Sun Wah/Shui Wah Steamed Bun recipe?

Hey guys. I'm looking for a steamed bun recipe similar to the ones served with Peking duck at Sun Wah -- really light and fluffy. I've tried a number of different flours from cake to bread without any luck.

I also wanted to mention the steamed bun dim sum at Shui Wah. It's a lot more dense and served with condensed milk. This is how my buns usually turn out but there's some sort of ingredient to it that I can't identify. It makes the bun really aromatic. Any idea what that ingredient is?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I understood that the buns at Sun Wah (which they buy frozen, imported from Taiwan) are made with rice flour. You might ask Kelly at the restaurant about it.

At about the 10 minute mark in my Duck School podcast, Kelly talks about the gua bao-- they are made from rice flour, imported frozen from Taiwan, they buy them wholesale from any of several markets in the Argyle area, which I assume means you could probably find them retail in that area without too much hunting around.

I missed the segment in Mike's video where the rice flour was mentioned. All I remember is that it's bought frozen, which I found really surprising.

Thanks for the tip. Will look for recipes where rice flour is involved.

If you find them up on Argyle please let us know which stores have them, please. In the meantime, here's a link to an epicurious article on David Chang's steamed pork belly buns. I was lucky enough to get into Momofuku twice in my last trips to NYC and I have to say that these buns are fabulous. There are conflicting reports as to whether Chang makes them from scratch (Gourmet - Oct 2007) or buys them frozen (NY Magazine - Sometime in 2005).

I can attest that the steamed buns he makes/buys are really, really good. The brand that NY Mag says he uses is called frozen "steam pita bread" and are available at a NYC Chinese grocery store...



http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... UNS-240258

http://nymag.com/listings/recipe/soft-shell-crab-buns/

There are conflicting reports as to whether Chang makes them from scratch (Gourmet - Oct 2007) or buys them frozen (NY Magazine - Sometime in 2005).

They could both have been true at the time.

Has anyone actually found these? At Argyle or elsewhere?

I have a duck adventure this weekend and these sure would fit the bill.

I have also seen these buns referred to as mantou. Or is that something different?

mchodera wrote:If you find them up on Argyle please let us know which stores have them, please. In the meantime, here's a link to an epicurious article on David Chang's steamed pork belly buns. I was lucky enough to get into Momofuku twice in my last trips to NYC and I have to say that these buns are fabulous. There are conflicting reports as to whether Chang makes them from scratch (Gourmet - Oct 2007) or buys them frozen (NY Magazine - Sometime in 2005).

In his book, Momofuku, David Chang says that he buys his buns.

"If you have that option - a chinese bakery or restaurant where you can easily buy them- I encourage you to exercise it without any pangs of guilt."

He then gives a recipe for making them if you cannot buy them.

Is this the type of bun you're looking for?



The picture is from KS Seafood (unfortunately no longer in business). You can buy similar frozen buns at Hong Kong Market in West Chinatown, an excellent source for all things frozen. It's a good general Chinese market but they really shine in the frozen foods arena. The buns should be found at the southern end of the easternmost aisle, near the entrance and cashiers. Why not pick up some frozen vegetarian kidney while you're there?

Hong Kong Market
2425 S Wallace St
Chicago
312-971-9111

I have found them at Tai Nam on Broadway, at all of the Chinatown grocers and at Whole Grain Fresh Market in Westmont...

yep, I've always gotten them from Tai Nam on broadway, it's in the freezers across from the meat counter, packs of 10 or so in cute orangish bags.

gastro gnome wrote:I have also seen these buns referred to as mantou. Or is that something different?

Mantou are made from as similar dough, but they are "solid" buns (in terms of shape not texture). In other words, they aren't explicitly made for wrapping like the clamshell-shaped buns served at Sun Wah.

The frozen steamed buns are generally very good and available at most asian groceries with substantial frozen sections (generally near the dumplings and other bread products). I'm pretty sure that I've gotten them from Broadway Supermarket (just south of Argyle) and HMart.

As an aside, when we don't have steamed buns, we often wrap duck (or other meats) in roti prata, which we also buy frozen and are very good.

lougord99 wrote:

mchodera wrote:If you find them up on Argyle please let us know which stores have them, please. In the meantime, here's a link to an epicurious article on David Chang's steamed pork belly buns. I was lucky enough to get into Momofuku twice in my last trips to NYC and I have to say that these buns are fabulous. There are conflicting reports as to whether Chang makes them from scratch (Gourmet - Oct 2007) or buys them frozen (NY Magazine - Sometime in 2005).

In his book, Momofuku, David Chang says that he buys his buns.

"If you have that option - a chinese bakery or restaurant where you can easily buy them- I encourage you to exercise it without any pangs of guilt."

He then gives a recipe for making them if you cannot buy them.

I've made the buns out of the cookbook and they're fantastic (as is the rest of the cookbook, really, which deserves its own discussion).

Timeout New York posted a PDF excerpt out of the book with the recipe with Chang's permission. It can be found here:

newyork.timeout.com/static_content/downloads/726/steamedbuns.pdf

Andrea Nguyen (who wrote my favorite Vietnamese cookbook and a supposedly killer dumpling book on my wish list) has the recipe on her website. She also has a link to the dough recipe in the form of an LA Times article she wrote. I've had the links saved on my cooking to-do list for a while.

I don't know if you can do it with the frozen stuff, but deep-fried mantou was one of my favourite things growing up - so versatile it could be used with braised pork belly or as a dessert with condensed milk.... mmmmmmm.....

Hi,

My friend Helen bought "Lotus Tea Bun" at Richwell Market on Dempster. There maybe 1/3rd size of the large ones seen at Sun Wah. I joked you could make Peking Duck sliders for a coctail party. The bag in the frozen section had about 20 pieces for $2.14.

While searching where to obtain Peking Duck in San Francisco, I bumped into a conversation about these buns.

Chandavkl wrote:You've pointed out the West Coast/East Coast difference in peking duck. Those "weird" fluffy mantou buns are the norm in SF and LA, while the tortilla pancakes are the exception. (Exception? I don't think I've seen them out here.) And since there are a lot more Chinese restaurants serving peking duck on the West Coast than the East Coast, the tortilla pancakes are actually the weird ones.

K K wrote:The buns thing is a result of Cantonese restaurants serving Peking Duck and maybe Tea Smoked Duck.

In Hong Kong however, Peking Duck restaurants do the tortilla/crepe thing, like Spring Deer/Luk Ming Chuen in Tsim Sa Tsui. For a place serving the duck with crepe/tortilla, you would have to go to a restaurant run by Mainland Chinese (specializing in Beijing cuisine and duck, like that famous place in Berkeley) or Taiwanese run (in the case of SoCal, like Lu Ding Gee or whatever that place is called).

Until Sun Wah began serving their Peking Duck with puffy buns, I had always had pancakes/doilies with Peking Duck. I bought my tortilla press to make them easier to make at home.

Regards,