Momofuku Pork Buns

In our previous post, we talked about how we made steamed buns. Well, it’s time to put it all together! As part of our Momofuku week, we made a variety of dishes from the Momofuku cookbook including the Compost cookie, Roasted Sweet Summer Corn, and now this! Pork Buns 🙂

These little buns were so much fun to make and realistically, you can put whatever the heck you want inside as fillings. The original cookbook suggested this to be served with pickled cucumbers but we ran out so we used pickled carrots and daikon instead which was just as good! It could also be served with lettuce or any greens of your choice.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a pork bun without the pork. We purchased thick cut pork belly for this at our local grocery store (which was surprisingly hard to find in our area!). I personally found that the thicker the cut, the better.

In order to maximize flavour of the pork belly, it needs to be brined first. So, liberally coat both sides of the pork belly with equal parts sugar and salt. One they’re both fully covered, leave it to sit overnight in the fridge for at least a day.

When you’re ready to cook them, rinse off the extra sugar and salt – otherwise, it’ll be overly salty when you cook them. Pat them dry and bake the pork belly at 250F in a baking tray for approximately an hour and a half. Be sure to flip them halfway into the cooking time to ensure even cooking. Then turn up the oven to 400F and roast for another 10 minutes or so or until golden brown as shown below.

Cut the pork belly into smaller pieces and insert in steamed buns along with pickled veggies and serve with other accompaniments such as Hoisin sauce and rice!