Carbon Black Steamed Buns filled with Crimson Red BBQ Pulled Pork
Part 1: BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
Method- 250g Onion (Chopped)
- Salt (To Taste)
- 12g Ginger (Freshly Grated)
- 250g Fresh Tomato Sauce
- 20ml Worcestershire Sauce
- 36ml Honey
- 30ml Molasses
- 28ml Apple Cider Vinegar
- 10ml Rum or Bourbon (Optional)
- 20g deZaan Crimson Red Cocoa Powder
- 10g Smoked Paprika
- 1 Garlic Clove (Roughly Chopped)
- 2g Habanero Chilli (Powdered or Fresh)
- 10ml Olive Oil (To Taste - additional ingredient)
- 20ml Water (To Taste - additional ingredient)
- In a saucepan (medium/high heat), add Olive Oil and Onions. Caramelise Onions to a golden-brown colour.
- Once Onions are caramelised, add Ginger and saute ingredients for 2 minutes.
- Add all liquid ingredients, give them a good stir and reduce heat to low/medium. Add rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined (reduce to low heat).
- Let simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent from burning the bottom. Note: If Sauce becomes too thick, add a bit of water to thin it out.
- Taste Sauce to make sure seasoning meets personal preference. If required, add extra at this point.
- Enjoy on any poultry or meat, barbequed vegetables (For example - Cauliflower, Corn, Sweet Potatoes).
TIP: Can be used as a marinate or an additional sauce.
Part 2: Buns
Ingredients
Method- 500g Plain Flour
- 30g Sugar
- 25g deZaan Carbon Black Cocoa Powder
- 2g Salt
- 60ml Milk
- 210ml Water (50ml Warmed)
- 4g Yeast (Dried)
- 15ml Sunflower Oil
- 15ml Rice Vinegar
- 4g Baking Powder
- Prepare a lightly oiled bowl or container to allow the resting of dough.
- Sift flour, deZaan Carbon Black Cocoa Powder and 2/3 of Sugar and Salt into a mixing bowl. Set aside until ready to use.
- In a separate bowl, add remaining 1/3 of Sugar, Yeast and 50ml of warmed Water. Stir to activate the Yeast and allow to fully dissolve.
- In a separate bowl , add remainder of Water, Oil and Vinegar. Set aside until ready to use.
- Once fully dissolved, add the wet Yeast mixture to the Flour mixture in the mixing bowl.
- With a dough hook attachment, mix into a rough dough.
- At the same time, stream the remaining wet ingredients into the mixing bowl and create a smooth dough. Note: This process will take approx. 10-15 minutes.
- Once a smooth dough is achieved, transfer to prepared oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth for approx. 1.5-2 hours at room temperature. (TIP: Depending on weather circumstances, dough can also be left to double in size).
- Once dough has doubled in size, transfer dough onto a flat clean and floured work surface. Flatten dough out and knead in the Baking Powder.
- Proceed to roll dough out and cut off about 50g portions (approx. 17 servings).
- Once portions have been weighed, roll cut portions into balls. Transfer to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for about 3-5 minutes (If weather is leaning to the warmer side, allow them to rest 5-10 minutes in the refrigerator before rolling out again).
- At this time, prepare 17-20 rectangular pieces of parchment paper to fit over each individual dough. Set aside until ready to use.
- Once the dough has rested, roll each ball out into a flat circle with a rolling pin. Roll to about 4mm thickness. Transfer to prepared parchment paper (rectangular cut pieces prepared in step 12).
- Oil the inside of the bun using a brush and gently fold into a half moon shape, folding the top edge to meet with the bottom edge.
- Once step 14 has been repeated with all the buns, transfer all buns onto a sheet tray and cover with a towel. Allow to rest for approx. 1-1.5 hrs (or double in size).
- Prepare a steamer over bain-marie running on medium-high heat. Note: This step needs to be started once the dough is almost ready.
- Steam buns for about 7-8 minutes.
TIP: Buns can be pre-steamed ahead of time and rewarmed (by steaming for a maximum of 2 minutes).
Part 3: Pulled Pork
Ingredients
Method- 1kg Pork Shoulder (Boneless)
- 150ml Water
- 100ml Apple Cider Vinegar or Rice Vinegar
- 25g Brown Sugar
- 4g Salt
- Preheat oven to 150ºC.
- Prepare a large casserole with a bit of water at the bottom.
- Place the Pork Shoulder (skin side up) in the casserole. Rub the shoulder with the Brown Sugar, Salt and ¼ Vinegar.
- Pour the rest of the wet ingredients onto the shoulder. Cover with an aluminum foil.
- Place in oven and cook for 4-6 hours, checking often for dryness. (TIP: If the shoulder becomes dry, pour a 1:1 mixture of vinegar and water over it to keep it from drying up).
- If the meat starts pulling apart from the center, then it is ready.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the meat on to a large flat dish. (TIP: Keep the juice for later when tossing the meat with the BBQ sauce).
- Once the meat is on the dish and becomes a bit cooler, shred the meat with the help of two forks.
- Once done with step 8 , add about 200g of BBQ sauce into the casserole, stir until well combined with the juice left over from cooking.
- Add ½ of the shredded pork back into the casserole and stir until the meat has been nicely (generously) coated.
- Add second ½ of the shredded pork and toss into the rest until all of the meat has been generously coated.
Note: If need be, add more of the BBQ sauce, recommended to sauce to preference.
