Bao to haam ratio

[junehl]

Prasatin had mentioned she had her best ratio of dough to filling (haam) in her baos. This got me thinking, when making your baos how much filling to dough do you like?

I LOVE a slightly sweet dough, so when I make my baos for myself I love having really fluffy dough with a little filling that has a strong flavored sauce. So of course my favorite is char siu bao with thick dough and a little filling.

But when I make it for other people I go for a thinner dough and more meat. Which is why I like to make dai bao for other people, but I don't personally like it myself. Too much meat for me.

Now bao wrapped around lap cheung like a pig in the blanket and steamed....mmmmm that is comfort food to me, and at some points even better than char siu bao. It's easy, it's meaty, it's got a high ratio of dough to meat.

The only bao I like a lot of filling in is one made with ground pork, lots of chopped cabbage, mushroom and vermicelli, because it doesn't have a lot of meat in it.

edited to protect the innocent.

Edited December 20, 2007 by junehl (log)

[Dejah]

Prasatin had mentioned he had his best ratio of dough to filling (haam) in his baos.  This got me thinking, when making your baos how much filling to dough do you like?

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Shhhhhh...prasantrin - SHE likes baos, PERIOD!

I always make mine with lots of filling and thin doug mainly because my family are carnivors. My students actually "complain" that there isn't enough dough. I think it must be what you grow up with. My Mom always puts lots of "haam" in her baos, so I continue thus.

[sheetz]

I've been to a lot of dim sum restaurants where they barely put a teaspoon of filling in their bao. I guess that's supposed to be more refined or something because if you go to the hole in the wall places where all the senior citizens eat you get a much higher proportion of filling to dough.

Edited December 20, 2007 by sheetz (log)

[prasantrin]

Yes, it's true, I am a girl. But if it makes June feel better, Prasantrin is a man's name (my dad's name, actually).

My dough to filling ratio also depends on the filling, but not the type of filling, just if the filling sucks. If it sucks, I want less filling, more dough. But if the filling is really good, I want a lot of filling, but not so much that all I get is filling, since I really like the sweet taste of the dough, too. I like just enough dough so that I don't end up with only dough for my last bite. I want dough and filling in each bite, in other words.

[hzrt8w]

That's an interesting question.

From all commercial outfits, obviously they tend to stuff as little filling as possible and lots of dough to sell their food to make more profits. In the old days, baos were big. Today baos are smaller, and they give you more quantity-wise. Making baos smaller, they can use more dough and less filling. I have seen some dim-sum places miniaturized their dim-sums (baos and other things). Again: miniaturize... more dough, less filling. A dan tart the size of a quarter! 3 in an order. What has this world come to?

When making this at home, it's probably a personal preference. I usually (yeah, right... like I do it often... only three to four times in my life) do half and half, or 1 to 1 ratio. I like the fillings, but I also like the carb.

Edited December 20, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[junehl]

I edited the first post to cover my tracks

but yes I don't understand the dan tart being so small, i actually like having the fillings, and usually the small dan tarts don't have a lot of filling so you just get a mouth full of crumbs. boooo

[Ben Hong]

Being an unapologetic carnivore myself, I like lots of haam. As for size and taste of the bao, the Vietnamese still make them like I remember from my boyhood in China. They are slightly smaller than a softball, weigh about 6 ounces and stuffed with a ginormous ball of chicken, mushrooms, scallion, etc. Last September on the way out to the Prairies of Dejah, I bought a dozen at $1.00 (?) ea, in Toronto's Old Chinatown and since my traveling companions did not like the taste of steamed dough I, ahem, "had" to eat the all by myself.

Could someone please post a linky to Junehl's dough recipe?

[Fugu]

I bought a dozen at $1.00 (?) ea, in Toronto's Old Chinatown and since my traveling companions did not like the taste of steamed dough I, ahem, "had" to eat the all by myself.

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A dollar? I pay $130 for the ones on 888 Dundas St. and the quality of their bao has gotten progressively poor. I am not sure what it is called if it is not filled with char siu? Filling is ground pork, salted egg, lap cheung and shiitake mushroom is called __ bao?

[bethpageblack]

I think that if there's too much filling, the baos don't come out right. Sure, they'll taste great, but there might be a soggy texture at the bottom of the bao and they won't keep well. I agree for the most part that if you want more flavor, use a stronger flavored filling but you don't necessarily have to add more filling. Does that make any sense?

I have seen baos here in GZ that are ridiculous in ratio - I'd say 90% dough and 10% filling. Sort of like they used a chopstickful of filling. I'm not complaining, though - at some places the baos are a little more than a nickel each.

[junehl]

Ben Hong - Just for you I posted the recipe here

Bao Dough

One thing I was always amazed, for the most part (up until the last few years) it seems that baos were always $1.00. It didn't matter the inflation or where I was (in the US) I had seen it for the longest time at $1.00.

Around the late 90s I started seeing the price creep up and it somehow made me sad.

[hzrt8w]

One thing I was always amazed, for the most part (up until the last few years) it seems that baos were always $1.00.  It didn't matter the inflation or where I was (in the US) I had seen it for the longest time at $1.00. 

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Did you find the sizes of the baos shrinked over the years?

[Ben Hong]

I bought a dozen at $1.00 (?) ea, in Toronto's Old Chinatown and since my traveling companions did not like the taste of steamed dough I, ahem, "had" to eat the all by myself.

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A dollar? I pay $130 for the ones on 888 Dundas St. and the quality of their bao has gotten progressively poor. I am not sure what it is called if it is not filled with char siu? Filling is ground pork, salted egg, lap cheung and shiitake mushroom is called __ bao?

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Yep, a dollar! The place I go to is on the west side of Spadina run by a bunch of Chinese-Vietnamese women. My patronage is fairly constant so when I asked for the whole tray, they gave me a volume discount . Normally they are $1.25 each.

As for the filling, it would be a mistake to expect any fancy variety as they only have one, and that's the type you described. I have no problem with the taste, quality nor the quantity...especially the quantity We ancient loh wah kieu like value!!