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. kzread.info/dash/bejne/moZnm6Vud9DYYcY.html _____________ 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 KZread 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!

@thisissteph9834

6 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".

@teiklee8500

6 жыл бұрын

Chinese Cooking Demystified t

@rhijulbec1

6 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 🍁

@randomstoragespace

5 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.

@thisissteph9834

5 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?

I only trust chinese food recipes if the cook mixes with chop sticks. you guys are amazing. truly feels demystified.

@amandaholm4659

2 жыл бұрын

It is really all in the chop sticks 😌

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.

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.

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 :)

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!

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.

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

@thisissteph9834

5 жыл бұрын

Cheers! So right, you can tag us on Instagram if you made this~

Wow, I salute you both for such a detailed video plus all the update information and explanation. Really appreciate all your work. Thanks!

@thisissteph9834

5 жыл бұрын

Cheers and thanks~~

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

The way you make these with all the time and effort is the true definition of cooking with love!!

THis channel is so good; recipes are explained in great detail!

Personally I have great respect for dim sum because of the amount effort and complexity in making them to just a satisfactory standard.

Amazing. So detailed and consistent through out. You guys love your videos!

I knew your instructions are the best! Thank you!

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.)

@ChineseCookingDemystified

6 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.

@kidzvrevo4390

5 жыл бұрын

Me too.. I better buying in the the restaurant

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!

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

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???

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 :).

I love Char Siu Bao. Chinese food is amazing.

Wowie wow! Fantastic stuff. Thank you.

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?

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.

@lilyandmimi8728

4 жыл бұрын

Jay Oppie where you found the recipes ? I cant found it 😭😭

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.

@thisissteph9834

5 жыл бұрын

Cheers and thx~ :)

I’m Cantonese and I’ve had these since I was a little kid. They’re still my favorite food to this day.

Thank so much for sharing, looks indeed yummmy hense similar to those serve in dim sum restaurant

Thank you guys for this video!

Great video. Thank you for making it.

May I know after done the pao need immediately goto steam it or need to let pao getting bigger in outside before goto steam it ? Thanks

These comments are some of the most wholesome and helpful I’ve ever come across!!!

thank you for all the great content. really enjoy all your videos.

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!

@hopeking3571

2 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

@jellyclam

2 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!

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!!!

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!

@thisissteph9834

5 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~

@ceceyam

5 жыл бұрын

@@thisissteph9834 I'm looking forward to it!!

My god this is complicated. I loved every minute of it! Thank you!

@thisissteph9834

6 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.

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?

Makes one desire these chefs live a thousand years so they can spam us more precious recipes XD. I love Bao!

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!

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.

@ChineseCookingDemystified

4 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!

Love your english video instructions!

When she opened the steamer and I saw all those fluffy baos...I squealed with joy! What else can I use the dough for?

Really great work you guys!!

How long can I keep the mother dough before it stale?

If I wanted to make these in advance where would I stop. Can you simply fill wrap and place in the fridge or should I par steam and freeze the day before? I want to do a dim sum feast with about 5 different dishes but I don"t want to be in the kitchen when my guests are here any longer than I have to.

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!🥰

Thank you for showing how to make the mother dough, what do you do with the left over?

I am making this right now!!! Quick question though, is the first 24 hours of fermentation important? Unless there is a reason to do so could I just add in the 40g flour and 20g water after 12 hours on the first day?

Yes, i am very happy,becousa of your video,thank ,i want asking of dough.we cannot make dough without ammuniam pouder?plz could you tel me!

Ah ha!!!!! The secret of the dough! Thanks so much for sharing!

Wow so many steps to this recipe, not to mention all the different ingredients and prep work.

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.

@thisissteph9834

5 жыл бұрын

Cheers~ We did hope to "demystify" how the dough is made since there's like no information online about the two starters.

@kwaiholi5973

5 жыл бұрын

John Robins 111：

What happens if you let the baozi rest after you form them? I can only see myself making this properly if I could freeze them immediately, but would this ruin them somehow?

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.

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 😀

much more complicated than I expected but they are so worth it nice work

i died at the "ammonia bicarbonate is basically baking soda on steroids" LMAAAAAAAAO

What do lye water do? In Some recepies it is in it... same as vinegar?

I hv sourdough starter in the fridge. How do I Incorporate it Into this recipes?

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.

This is one of the first Chinese eating experiences I had. Still a favorite.

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?

These look great! Do you know how to make 光酥餅? I've been looking for a recipe for ages and have never found one that actually tastes like the real thing -- specifically, the one you could get from 奇趣餅家 in Mong Kok... Thank you either way!

@thisissteph9834

5 жыл бұрын

Maybe one day? Dim sum and Chinese pastry are definitely something I really want to show. I'm not the biggest fan of 光酥餅, thus it'll take a lot of effort for me to start working on it, lol.

Is there anything smiliar that I can use for the Chinese Baker's Ammonia ? I can’t really found any Chinese Baker Ammonia around my area .

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.

@ChineseCookingDemystified

6 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 :)

@ChineseCookingDemystified

6 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/

@Bojoschannel

6 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? 😩

@ChineseCookingDemystified

6 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/

@Bojoschannel

6 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

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.

@enkii82

4 жыл бұрын

it's fine. you just have to add a bell pepper and cilantro.

@littleidiotka

3 жыл бұрын

Never tried other oil, olive oil is bitter in my opinion. But you can try using sesame oil

Nhìn rất hấp dẫn

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.

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.

@thisissteph9834

6 жыл бұрын

So what's your favorite stuff from Asian supermarket so far?

@erinhowett3630

6 жыл бұрын

Steph - Chinese Cooking Demystified Sweet potato noodles, shrimp crisps, Szechuan peppercorns. I made chili oil!

@erinhowett3630

6 жыл бұрын

Steph - Chinese Cooking Demystified Oh, and black rice!

@thisissteph9834

5 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~

@erinhowett3630

5 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.

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.

@ChineseCookingDemystified

3 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.

@justingyi4702

3 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.

The link can't direct me to the page for written recipe. :(

Nice cooking 👍 you make amazing cha chiu bao. 😊

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 😅🙏🏻

Can I use regular sourdough starter

I'm a simple woman. I see bao, I like.

You guys rock! Dim Sum might be my favorite food on the planet. Any plans to make Lo Mai Gai?

@thisissteph9834

6 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.

@Cypher402

6 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.

@justingyi4702

3 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!

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.

@thisissteph9834

5 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~

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-annnguyen7374

5 жыл бұрын

I wish i can attach the picture of my baoz

@thisissteph9834

5 жыл бұрын

Oh cool! You can tag us on instagrame~ same name as the channel

hello please give me a recipe and how to make it more detailed bánh bao xá xíu , Thank you

wow!!!!!! i didnt realise making bao was this complicated....thankq for sharing!

@ChineseCookingDemystified

5 жыл бұрын

Haha Char Siu Bao's sorta its own special thing... you can find a more 'general purpose' Baozi here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/nnumlapwiLnTnso.html

请问不需要放 yeasts吗？谢谢

Query, could you use filtered bacon fat instead of lard? Where I am lard is seasonal, but I always have bacon fat in the fridge.

5:06 I could listen to that sound all day

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.

@thisissteph9834

5 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).

Very nice the work done

Amazing

Yeah when I have a spare 3 days to make some Bao dough... This will be my go to recipe

hey chinese cooking demystified, 孔子here. I never had 叉烧包 back in the days. it looks super delicious, but i cant open the written recipe from reddit. can i just go with the ingredients from the video?

can you use rice flour for this? i was looking for baozi flour, no luck but maybe i should have gone to the asian market

HI.if SAUCE Put refig can save for for month?

I have a question on the making of the starter dough on Day 3. Do you mix the dough at 10 pm to midnight, or at 10 am to noon? Thanks.

@ChineseCookingDemystified

2 жыл бұрын

Just feed between every 12 hours, if you live in a colder climate, feed every 24 hours and extend the 4-day period to 7 or even 10.

How come 8 buns go in the steaming tray and 10 buns came out

@Cerelac89

3 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.

as someone who has worked in a Chinese dimsum kitchen on the dimsum section I can say this is a really good vid!

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?

@thisissteph9834

5 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.

Is it possible to have cracked bao without chou fen?

Can i make half of the recipes.. in order to give it a 1st try ?

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.

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.

Do you have any idea of making stinky tofu? Thanks

I'll have to give your recipe a try. I've been obsess with finding the prefect bao dough that's light and puffy. I like my dough a little sweet, will adding sugar to the dough impact the puffing?

@thisissteph9834

5 жыл бұрын

This dough already contains sugar, so it's a bit sweet.