P
Chinese · Guangdong Province
Cantonese Turnip Puff Pastry (Loh Bak Sou)
Loh bak sou (蘿蔔酥) — turnip puff pastry — is a Cantonese dim sum pastry: a filling of shredded daikon radish, dried shrimp, and pork, mixed with sesame and oyster sauce, is enclosed in a flaky Chinese pastry (water-and-oil dough with oil paste lamination). Baked until golden and flaky. The Chinese pastry tradition is distinct from French puff pastry — it uses lard rather than butter for the oil paste.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the water dough
200 g
plain flour
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
80 ml
water
Your own market
40 g
lard
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the oil paste
100 g
plain flour
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
lard
standard proportion — not less than 1:2 flour-to-lard by weight
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the filling
500 g
daikon radish
peeled and coarsely shredded
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
salt
for drawing moisture from daikon
Your own market
40 g
150 g
pork
minced or finely diced
Your own market
1 tbsp
sesame oil
Your own market
1 tbsp
oyster sauce
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To finish
1
egg
beaten
Your own market
1 tsp
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Salt the shredded daikon and leave for 15 minutes. Squeeze firmly in a clean cloth until the radish is as dry as possible. Any residual moisture will make the pastry soggy.
2
Cook the pork in a dry pan until no longer pink. Add the dried shrimp, then the squeezed daikon. Season with oyster sauce and sesame oil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely before filling the pastries. The mixture must be dry and cohesive, not wet or loose.
From the canon — Oyster sauce was invented by accident in the 1880s in Guangdong province when a cook named Lee Kum Sheung left oyster soup simmering too long and discovered … Oyster Sauce (Cantonese — Original Method vs Commercial) →
3
Make the water dough: combine the flour, lard, and water and knead until smooth and pliable. Make the oil paste: work the flour and lard together — no water — until a uniform, entirely fat-bound paste forms. Rest both doughs, covered, for 20 minutes; the water dough should feel relaxed and no longer spring back when pressed.
4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Roll the water dough into a flat sheet. Spread the oil paste evenly across the surface. Roll up into a log, flatten, and fold. Repeat the rolling and folding sequence a minimum of three times. A cross-section cut after the final fold must reveal 20 or more distinct visible layers; fewer folds cannot be compensated for later.
5
Rest the laminated dough for 10 minutes after the final fold to allow the gluten to relax. Portion into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a round disc.
6
Place a spoonful of the cooled filling at the centre of each disc. Draw the edges up and pinch firmly to seal, shaping into a neat oval or round. No filling should be visible at the seam.
7
Arrange on a lined baking tray. Brush with the egg wash to which the soy sauce has been added. Bake at 190°C until the pastries are deep golden and the layers have visibly separated and bloomed. The crust should be dry to the touch and the layers clearly defined in cross-section.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Leaf lard rendered from kidney fat; daikon pulled from a kitchen garden the same morning, shredded and salted to order; dried shrimp of the finest grade, sun-dried and deeply fragrant.
02
Estate — Good-quality rendered lard from a butcher; fresh market daikon, firm and heavy; dried shrimp bought whole and soaked before use.
03
Market — Commercial lard from a supermarket; daikon from a general greengrocer; packaged dried shrimp of reliable provenance.
04
House — Lard substituted with another solid fat — note that any fat other than lard will alter the melting point and reduce layer separation, producing a noticeably different result.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Squeezed daikon feels dry and springy in the fist; no liquid runs when pressed hard.
◇Touch. Rested water dough does not spring back when a finger is pressed into it — gluten has relaxed sufficiently to roll.
◇Sight. A cross-section through the folded dough shows 20 or more distinct alternating layers of water dough and oil paste.
◇Sight. Baked pastries are deep golden; the layers have visibly separated and bloomed at the sides; the surface is dry, not shiny.
◇Where it lives or dies. The lamination sequence — a minimum of three roll-and-fold passes — must produce 20 or more visible layers; without it the pastry bakes closed and dense rather than open and flaky.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Baijiu
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Sourced through Provenance