A thin-skinned steamed bun from Linxia (古河州) in Gansu, a Hui staple of the old Silk Road. The buns are large, with a leavened wrapper rolled thin enough to look almost translucent once steamed, filled with diced lamb (or beef) and carrot — often the local yellow carrot — bound with scallion, salt, Sichuan-peppercorn and pepper. They are pleated and steamed over high heat for about fifteen minutes until the skin is white and the fat shows golden through it. At the table they are eaten dipped in chili oil and aged vinegar, which cuts the richness of the filling.
Linxia, long known by its old name Hezhou, was a Silk Road crossing in southern Gansu and a center of Hui Muslim culinary culture, where wheat flatbreads and steamed wheat foods meet a lamb-and-beef table; the thin-skinned 包子 is one of its everyday staples rather than a dish with a recorded inventor or date. The filling follows the local larder — lamb or beef with carrot, the carrot often the area's yellow variety — and the seasoning the Hui kitchen's pepper and Sichuan peppercorn. The name simply marks the place. It is distinct from Lanzhou's roast 烤包子, which are baked dry in an oven; the Hezhou bun is steamed, so the skin stays soft and pale and the filling juicy.
The first bite is into a thin, soft, faintly chewy skin that almost dissolves, then into a hot, juicy filling of tender lamb and sweet carrot, the meat fragrant with pepper and Sichuan peppercorn and never gamy, the carrot taking on the fat and giving the filling its mild sweetness. A dip in chili oil and aged vinegar sharpens it. Done well the skin is paper-thin and intact, the filling moist and well-balanced between meat and carrot; done badly the wrapper is thick and doughy, the filling dry or heavy with mutton smell, or the carrot watery and bland from being added raw and underseasoned.
A leavened dough is the key to the thin skin: yeast fermentation produces carbon dioxide that the gluten traps, and the relaxed, gassy dough can be rolled very thin yet puff to a soft, light wrapper on steaming, where the steam sets the starch and protein into a tender shell. The filling is built to stay juicy — fat from the lamb (and a little extra) melts in the heat and is held inside the sealed bun, while the carrot, often lightly cooked or grated fine first, both absorbs that fat and releases its own sweetness, so the filling tastes rich without leaking dry. Sichuan peppercorn and pepper mask the muttony note. Steaming over strong, steady heat for about fifteen minutes cooks skin and filling together: too short and the dough is gummy and the meat raw; too long, or with the lid lifted to a draft, and the buns collapse and the skin wrinkles.
Variations
The filling shifts with the season around a meat-and-vegetable core: lamb or beef with carrot is the classic, but white radish, Chinese chives or other vegetables stand in through the year, and beef is common for those who prefer it to lamb. Some shops steam them very large, others smaller; the chili-oil-and-vinegar dip at the table is near-universal. Within Linxia's Hui repertoire the bun keeps company with Dongxiang hand-grabbed lamb and the offal 发子面肠. Crucially it is not the roast 兰州烤包子 baked dry in an oven, nor the pan-fried 水煎包 — the Hezhou bun is defined by the thin leavened skin and the wet steam.
On the Palate
Where Hezhou Steamed Buns sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 1 hour active + 1 hour 30 min waiting
- 165 min
Dissolve yeast in warm water, mix into flour, and knead to a smooth dough; cover and let it rise in a warm place until roughly doubled, about an hour.
- 212 min
Peel and finely dice or grate carrot, lightly steaming or par-cooking it so it softens and gives up no raw water, then let it cool.
Watch outPar-cook or grate the carrot so it gives up no raw water, then cool it — wet carrot leaks liquid that soaks and tears the thin bun skin.
- 310 min
Dice lamb or beef small and mix with the carrot, scallion, salt, ground Sichuan peppercorn, pepper and a little oil into a juicy, well-seasoned filling.
- 412 min
Punch down the risen dough, divide into pieces, and roll each into a round wrapper thin at the edge and slightly thicker at the center.
- 515 min
Place a generous spoon of filling on each wrapper and pleat it closed, gathering the folds at the top.
- 615 min
Set the buns apart on a lined steamer and let them rest and proof a short while so they puff.
Watch outLet the shaped buns rest and proof briefly before steaming so they puff — steam them unrested and the skin turns dense and tight.
- 716 min
Steam over high heat for about 15 minutes until the skin is white and set and the filling is cooked through; serve hot with chili oil and aged vinegar for dipping.
Watch outSteam over high heat about 15 minutes until the skin is white and set and the filling is cooked through — open early and it collapses.
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