October 18, 2020
Last month, I taught a live Zoom cooking class on making my absolute favorite crispy fried and steamed pork buns. My close friend, Xin, had reached out to ask if I could lead a live cooking class for her company affinity group. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to share my recipe for fried and steamed pork buns. I first shared my recipe these pork buns back in May. It came about after multiple experiments in the kitchen. I had been playing around with different ratios of ingredients for the dough until I found the ideal combination – a mixture of all-purpose flour and cake flour. The all-purpose flour alone was too tough. The cake flour by itself was too tender. When mixed together, the dough achieved the perfect consistency for the buns. You can read more about my kitchen experiments here. The filling for the buns were almost identical to the filling I usually make for my pork dumplings with some tweaks depending on the ingredients I had on hand. We spent an hour and a half cooking, chatting, and enjoying the fruits of our labor. Here are some photo highlights from the live class.
After all of the hard work cooking in the kitchen, the very next day, I decided to go another route for an easy, tasty brunch, my braised beef short ribs cooked in a slow cooker. I started on the braised beef short ribs the evening before, as the trick to perfect short ribs lies in the low and slow cooking process required to allow the beef short ribs to truly fall off the bones. Beef short ribs are one of those dishes where the longer they sit and cook at a low heat setting, the better. I just brown the short ribs over medium heat in a skillet, transfer the short ribs to a slow cooker set to low heat, do the same with some vegetables, and let everything cook low and slow overnight. The next day, the aromas will have filled the entire kitchen and any adjacent rooms with the most salivating scents. As the short ribs continue to cook on a low setting, I get started right away on making a crusty exterior and pillowy interior loaf of bread to serve alongside the beef short ribs. The bread does take some time to make, so I usually save breadmaking for slower days. Most of the time needed to make the bread lies in the resting period, which is perfect for days when I can squeeze in projects in between cooking. The short ribs will continue to stay good as long as it is cooking away in the slow cooker. It’s actually the perfect meal for people who eat at different times throughout the day. I can scoop some into a bowl when I’m hungry and let Kevin serve himself when he gets hungry. Braised beef short ribs have become a monthly rotation in our household. With the cold weather around the corner, I may be making this a lot more often.
For the braised beef short ribs:
· 4-6 beef short ribs
· ¼ cup all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon kosher salt
· ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
· 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
· 2 carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
· 1 onion, cut into quarters
· 3 garlic cloves, peeled
· ¼ cup soy sauce
· 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
· 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
· 1 tablespoon tomato paste
· 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
· 1 cup apple juice
· 2 cups water
· ¼ teaspoon white pepper powder
· 6 bean threads (also known as dried beancurd stick or fu juk), broken into pieces
· 6-8 sprigs cilantro, for serving
· 1 stalk scallion, thinly sliced, for serving
For the crusty soft bread: (yields one loaf of bread)
· 2 cups bread flour, plus ¼ cup bread flour for kneading dough
· ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
· ¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
· ¾ cup lukewarm water
· 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus additional for brushing onto a sheet of plastic wrap
· ½ cup water
Directions:
To make the braised beef short ribs:
1) Coat the beef short ribs in flour, kosher salt, and black pepper. Set aside. Set the slow cooker to low heat.
2) Heat a skillet on medium heat. Once hot, add 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Transfer the beef short ribs coated in the flour, salt, and black pepper to the skillet. Brown the beef short ribs for 1-2 minutes on each side (including the sides with the bones). Transfer the browned beef short ribs to the slow cooker. Add the cut carrots, quartered onion, and peeled garlic cloves to the skillet. Cook the vegetables for 1-2 minutes. Transfer the carrots, onion, and garlic to the slow cooker. Pour in the soy sauces, oyster sauce, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, apple juice, water, and white pepper powder. Stir to combine everything. Toss in the broken bean threads. Close the slow cooker lid and let cook for 8-10 hours.
The next day…
To make the crusty soft loaf of bread:
1) In a large bowl, combine the bread flour, kosher salt, granulated sugar, and active dry yeast. Slowly pour in the lukewarm water. Use your hands to mix all of the ingredients together directly in the bowl until a dough begins to form. Gradually dust in the remaining flour as you continue kneading the dough. Pour in the vegetable oil. Keep kneading the dough until all ingredients are incorporated and a smooth dough ball is formed, about 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a plate or a sheet of plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour. While the dough is resting, line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2) After an hour has passed, the dough ball should have doubled in size. Remove the plate or sheet of plastic wrap. Form the dough into a loaf. Transfer the loaf onto the parchment lined sheet pan. Gently tuck in the edges of the loaf. Brush some vegetable oil onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Cover the loaf of bread with the sheet of plastic wrap ensuring the side with vegetable oil is facing down on the loaf. Let the loaf rise undisturbed for another hour to hour and a half.
3) Preheat oven to 375°F about 15 minutes before the rising time of the loaf is up. Place another baking pan into the oven on the bottom rack (a trick I learned in my professional baking class). Once the oven is preheated and the loaf has rested for at least an hour, remove the plastic wrap. Score the bread 4-5 times. Add ½ cup of water directly onto the baking pan. Place the baking sheet with the loaf of bread onto the center rack of the oven. Bake the loaf of bread for 30-35 minutes. Let the loaf of bread cool for 10 minutes before slicing into it.
To serve, scoop the braised beef short ribs and vegetables into a bowl. Top with fresh cilantro and thinly sliced scallions. Serve with the crusty soft bread. Enjoy!
I served my beef short ribs with crusty soft bread alongside some corn drizzled with a spicy mayo and pineapple matcha green tea with boba for the ultimate brunch.
Takeaways: Beef short ribs are one of those dishes where the longer they cook low and slow, the better. The first few times when I made beef short ribs in a slow cooker, I let it cook anywhere from 5-8 hours. The beef short ribs at five hours were not as tender as the beef short ribs at eight hours. Kevin definitely pointed the difference out to me when he tasted the different versions. He preferred the tenderness of the beef at eight hours. If there are any leftovers, transfer to a container and store covered in the fridge. The beef short ribs keep well in the fridge and can be rewarmed in the microwave to serve for lunch or dinner the next day.