Aside from buffet restaurants, the Americans don't much have anything in comparison to Dim Sum! This is my opinion though! But also I am not really here to argue about this. Just that I miss being able to go be seated with anywhere from 2 to 10 or more friends (the more the better) and within moment's have carts of hot food come our way. Carts with hot food and small plates we can just take and enjoy immediately!! No lie, this one time I remember going out with friends, sitting and within less than 5minutes our table was full. Like no space to add more, and yet we did, because once the food hit the table, all of reached out and grabbed some food for our plates. This really was making room for more food. It of course helps to have go getters like my friends that literally would stop a cart and start calling out plates and if anyone was interested we'd grab one or two depending on the popularity amongst us. I do remember taking my mom to a hole in the wall place in San Francisco one year. This location was is with many if there is only two of you, you can wait or just share a table with another party. (This may change moving forward.) We sat down at this long cafeteria style table the carts started to come and I started to pick dishes, and before I knew it we had filled out area with plated goodness. My mom looked at me with a not so approving look and insisted I stop because clearly we could not eat all this food! Needless to say I ate the most of it, but we got thru most of it, and continued on our way walking throughout the city. Basically we walked off all that we had eaten. I guess the only wait you ever have to do if you find a good restaurant is the wait before you are seated. Sometimes it pays to show up early and wait a bit before the restaurant is even open, then you have dibs at first seating. And most importantly they do require that at the least 90% of the table is present. Some even require everyone to be there. That's when you threaten your friends with the, "If you are not here when they call us we will eat without you!" Sorry not sorry!
I have plenty of favorites, ones I try to ensure I have each time I go, and I'll try new stuff; for the most part I eat what is placed on the table. But to be completely satisfied, there needs to at some point have been BBQ Pork Buns in my tummy. Char Siu Bao is the Chinese name. And now that I have been sequestered to my home in Baltimore and can only choose the food around me, my choices are very limited. But let's be real, even if there was a place around here that catered to my need for Dim Sum, it's just not the same as having the food at your fingertips, literally! Ordering to take home, Dim Sum, takes out all the instant happiness. Plus by the time you get home and settled, you have to reheat everything. Basically, not the same! However, as you may have noticed in other posts or if you follow me on on IG or Facebook, you'll have seen all that I have made from the comfort of my kitchen.
Knowing that I still had plenty of pork belly in my freezer, I took to the internet (Pinterest) to seek out a recipe for Char Siu Bao. I happened upon this blog and read thru it and decided it was a recipe I could try. After reading thru the full recipe, I realized it would take some work and a couple of days of prep. Mainly in regards to the pork. Luckily for me, one of the ingredients, Char Siu pork, was made slightly easier as I had just randomly without even thinking, Char Siu merinade. Still this did not speed things up, there was still the need to marinade the pork overnight before cooking it. Once cooked, it needed to be diced. Once the pork was ready and finished, it was time to make the buns. The only ingredient I did not have for the buns was Wheat starch. I used cornstarch instead, but I think if I were to go thru all that again, I might seek some out next time I am at the Asian market. In any case, my craving for Char Siu Bao had come to an end! The final finished bun was soft and the filling was sweet and tasty, just how I'd remembered. It wasn't a table of Dim Sum goodies, but it sure did satisfy the craving for the time being.
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