BAO BUNS FILLED WITH SLOW-BRAISED BEEF
By Erchen Chang
CHEF’S STEP BY STEP
PHOTOGRAPHS GEORGIA GLYNN SMITH
FOOD STYLING REBECCA SMITH
STYLING WEI TANG
MEET THE CHEF
Erchen co-founded Bao in London’s Soho with her husband and sister-in-law. It started as a street food stall and is now one of London’s hottest restaurants (with queues to prove it).
The 25-year-old chef spent her childhood in the Taiwanese capital Taipei before moving to the UK aged 14, where she eventually studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Her love of the food of her childhood was inspired by the home cooking of her grandma.
"I’ve been eating bao buns – cloud-like Taiwanese buns that are steamed, then flled with a favour-packed flling – since I was a child growing up in Taiwan. The buns have a slight sweetness, which makes them incredibly moreish. This recipe is for a beef shortrib flling, which is soft, tender and rich, but balanced out with the sharpness of the pickles. Once you’ve mastered the bun-making technique you can experiment with all sorts of fllings, from savoury to sweet."