Guangzhou, China
Char Siu Bao
Soft white steamed buns filled with diced sweet-savoury char siu pork — the Cantonese dim sum bun that turned the leftover roast pork into a second dish.
Three-finger bun split.
A properly steamed char siu bao splits open at the top in a three-or-four-petal pattern, the cracks revealing the dark glossy filling underneath. The split is engineered: cooks pinch the dough at the top into a peak before steaming, and the rising steam pressure forces the bun to open at that weak point. A bao without the split has been over-handled or under-rested; the visual is part of the dish.
4 · Plate
Guangzhou, China
Char Siu Bao
Soft white steamed buns filled with diced sweet-savoury char siu pork — the Cantonese dim sum bun that turned the leftover roast pork into a second dish.
A dish that takes the Cantonese roast-meat shop’s leftovers and turns them into the dim sum cart’s headliner. Char siu — the Cantonese honey-glazed roast pork — is sold by the slice at siu mei shops; what doesn’t sell at the end of the day gets diced, glazed again with oyster sauce and hoisin, and folded into a soft white steamed bun for the next morning’s dim sum service. The bao was, originally, a deliberate use-up dish; over time, it became more popular than the roast pork it was made from.
The dish’s dough engineering is a small science. Cantonese bao dough uses bao flour or low-protein cake flour for tenderness, baking powder and yeast for double leavening, and a small amount of lard or shortening for the soft pillowy crumb. A dough that’s been over-kneaded reads tough; one that’s been under-proofed reads dense; one that’s been over-proofed collapses in the steamer. The skill threshold is high enough that good bao po (bun masters) have multi-generation reputations in Hong Kong.
Bo lo bao is the baked cousin.
*Baked* char siu bao — *bo lo bao*, with a crackled pineapple-bun top — is a Hong Kong invention that took the same filling and switched the cooking method. The baked version has crisp golden domes and a sweet-cookie crust; the steamed version is soft and white. They're the two great forms of the dish, both correct, both essential to a complete dim sum order.