Susan Jung’s recipe for Taiwanese pepper buns, or hujiaobing

I’ve been obsessed with hujiaobing (baked pepper buns) ever since a friend sent me a video of them being made by a night-market vendor in Taipei. The vendor stuffed the buns with an enormous amount of meat and spring onions, then baked them in a tandoor oven. I began working on the recipe immediately and, after six attempts, have made a version that received an enthusiastic two thumbs up from a Taiwanese friend.

HUJIAOBING

This recipe is the result of watching many YouTube videos, which showed some useful techniques but didn’t give precise instruc­tions, and reverse engineering the hujiaobing that my friend brought back from Taipei.

I weighed the buns, cut one in half hori­zontally to examine the consistency of the meat mixture, and weighed the filling and dough separately to find the right propor­tions. Next I examined the dough to figure out if it contained yeast, an ingredient called for in many print and online recipes. My version doesn’t contain yeast, but gets its lightness and flakiness from a layer of roux.

However, the recipe didn’t come together until I added jellied stock to the filling, simmering pork meat with some pork skin, which contains gelatin. Once chilled, it sets into a delicately solid jelly, which is combined with the meat. In the heat of the oven, the jelly liquefies, and makes the filling deliciously moist.