Tianjin's most famous steamed bun and the head of the city's "Three Wonders." Each bun is pleated into eighteen evenly spaced folds and filled with a half-fat pork stuffing loosened with a bone-stock jelly, so it floods with juice the moment you bite in. The skin is thin and springy but never soggy; the filling is fresh and savory rather than greasy. Eaten hot from the steamer, dipped lightly in vinegar.
Founded in Tianjin in 1858. According to local accounts, a young man named Gao Guiyou — whose childhood name was "Gouzi" (Puppy) — apprenticed at a steamed-food stall, then opened his own shop, the Deju Hao, selling only buns. His buns were so good that business overwhelmed him and he had no time to chat with customers; regulars joked that "Gouzi sells his buns and ignores everyone" (gou bu li), and the nickname stuck to the buns themselves. The shop is documented as one of Tianjin's oldest surviving food houses.
The skin is thin, white and faintly springy, gathered into eighteen tidy pleats that fan open like a chrysanthemum. Lift a bun carefully — it is heavy with broth. The first bite releases a mouthful of clear, savory pork juice; behind it the filling is tender and fresh, fatty enough to be rich but never cloying. A dab of vinegar cuts the richness and sharpens the meat.
The juice comes from two things: stock beaten into the filling, and a pork-skin aspic folded in. Pork skin is simmered long enough to release its collagen, chilled into a jelly, diced and mixed through the half-fat pork; when steamed, the jelly melts back into broth inside the sealed skin. The pleating matters as much as the filling — eighteen folds, twisted closed at the crown, hold the bun's shape and keep the broth from breaking through before it reaches the steamer. Steam over high heat for a short, exact time: too long and the skin slackens and the soup boils away.
Variations
Classic shops keep to a pure pork filling; sea-flavored versions fold in chopped shrimp or crab roe, and there are three-delicacy and vegetarian fillings as well. Home cooks who can't be bothered with the aspic simply beat more stock into the meat, trading a little of the juice-burst for less work.
On the Palate
Where Goubuli Baozi sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 1 hour 10 min active + 1 hour 20 min waiting
- 190 min
Simmer pork skin in water with ginger and scallion until the liquid is sticky with collagen; strain, chill until set, then dice the aspic fine.
Watch outSimmer the pork skin until the liquid turns sticky and coats a spoon — that's the collagen; too thin and there's no soup jelly to fold in.
- 280 min
Make a soft, slightly sweet leavened dough and let it rise until doubled.
- 320 min
Mince half-fat pork; beat in stock a little at a time until the meat is loose and wet, season with soy, ginger and sesame oil, then fold in the diced aspic.
Watch outBeat the stock into the meat a little at a time until the filling looks loose and wet — that beaten-in liquid becomes the juice, so don't stop while it's still dry.
- 415 min
Divide and roll the dough into thin rounds, thicker at the center than the rim.
- 525 min
Fill each round and pleat closed with eighteen folds, twisting the top shut.
- 615 min
Rest the shaped buns briefly so the dough relaxes.
- 78 min
Steam over high heat about 8 minutes until the skin is set and glossy.
Watch outHigh steam, short and exact — pull them the moment the skin sets glossy; a minute too long and the skin slackens and the soup boils away.
- 82 min
Serve at once with a small dish of vinegar and slivered ginger.
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