P
Chinese · Shanghai
Sheng Jian Bao (生煎包) — Shanghai Pan-Fried Soup Bun
Sheng jian bao (生煎包, literally raw-fried bun) is the pan-fried bun of Shanghai street food — a yeasted dough bun filled with a pork and soup jelly filling, cooked in a flat pan with a small amount of oil and water in the same jian technique as guotie, producing a bun with a crispy, sesame-and-scallion-scattered base, soft steamed sides and top, and — most critically — a burst of hot soup inside. It is related to xiao long bao (both use a soup jelly filling) but uses a yeasted rather than hot-water dough wrapper, and is pan-fried rather than steamed. The experience of biting into a sheng jian bao — with its combination of crunchy base, yielding bun, and the soup burst — is one of Shanghai's great street food pleasures.
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I
The Market List
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For the dough
250 g
plain flour
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
4 g
instant yeast
Your own market
1 tsp
sugar
Your own market
130 ml
warm water
Your own market
For the filling
300 g
minced pork
standard proportion for xiao long bao-style filling
Your own market
150 g
pork stock jelly
chilled until firmly set, cut into small cubes
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the pan-fry
2 tbsp
neutral oil
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
80 ml
water
approximately 1/3 cup, for steaming
Your own market
To finish
1 tbsp
sesame seeds
scattered over top
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
scallions
finely sliced
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II
The Method
1
Combine the plain flour, instant yeast, and sugar in a bowl. Add the warm water gradually and mix to a shaggy dough, then knead until smooth. The dough should be soft and slightly tacky to the touch — not dry, not wet enough to stick to a clean hand.
2
Cover the dough and rest at room temperature for 45–60 minutes. It is ready when it has doubled in volume and a finger pressed into the surface leaves an indent that does not spring back immediately.
3
Mix the minced pork with the cubed pork stock jelly. The jelly cubes must hold their shape in the raw filling — if they begin to melt and pool, return the filling to the refrigerator until firm. A filling that has lost its jelly to pooling liquid will produce no soup burst.
4
Divide the dough into equal portions and roll each into a round. Place a spoonful of filling in the centre of each round, then gather and pleat the dough around it, pinching firmly to seal. Place each bun seam-side down.
5
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a flat, heavy skillet over medium heat. Arrange the buns in a single layer, seam-side down, without crowding. Fry for 2–3 minutes. The base is ready to receive the water when it turns a pale, beginning gold — not yet fully coloured.
6
This is where the dish lives or dies: add the water to the pan all at once and cover immediately with a tight-fitting lid. Any delay allows steam to escape before the buns have begun to set. Steam undisturbed for 6–8 minutes. The buns are ready to uncover when all the water has been absorbed and no sound of active boiling remains — the pan will have gone quiet.
7
Remove the lid and allow the bases to crisp fully over medium heat for a further 60–90 seconds. The base of each bun should be a deep, even mahogany — firm and audibly crisp when the pan is tilted. Scatter sesame seeds and sliced scallion over the tops before removing from the heat.
From the canon — Spring onion is the most ubiquitous aromatic in Chinese cooking and its function is more complex than its common use as a garnish suggests. SCALLION (SPRING ONION) TECHNIQUE →
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — A hand-made pork stock jelly reduced from trotters or skin, set overnight and cut to precise cubes; heritage-breed pork, hand-minced; the dough worked and rested with care for full yeast development.
02
Estate — A well-reduced home pork stock set with a small amount of gelatine; good-quality minced pork from a butcher; dough rested the full 60 minutes.
03
Market — A commercial pork or chicken stock reduced and set with gelatine; supermarket minced pork; dough rested 45 minutes minimum.
04
House — The yeasted dough must not be substituted with cold-water dough — this is the line the dish cannot cross. All other concessions may be made before that one.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. The dough after kneading is smooth and slightly tacky — it does not tear when stretched gently and does not leave residue on a clean, dry hand.
◇Sight. After proofing, the dough has doubled in volume and a pressed finger leaves an indent that holds rather than springs back.
◇Touch. The raw filling holds its shape when a spoonful is lifted — the jelly cubes are distinct and have not pooled into liquid.
◇Sound. After steaming, the pan has fallen silent — no active boiling or hissing — indicating all water has been absorbed.
◇Sight. After the final crisping, the base of each bun is an even deep mahogany with no pale or soft patches remaining.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies at the moment the water enters the hot pan: the lid must follow within the same second, sealing the steam that simultaneously cooks the bun through and melts the jelly into soup.
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VI
What to Pour
A lightly oxidised Shaoxing rice wine served warm, or — where wine is preferred — a bone-dry, high-acid white such as an unoaked Muscadet or a light Chablis, whose acidity cuts the richness of the pork and the unctuous soup within the bun.
The whole pairingPillar VII
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