Course Snack Place of origin Fuzhou | Region or state Fujian, Taiwan | |
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Main ingredients Flaky biscuit-like bread, sugar, soy sauce, white pepper or black pepper, and scallions Similar Small sausage in large sau, Shaobing, Oyster vermicelli, Li hing mui, Oyster omelette | ||
Hújiāo bǐng or Pepper bun (Chinese: 胡椒餅; pinyin: Hújiāo bǐng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hô͘-chio-piáⁿ; literally: "white pepper cake or biscuit") is a type of baked bun that originated from the Fuzhou region of China. It is a street food that has become quite popular in the Taiwan region and can be found in night markets or mini food stalls throughout Taiwan. Nowadays when speaking about the item it is usually refer to as "Taiwanese Pepper Bun". There are many variations of the bun, it depends on how the vendor prepares it. The common ingredients are flour, water, and a leavening agent for the outer dough shell, and a meat protein (usually pork or beef) marinated with sugar, soy sauce, white pepper or black pepper, and scallion for the inside filling.
Contents
Origin
It is not known who invented the Hújiāo bǐng, but all vendor's who sell the item list the item as Fuzhou Pepper Bun (福州胡椒饼). Also many of the vendors in Taiwan that sell the item is of Fujian, China ancestry and calmed that their recipe is a family recipe that their ancestors brought with them when they crossed over to Taiwan from the Fujian province.
Preparation
The outer dough shell is prepared with flour, water, and a leavening agent such as yeast or baking powder. Lard, butter or oil is sometime added to the dough to make the bun extra crunchy and flaky like a croissant when cooked. The outer shell dough is then individually rolled to a thin circular shape, similar to a dumpling wrapping.
The main ingredients of the filling are meat which is usually pork. The meat is either grounded or sliced thinly. Some vendors use ground and sliced meat to give the bun a bite to it, but grounded meat is usually used since it produces more juice when cooked. The meat is usually marinated with a heaping of white or black pepper powder, soy sauce, sugar and cooking wine. Some vendors also add five-spice powder or curry powder to the meat marinate.
The marinated meat is then spread on the thin dough. A handful of cut green scallions is then topped on top of the meat and sealed up with the dough. The scallions must be a separate step when adding and must never be mixed into the meat filling to produce a clear scallion taste to the bun. Unlike other buns the sealed up end is on the bottom. The top of the bun is then brushed with water to adhere white sesame seeds.
The buns are then baked in a cylinder like high heat clay oven that is similar to a tandoori oven. Burning charcoal is put at the bottom to heat the oven. The buns are then stacked one by one from bottom to top of the side of the oven vertically. To remove the finished buns a flat object such as a blunt knife or spatula is used to scrape the bun off of the side of the oven. A colander is then used to catch the buns to prevent it from falling into the charcoal pit at the bottom of the oven.
The cooked bun is a crunchy thin dough, almost cracker like. When bite into meat juices pour out. Due to the way that the bun is wrapped the green scallions are at the center of the bun with the meat wrapped around it, instead of the bottom.
Popularity
The Hújiāo bǐng first started gaining popularity outside of Taiwan when it was featured on tourist programs such as Anthony Bourdain's The Layover. Also Hong Kong's TVB channel foodie show Neighborhood Gourmet season 3. The item soon became a tourist must try when visiting Taiwan. Tourist who visited Taiwan and had tasted the bun would blog about it. The wait to buy a Hújiāo bǐng is notoriously long during peak hours at any vendors, the average wait is usually 30 minutes minimum. Customers also always buy in batches due to the long wait in line. When the vendor sell out and runs out of ingredients they usually close shop for the day instead restocking their ingredients to make more buns.