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Not everyday I have the opportunity to collaborate with a perfect fit to my craft. A baker meets Max the Meat Guy! Max and I created for you a take on a Chinese bao sandwich, with a challah shaped bao, slow cooked short rib and a colorful slaw. The combination of flavors works so well in this sandwich. You might think it’s a complicated dish to make (because it has a decent amount of ingredients) but actually it’s a super easy going recipe. The bite is so rewarding, it is a perfect dish to serve to your friends and family when they come over.
Cast iron pan
Kitchen tongs
Aluminum foil
Towel
Stand mixer
Hook attachment
Scale
Bamboo steaming basket
Parchment paper
Knife
Cutting board
Start with the short rib: dry the short rib with a paper towel. Coat with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
In a hot cast iron pan, add avocado and sear the short rib to perfection (you really wanna get a good browned crust).
Drain some of the fat, then remove the short rib and set aside. Add onion, carrot, and celery, and cook until softened, scrape the pan.
Add the tomato paste and cook for several more minutes.
Deglaze the pan with red wine and reduce by half, continuing to scrape the pan.
Add the short rib back to the pan and cover with beef stock. The meat should be nearly covered, then add the rosemary and thyme.
Let the meat cook low and slow in a preheated oven at 350°F or 170°C for 3 hours or until very tender (you can also cook on the stove on low heat).
Make the bao: to a stand mixer’s bowl, add the ingredients in that sequence- water, yeast, sugar, egg, flour, oil, and salt.
Set you mixer on slowest speed and knead for 12 minutes (if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand for 14 minutes).
Round the dough into a tight ball and let it rest, covered, until doubled in size.
After the dough has doubled in size, divide it into 10 gr pieces. Yes, these are very small pieces.
Open each piece with your hand into a strand, keeping the center thicker than the edges. It will result in a beautiful bao.
Braid the strands into a beautiful, tiny challah, and place it on a piece of parchment paper, a little bigger than the challah.
Place the challah (on the parchment paper) in a bamboo steaming basket. Your challah baos are gonna proof in the basket so we don’t need to transfer them once they are proofed and ready to be cooked.
In the meantime, make the quick slaw: cut the veggies into thin juliennes, add the sugar, salt, and sherry vinegar. Set aside.
Once the challah baos have doubled in size, steam them for 10 minutes.
Remove the short ribs from the pan, you know they are ready when they break apart super easily.
Reduce the juices from the pan into a beautiful sauce by simply cooking down the juices on high heat, stirring constantly.
Open a challah bao in half, add a Tbsp of short rib, decorate with the slaw, and add the reduced juices on top.
What a bite! YASSS!
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