Crispy Duck Hirata Buns

I'm always left a little confused as what to call these, are they hirata buns, or gua bao? Whatever the proper name I'm glad they found their way to London. These baos originated in Taiwan as a street food. Imagine an Asian version of a hamburger and you'll get something close to a gua bao. In 2004 David Chang introduced New York to these baos when he opened Momofuku Noodle Bar and as the saying goes 'when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold' (what a horrible saying to use for food!). These gua baos have definitely gone global and London has really warmed to the idea of these baos. I had my first taste of these baos at Yum Bun in their former residence in Old Street. I instantly fell in love with them, the light fluffy bun goes so well with a rich meat such as pork belly or duck. These baos are so popular that the restaurant Flesh and Buns in Covent Garden have made it the focal point of their menu. Flesh and Buns have tried to elevate these baos to a slighter higher status than their street food origins and to a certain extent they've succeeded. However my favourite producers of the gua bao are Bao Bar which is located in Netil Market, their milk fried chicken bao is excellent.

Yum Bun bento box, makes for a brilliant work lunch

The excellent flat iron bun from Flesh and Buns

I'm not a huge fan of baking and it certainly isn't one of my skills but I do love the look at taste of gua baos and I think it goes really well with one of my favourite things to eat, crispy duck. Technically the bao and the crispy duck are not too difficult to make, but it does require a bit of patience if you want to make it well. So here goes:

Ingredients for the bao (enough for 10 decent sized baos)

200ml room temperature water
7g dry yeast
300g pau flour
10g dry milk powder
4 tablespoons of caster sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Vegetable oil for greasing

Method

1. Firstly add the yeast to the water. Give it a bit of a stir and wait about 10 minutes for it to activate. You'll know it's ready when the mixture forms bubbles on the top. If nothing has happened after 10 minutes sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into the mixture and give it a stir.

2.Place the dry ingredients into the bowl of a mixer and pour in the activated yeast water. Using a dough hook start mixing on a low speed until a rough dough is formed. Keep kneading the dough for another 5 minutes or until it becomes smooth and elastic.

3. Grease a bowl with oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with cling film and leave for 1 hour to proof. The dough will start inflating.

4. Punch the air out of the dough (quite a satisfying feeling when you punch dough, maybe I'm weird...) Flour your work surface and spread your dough out on it forming a rectangle which is roughly 45cm x 15cm. Using a knife, cut out 10 equal size pieces. Flatten each individual dough and then using your hands keep manipulating it until it is a smooth round ball. Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and place the balls of dough on the tray. Cover the dough and tray with a damp tea towel, leave it to proof for another 45 minutes, they should increase in size again.

These were my first batch, a little small for my liking but perfectly acceptable size to use

5. In the meantime cut out ten 10cm x 10cm squares of grease proof paper. After 45 minutes take each ball of dough and roll out roughly into 12cm x 15cm oval shapes. Shaping the baos isn't easy and it takes time and practice to get them as uniform as possible. Don't be misled by my pictures, I had to practice quite a few times to get these baos looking half decent. To be honest if you're not looking to take high quality pictures with them I wouldn't be too concerned with making them look perfect. Dip a chopstick in oil, place in the centre of the oval shaped dough and fold the dough over, pull the chopstick out so it leaves a film of oil in the closed dough. Now place it on the square of grease proof paper you cut out earlier. Once completed with each oval dough place them back on the baking tray , cover with a tea towel and leave them to proof for another 45 minutes.

This was my first attempt, as you can see the shapes look pretty rubbish!

Ingredients for Crispy Duck

1.5kg duck with the back bone removed, flattened and quartered
4 Star anise
1 tbsp Fennel Seed
1 Cinnamon Bark
5 pieces of Dry ginger
2 tsp Sichuan Peppercorns
1 tsp Cloves
2 sticks of liquorice
1 tsp Dried Cardamom
1 tsp Dark soya sauce
Half dry orange peel
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar

Method

1. Fill a pan which is big enough to contain your quartered duck with water, place the duck in the water ensuring that it is fully submerged. Season the water with sugar and salt.

2. Fill a muslin bag with the dry ingredients. Place the bag in the water underneath the duck. Add the dark soya sauce to the water. Heat the water so it is simmering, place the lid on the pot and leave for 2 hours until the duck is tender. If too much water is evaporating top it up so the duck doesn't dry out.

3. Take the duck out of a pot and place on to a wire rack, allow some of the water to run off and pat down with kitchen towel.

4. To deep fry the duck, place the oil into a large wok or pan and heat to around 180c. To test the heat of the oil, drop some bread in there, if it browns immediately reduce the heat, it should take around 1 minute to brown. Use tongs to place the duck in the oil, it should take around 6 minutes for the duck to turn to a woodish brown, turn the quartered duck occasionally. Do not overcrowd your pan, if it is only big enough for 2 then do it in batches.

5. Once fried place on a serving dish. Using a fork and spoon, pull the meat away from the bone.

Garnishes

You can pretty much use what ever garnish takes your fancy, I love the classic combination of sliced cucumber, spring onion slithers and hoi sin sauce. As you can see in the picture I've added crushed cashew nuts to the bao, gives it a rich nutty flavour and is a nice contrast in textures.

Time to assemble!

It's almost time to eat. To cook the baos, place the baos in a bamboo steamer. Fill a wok with water so it doesn't quite reach the bamboo steamer when it sits on the stand. Heat the water on a low to medium heat and place the lid on the wok. It should take around 10 minutes for the buns to steam.

Once they are cooked, open up the bao and layer duck meat, cucumber, spring onion and hoi sin sauce. Close the bao and sprinkle your crushed cashew nuts on top. And there you have it, home made crispy duck hirata buns, an awesome alternative to Sunday Lunch.