A leavened Yangzhou morning-tea bun filled with three diced ingredients, chicken, pork, and bamboo shoot, bound in a thick savory chicken-stock gravy.
The three-diced bun is a signature of Fuchun Teahouse in Yangzhou, founded in 1885 and the foremost of the city's historic "Three Springs" teahouses. The dish is credited to head pastry chef Yin Changshan, who around 1915 devised it to use up chicken trimmings: Fuchun went through some fifty chickens a day for the stock that underpinned its dim sum, and Yin diced the leftover chicken with pork and bamboo shoot into a filling. It is a fixture of Yangzhou morning-tea culture; a popular tradition further traces the family of "diced" buns to a Qianlong-era five-diced creation, though this is legend rather than record.
The bun is soft and pillowy from steaming, with a faint sweetness to the white dough. The filling is juicy and savory, the three dices each holding their own texture, tender chicken, richer pork, and crisp bamboo shoot, pulled together by a glossy, lightly sweet-savory gravy that does not soak through the wrapper.
The dough is leavened, traditionally with a sour starter and now often with yeast, and steamed for a soft, airy crumb. The filling is the technical core: the three ingredients are diced to graded sizes, chicken largest at about 0.8 cm, pork medium at about 0.7 cm, bamboo shoot smallest at about 0.5 cm, in roughly a 1:2:1 ratio, so each reads distinctly. They are stir-fried with scallion and ginger, simmered in chicken stock with soy, sugar, and dried shrimp roe, then thickened with a wet-starch glaze and cooled. Pre-cooking the filling into a set, starch-bound gravy locks in moisture, so the parcel stays juicy while the thickened sauce keeps liquid from saturating the bun; the bamboo shoot supplies a crunch contrast against the soft chicken and pork.
Variations
The three-diced bun, with chicken, pork and bamboo shoot, has a richer cousin in the five-diced bun, which adds diced sea cucumber and shrimp for a more luxurious, nourishing filling; the three-diced version is in fact often described as a simplified form of it. Both are staples of Yangzhou morning-tea houses, with Fuchun and Yechun each keeping their own renditions.
On the Palate
Where Yangzhou Three-Diced Bun sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 190 min
Make a leavened dough: mix flour with yeast or sour starter and water, knead smooth, and ferment until doubled.
- 215 min
Dice the cooked chicken, pork, and bamboo shoot to graded sizes (chicken about 0.8 cm, pork about 0.7 cm, bamboo about 0.5 cm).
Watch outDice the three fillings to graded sizes — chicken biggest, then pork, bamboo smallest — so each reads distinctly in the bite instead of blurring together.
- 312 min
Stir-fry scallion and ginger, add the three dices, then simmer in chicken stock with soy sauce, sugar, and shrimp roe until colored and flavored.
- 420 min
Thicken with wet cornstarch into a glossy glaze, toss to coat the dices, then cool the filling until set.
Watch outThicken the filling with wet starch and cool it until set — a set, starch-bound filling locks in the juice so the wrapper doesn't go soggy.
- 515 min
Knock back the risen dough, roll into a rope, and portion into pieces; press and roll each into a round wrapper, thick at the center and thin at the rim.
- 620 min
Place a portion of filling on each wrapper and pleat closed, gathering into a sealed top.
- 712 min
Proof the shaped buns briefly, then steam over high heat until soft and cooked through.
Watch outSteam over high heat until soft and cooked through — under-steamed and the leavened dough stays dense and doughy.
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