Anybody who has had dim sum has most likely crossed paths with a traditional BBQ pork bun. They are white and fluffy with sweet, red BBQ pork inside, and they bring them around in a bamboo steamer and you eat them and it is THE BEST! And that is exactly what I expected to get when I ordered pork buns at Momofuku, many years ago. Boy was my life about to change...
The pork bun that arrived at my table was nothing like the buns I'd had at dim sum. No. This bun was different. Special. Life changing. Momofuku's pork bun is a white steamed clam-shell of delicious perfection, filled with a slice of tender pork belly, accompanied by freshly pickled cucumber and scallion, hugged by a dollop of hoisin sauce. There is just nothing as satisfying as this bun.
Here is a photo of the most recent Momofuku pork bun I ate, September 2010. Man, that was so tasty.
So when I found out Momofuku had a cookbook, I bought it immediately. I was relieved to find out there was already a blog that had cooked (and eaten) every recipe in the book, because I may have felt obligated to do that myself otherwise. But I have yet to make anything from the book, until NOW!
I am going to make the pork buns!
So stay tuned for Part Two of this blog!
