Momofuku Steamed Pork Belly Buns

November 1, 2009 | 19 comments

This is our version of chef David Chang’s famous steamed pork belly buns, one of the dishes which this pork obsessed chef has built his restaurant empire. We used the Vietnamese thit kho, caramelized braised pork belly and stuffed it in a pillowy soft and sweet hoisin glazed bao topped with slivers of cucumber, plum, and scallions. David Chang’s recipe calls for brining and roasting the pork belly. We added plums to add a sweet/crunchy complement to the hoisin sauce. Even though we bought the flour to make our own bao, we didn’t have time to shop and cook the steak ssam, banh xeo, and…the bao all in 3 hrs so we bought pre-made bao which is delicious and probably better then what we could have done given the short amount of time.

Steamed Pork Belly Buns
Printable Recipes

1.5 lb thit kho, caramelized braised pork belly
12 premade bao buns (found at most Asian grocers)
1 English cucumber, thinly sliced
2 plums, decore and thinly sliced
scallions, diced
hoisin sauce

Chill the thit kho until firm and slice about 1/4 inch pieces. If you have a multilayer steamer, you can steam both the baos and the pork belly at the same time, about 5-6 minutes or until the baos puff up and are pillowy soft to the touch. Alternatively, you can heat the pork and bao in the microwave separately according to package directions.

Remove both pork and bao and allow to cool slightly. Glaze both sides of the bao with hoisin. Place the cucumbers, plum, and slices of pork belly. Top with scallions and serve.

Try this the next time you make a big batch of thit kho or if you don’t want to make your own thit kho and want to assemble this quickly at your next get together, just get roasted pork at your local favorite chinese BBQ. Our dinner guests all enjoyed the flavors and texture of these pork belly buns!