Steamed Pork Buns with Grilled Pineapple and Quick Pickled Cucumbers

You can read about the entire Pork Buns story on my last post HERE…

But here they are!!  All dressed up and picture ready.  Aww… aren’t they purty?  You never would know how complicated and ornery they are underneath all that beauty.

Some bitches… I tell ya…

No.  Seriously.  This was a fantastic experience.  If you read my post about it, you got that.

These beautiful babies… this dish, this insanely delicious and stellar dish, is one of THE most complicated things I have ever prepared in my life.

Apart from the time a client asked me to make dog kibble…

I wonder how much of it is because I had to follow a recipe… I honestly do wonder that…  Because, um.  I do not do recipes.  Ok. I recognize I give you recipes.  I’m literally a recipe developer.  Yeah, I’m aware of the irony here.  Buuuut, if you know me, you know mine are all, ‘a pinch of this… taste it!  what does it need…?  I know that frustrates a lot of you.  I get your emails.  I know.  But it’s just my style.  I always want to encourage you to make your food your food.  Even if it’s mine to begin with… does that make sense?  I just want you to play more.  To own what you’re doing instead of blindly following what someone else tells you to do.

Because how silly is it to think that there is a universal taste preference?  That everyone prefers their food to be the same salty, the same sweet, spicy, tangy, etc, etc, etc.  So yeah, I had to ignore my instincts when I was making this meal for my mom.  And actually follow directions.  But it was a wonderful lesson in listening.  I am never above learning from someone else.  Never.  So I’m so incredibly glad (and proud) that I did this.

That WE did this.

My husband was amazing and such a huge part of the meal.

(Thanks again, baby! xo)

So, again… We followed Chef David Chang’s recipe to a T to make sure mama got the bite she remembered.  But you can recall the notes I gave after doing so in my last post.  And we also put out different toppings than the standard Momofoku buns, but the root of it all it is Chang’s recipe.

AND, remember… we also made her kimchi!  And by We, I mean He.  My husband handled the pork and kimchi, and I made the buns and her dessert (those recipes coming soon)…

But here’s what these stunners look like when they’re all dressed up to our liking.  You, however, can make them however you’d like.

If you decide to make them…

As for me?  I’m good.

And I got the pictures to prove it…

Want some? 😉

STEAMED PORK BUNS

with

grilled pineapple and quick pickled cucumbers

Just follow Chang’s recipe…

And simply grill cored sliced of fresh pineapple until charred (no seasoning, etc necessary)…

You can follow Chang’s recipe for quick pickled cucumbers, or my husband actually added some rice wine vinegar to that, and I really enjoyed the added tang…

Put out lots of fresh cilantro leaves…

Fresh, chopped green onions…

Sriracha sauce…

And Chang’s preferred brand of Hoisin Sauce – Lee Kum Kee (found HERE on Amazon)

All of those things mixed together, to us, made the perfect Steamed Pork Bun.

Sweet, salty, savory, tangy, sour, smoky, crispy, soft, bright….

Such balanced perfection.

…

Thanks for reading, guys.  Keep on learning… xo