Sunday Brunch: Dim Sum BBQ Pork "Bao" Buns

So, I made that pork shoulder the other day. Wow, what a lot of meat! I was in a serious crisis of what to do with the left-overs. And, after a failed attempt to go out to a brunch of dim sum in Sunset Park with a bunch of friends, I got to thinking. Maybe I could replicate the best part of dim sum: those fluffy, sweet steamed BBQ bao buns.

Those delicious buns, or bao,  taste like pillows sent down from heaven that envelope sweet tender pork.

But, has anyone pulled up a recipe for bao? Ha, yeah right! I'm sorry, but I don't feel like sitting through two rises and then crossing my fingers and praying to the gods of dim sum that they turn out. Not when I have an immediate craving for dim sum.

Sorry, David Chang, you're just too bad ass for me. Instead, I humbly submit my Char Siu BBQ "bao" on a split top roll. It's still a bun right?

Char Siu is a Chinese style of barbecue that involves the meat hanging from a hook in the oven and getting mopped with a mixture of soy sauce, hoisin, honey and vinegar. It's incredible.

Using that, I took the basic components of that to make a BBQ sauce that kept the meat moist and gave it that sweetness that comes wrapped inside those pillowy buns. I used mirin instead of the standard rice vinegar. Mirin is a sweetly seasoned Japanese rice vinegar. I used it because I didn't want to add honey. As for using a soft split top roll... well, they were soft and worked in a pinch. No regrets!

Char Siu BBQ Pork Buns
makes: 12 sliders

Ingredients:
3 cups pulled pork (recipe here)
2/3 cup hoisin sauce,
2/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup mirin
12 split-top dinner rolls

Method:
1.)  In a sauce pot that is large enough to hold the 3 cups of pulled pork, add the hoisin, soy sauce and mirin. Heat over medium heat until hot and combined.

2.) Fold in the pulled pork, and heat until the pulled pork is heated through. You might need to add more hoisin, soy sauce and mirin in equal parts if necessary to keep the meat moist.  Just be careful to avoid making the meat wet however.

3.)  Serve warm on top of split-top rolls and enjoy.

Not quite the same as a true dim sum experience, but it saves you a trip on the N & R trains.