Hello there Bookfeast family!
I hope everyone enjoyed Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. I made this the Book of the Month for both April and May because I was super late posting it for April and I wanted to give everyone enough time to read it. If you haven’t finished it yet or it’s still on your To Be Read list, don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything for you. But I will tell you a little about the book and give you my pairing, which I’m super excited about. This is one of my favorite pairings and I think you’ll really enjoy it too!
While Girl in Translation is fictional, Jean Kwok was definitely writing what she knew when she wrote this book. Kwok immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn as a child and worked in a Chinatown sweatshop while living in a terrible roach-infested apartment, not unlike her main character Kimberly in Lost in Translation. Kwok went on to get her undergrad at Harvard and graduate degree at Columbia. Through this work of fiction, Jean Kwok tells the truths of the immigrant experience.
I have lived in the United States all my life, my parents and their parents are all American. This book was very eye-opening to me to an experience that I was not familiar with but is very familiar with so many immigrants in the United States. It was really wonderful to be able to have a new understanding and a new view that I didn’t have before. I definitely recommend this book to anyone, but especially people that aren’t as familiar with the immigrant experience.
In the book, soon after Kimberly and her mother immigrate to New York and start working, a young boy offers to share his pork bun with Kimberly in an effort to comfort her. This boy will soon become one of her first friends and very important to Kimberly as she navigates her new life. This moment felt so pivotal and it was centered around this little pork bun.
I decided that bao, or one of these pork buns, would be the Perfect Pairing for this book, and a nice tribute to that beautiful moment at the beginning of the book. Amazingly, I had never even had a bao bun; I had only heard of them, so I
definitely had to do a little research before I created a recipe, but I already had a great hoisin sauce that I have that I knew I wanted for the pork. I just needed to decide what would taste good with it. Once I did, I was ready to go.
First, I needed to start my pork. I wanted to slow cook it just to make sure it was nice and tender, but you could also cook it in the Instant Pot if you are short on time. For Instant Pot instructions, look at the bottom of the recipe.
I rubbed Chinese 5 spice all over my pork roast. Feel free to use more 5 spice than called for if needed. Then in a pan, I browned the pork on all sides. The 5 spice has star anise, fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon, so when I browned my pork it kind of made my kitchen smell like Christmas. I wasn’t mad about that!
After browning, I placed my pork in the slow cooker and added my chicken broth, then I cooked on low for 5-6 hours.
While the pork was cooking, I started my bao buns. The buns are steamed yeast bread. This may seem super intimidating, but it’s actually not as difficult as it sounds. I used this recipe for making my bao buns and it went pretty well even on my first try!
If you don’t want to make your own buns, you can always find frozen bao buns in the Asian market.
Around this time, I also started my carrots. I wanted them to pickle for at least an hour before serving, so I gave myself about that timeline. I julienned the carrots and put them in a jar. Then in a saucepan combine white vinegar, sugar, and water and heat until it comes to a boil. Boil only until the sugar is dissolved and then remove from heat. I let it cool just a little bit and then added it to the jar with the carrots and let it sit until I was ready to serve. Remove the carrots from the vinegar mixture for serving.
After I got my buns rising, my carrots pickling and my pork was finished cooking, I drained the liquid and shredded the pork. I then made my sauce using hoisin, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ground ginger, black pepper, and minced garlic. I mixed those together really well and added them to the pork, making sure all the pork was well coated.
After that, I heated a pan on the stove, added just a little bit of olive oil, and then added my mushrooms. I let them brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Once those were done, I removed them and set them aside.
Once I had all my components, my buns were steamed, my carrots were pickled, my pork was cooked, I was ready to put everything together. I stuffed each bun with a healthy helping of pork, a few mushrooms, and some of my pickled carrots. I topped everything off with some white sesame seeds.
I’ve got to say, this has been one of my favorite dishes I’ve done for this blog and will definitely be going into our regular dinner lineup. All of my taste testers were very happy, as was I! This dish is much easier than you originally would think, and boy is it tasty! You can also make it for a snack or a delicious appetizer. I hope you all enjoy! Post your photos of your bao buns using the hashtag #thebookfeastblog so I can see what you made and don’t forget to comment here, Instagram or Facebook so I can hear what you thought of the book!
Happy eating and reading everyone!
Pork Bao Buns
Ingredients:
For the pork-
2 lbs boneless pork roast
1 tbsp Chinese 5 spice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
For the sauce-
⅓ cup hoisin
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
For the carrots-
2-3 medium carrots, julienned
½ cup white vinegar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
½ cup water
Other toppings-
8 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced
White sesame seeds for topping
Bao buns-
Either make from scratch or buy frozen
Directions:
Start with your pork. Rub the 5 spice all over the pork roast, making sure it’s well covered, set aside. Heat olive oil in a pan on the stove over medium-high heat and then add in pork roast. Brown all sides and then remove from heat. Place browned pork into the slow cooker and add chicken broth. Cook for 5-6 hours on low. Remove pork from the slow cooker and drain the liquid. Shred the meat.
One hour before your meat is finished cooking, prepare your carrots. On the stove, heat the vinegar, sugar, and water in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat. Add liquid to a jar with the carrots for at least one hour for the carrots to pickle.
Once your meat is shredded, you’ll want to add your sauce. To make your sauce, add together the hoisin, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ground ginger, black pepper, and minced garlic. Stir well. Once the sauce is well incorporated, add to the meat.
For the mushrooms, heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat on the stove. Add a little bit of oil to the pan and then the mushroom. Make sure not to crowd them and then let them brown, turning them halfway through, about 2 minutes per side.
Either make your bao buns ahead of time or you can buy them frozen. They are usually available at Asian grocery stores. I use Seonkyoung Longest’s recipe for bao buns which you can find here.
Once you have your buns and your fillings, assemble by putting the pork, mushrooms, and pickled carrots inside the bun. Top with sesame seeds. Serve warm as an appetizer or eat as many as you want and call it a meal!
Instant pot instructions for the pork:
Rub pork on all sides with 5 spice. On the saute function, brown on all sides. Turn off saute function. Place Instant Pot trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Pour 2 cups of chicken broth in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Place the browned pork roast on the trivet. Place the top on the Instant Pot and lock the lid. Put valve on Sealing. Let Pressure cook for 30 minutes (or 15 minutes per pound). Then let naturally release for 10 minutes. Shred the pork and add the sauce.
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