueChenTranslationpluss6 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much for the knowledge!! Fascinating. CSB's my favourite. NOW I know how it's made. It'll be a whole new different experience for me next time i eat one :).
@hamally5 жыл бұрын
This is crazy amount of effort well done
@Bojoschannel6 жыл бұрын
Great video as always, could this be done with “regular” sourdough instead? On a sidenote i have another question: Is salt different in China, as if less strong or are the grains bigger? Not trying to insult you or anything, but i have already tried some recipes from your channel and i always cut some of the salt. The dishes still end great and even sometimes a little bit too salty. I ask this mainly because i started cooking “traditional” chinese food fist via websites and some of the recipes had the same problem, i followed some step by step and the result was inedible. The one i use is not that fine, somewhat between table salt and sea salt.
@ChineseCookingDemystified6 жыл бұрын
Hmm... interesting question. First off, what brand of salt are you using? Maybe we could pick up a bag on Taobao and do a little taste test. That said, I'd guess that soy sauce and/or chili bean paste (i.e. Pixian Doubanjiang) brands might be more to blame. If you get low quality of either one of those two things, they're more 'sharp/salty' and less umami. Which brands are you using for those? When we test these recipes, we use "Yipinxian" soy sauce and "Juanchengpai" chili bean paste... both of which are pretty good (the best mass produced brands in our opinion) and I could find at the Chinese supermarket in Philly back in the USA. Of course, it might also just be different taste buds working differently. Neither me nor Steph are the sort that are particularly sensitive to salinity - e.g. 'balanced' for me is 'too salty' for my Mom. Re the sourdough you got, what's the water:flour ratio? If it's 1:2 you're good to go and you can jump in at 1:09 :)
@ChineseCookingDemystified6 жыл бұрын
Ah well, yeah I guess I'll trust ya on the salt then :) Perhaps next time you're in a Chinese supermarket, pick up some salt there and see if you can tell a difference ('Sichuan salt', if available). Re the chili bean paste, I personally dislike Lee Kum Kee. Fuschia Dumlop was talking to one of her chef friends about it, and this was his opinion (which I'd agree with): "Chef Zhang points out that [Lee Kum Kee Chili Bean Paste] is made by a Cantonese rather than a Sichuanese company, and contains various non-traditional additives, such as sugar, garlic, modified cornstarch, lactic acid and two flavour enhancers. (It’s hard to understand why additives are required in a product that traditionally keeps well and is intensely flavoured…) He didn’t feel this was really suitable for creating an authentic Sichuanese ‘homestyle flavour’ (家常味型), because the colour and the flavour were wrong. (Sichuanese chilli bean pastes, once matured, have a deep, almost-purplish red colour.)" We use Juanchengpai when testing, which is generally in our opinion the best of the mass produced stuff (there's a Sichuan shop at our local market that sells some awesome artisinal stuff, we've gotta like force ourselves not to use it for the sake of replication haha). I could find it at the Chinese supermarket near my parent's place in Philly, or it's also (super over-priced) on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Sichuan-Pixian-Boad-Paste-Chili/dp/B01M31VHNZ/
@Bojoschannel6 жыл бұрын
Chinese Cooking Demystified That’s a great idea, the salt one, would you like me to share the results with you? I’ll see if i can find the brand you mentioned since amazon isn’t available in my town :( In case i can’t find it, would i become persona non grata in sichuan if i use lee kum kee? 😩
@ChineseCookingDemystified6 жыл бұрын
Haha use what you got! Just try to opt for something nicer if you have a choice. Like, where we live in Shenzhen fresh western herbs cost a damn fortune, so when I'm cooking Western food I use dried. Is it a perfect solution? Nope. Can you still whip up some tasty food? Absolutely. Or if you're up for a project, ChinaSichuanFood (great blog btw, best English language blog for Chinese food by far) has a recipe for how to ferment it yourself: www.chinasichuanfood.com/doubanjiang/
@Bojoschannel6 жыл бұрын
Chinese Cooking Demystified heh, that’s like my main source for chinese cooking :) But sure, sometimes it is more about the technique and process than about the ingredients, i’ll see what i can do
@GoldenIP3216 жыл бұрын
those look literally identical to the bbq pork buns at dim sum! delicious :)
@krislove11676 жыл бұрын
Honeymuffin those are bbq pork buns!
@GoldenIP3216 жыл бұрын
yes they are! haha i meant to say they look very "authentic". home-made food usually doesn't look exactly like the ones you see in restaurants, but in this case it does!
@laikimhong98186 жыл бұрын
Honeymuffin 个
@Weeweesally4 жыл бұрын
Wow... watching this completely crushed any interest i had in making my own cha siu bao bc it's so ridiculously complicated
@southpark55553 жыл бұрын
I don't mind hard work. As long as it works. But apparently certain important steps or concise steps may have been left out in the video ------ which is probably why it doesn't work for everybody here yet.
@poleun9 Жыл бұрын
Is mung bean flour made from whole mung beans or is it mung bean starch like cornflour in the UK?
@alyssabrown64806 жыл бұрын
I cheated 😅, I just used instant yeast. Result is acceptably delicious. I made a few change to the filling too due to lack of ingredients. However, im so glad I found your channel, many times before my bao came out real soggy, well not anymore thanks to you.
@thisissteph98345 жыл бұрын
Cheers~in the future we will also make some buns using instant yeast~that's usually how buns are made nowadays.
@kokleongyee4 жыл бұрын
Hi, I have some clarifications to make, appreciate your help to advise. 1) You mentioned that we need to listen to the sound of the dough to check alkalinity. As the dough is already formed, how can I rectify it be it too acidic or alkaline? If it is too acidic/alkaline, do i just add more ammonium bicarbonate/cream of tartar respectively directly to the dough? I understand that the acidity of the starter depends on the temperature and the time used for its fermentation, but if i were to add more ammonium bicarbonate just to make the dough less acidity, then the issue of ammonia filled buns will result. If that's the case, should I use alkaline water instead? 2) Can i replace cream of tartar with vinegar or lemon juice? Thank you in advance.
@ChineseCookingDemystified4 жыл бұрын
To answer your questions: 1) You mentioned that we need to listen to the sound of the dough to check alkalinity. As the dough is already formed, how can I rectify it be it too acidic or alkaline? If it is too acidic/alkaline, do i just add more ammonium bicarbonate/cream of tartar respectively directly to the dough? I understand that the acidity of the starter depends on the temperature and the time used for its fermentation, but if i were to add more ammonium bicarbonate just to make the dough less acidity, then the issue of ammonia filled buns will result. If that's the case, should I use alkaline water instead? - Yes, if the dough is still too acidic after adding in the ammonia, try adding in a bit alkaline water to balance it. But given how strong baker's ammonia is, being on the alkaline side would be the more common problem. 2) Can i replace cream of tartar with vinegar or lemon juice? - Yes, some people use a touch white vinegar to balance it, but it may leave a slight hint of vinegar taste. Creme of tartar is more "tasteless". When adjusting, remember to smell the dough and judge. If not sure, take a little of the dough, steam it and see how it's like. Then adjust further from there. Good luck on the process!
@titikbeeler97843 жыл бұрын
Mine look pretty good, white and fluffy, but the smell of ammoniak is bothering me. I used 4 gram of west ammonium bicarbonate. But i will try with the half amount of it.
@HoangTrangNha5 жыл бұрын
Hi, i prepared mix 40g mother dough+80g water+160 cakeflour but after 8h, it didnt get double size although my motherdough is successful, thanks for reading
@casaskitchen79205 жыл бұрын
HoangTrangNha hi, can I ask questions? What is mother dough ?
@HoangTrangNha5 жыл бұрын
@@casaskitchen7920 mother dough theo mình hiểu là bột cái, gầy bột cái trước, sau 3 ngày thì cho thêm bột+nước vào nhồi để làm
@casaskitchen79205 жыл бұрын
Chị cho e hỏi mình làm nhiều và bảo quản bột cái như thế nào
@HoangTrangNha5 жыл бұрын
@@casaskitchen7920 phần bột cái dư thì mình tiếp tục cho ăn bột và nước nhưng định lượng thì chị chưa biết, đang hỏi 2 anh chị này mà chưa thấy trả lời.
@casaskitchen79205 жыл бұрын
HoangTrangNha định lượng e hiẻu được và làm thủ là 40 g bột mì đá dụng và 20g nước , nếu làm tăng định lượng này lên để trong tủ lạnh , chắc là khi nào hết mình lấy ra cho ăn tiếp ah
@bakecookandcreate99485 жыл бұрын
Very authentic. Good method if running a business but to satisfy the occasional char siu bao craving, I think I will just use the shop pre-mix bao flour. But thanks for sharing your recipe and method. I love watching food made authentically and you've done it incredibly well.
@southpark55554 жыл бұрын
Pre-mix is usually great - provides excellent results. But the point of this video is to offer a way to make real hong kong char siew bao without taking the 'easy way out' or the uneducated way out.
@ck18772 жыл бұрын
I like this recipe and really want to make char siu bao but I can’t hear well so I miss many word, can you please put subtitle on this. Thank you
@lymit09276 жыл бұрын
Wow.. That's what I've looked for on the whole internet. I've tried many recipes but failed continuously. I've found some tips in your guide and relised some hope in my next try :))) Btw, how long could we keep the mother dough for the next use? And how to keep it? Can we continue to feed it (40 g flour + 20g water) every day?
@thisissteph98346 жыл бұрын
It can stay in the fridge for a week, after that you'll want to freeze it. You can follow the baker's schedule on how to reactivate it after taking it out of the fridge. If you freeze it, thaw overnight in the fridge, then take it out and reactivate~ You can continue to feed it, but it'll end up getting really big, lol.
@vister67573 жыл бұрын
Thanks for sharing this recipe. How long do you let the dough to proof before steaming? Curious: why the need to add cream of tartar? I know dim sum chef don't use cream of tartar in the bao dough so may you tell me why do you use it and can I omit it?
@Pareltje286 жыл бұрын
Love your english video instructions!
@VietnameseCookingwithLaurel2 жыл бұрын
Great recipe
@Yelobutterflyable4 жыл бұрын
I shall gathered all ingredients i need before i start. Not be able to buy any sort of flour in 2 weeks. But now i have only plain flour. Had to buy baker's ammonia on ebay
@falanke12 жыл бұрын
is there a reason why cake flour is not used for mother dough?