三鲜生煎 (Shanghai Pan-Fried Buns)
Lunch @ "Da Hu Chun" (皇后大壶春), an old school eatery famous for the local pan-fried buns.
"Da Hu Chun" (大壶春) is one of Shanghai’s oldest fried pork bun shops, which first opened in the 1930s. The reason I know this shop is because it was featured in Shanghai Airline's Inflight Magazine. I do realise that the branch I went to (as featured in the magazine) had a longer name (it has a "Empress" prefix) and I am not sure if the 2 are affiliated in any way.
Da Hu Chun's pan-fried buns have a bready thicker skin, compared to the other famous chain of Xiao Yang Shen Jian (小杨生煎), which is crispily thinner. Da Hu Chun's buns also contains no soup/broth trapped by the skin, while Xiao Yang's literally could explode if one is to take too hazardous a first bite. The addition of yeast to the dough is one crucial difference.
As advised by this link (www.culinarybackstreets.com/shanghai/2013/da-hu-chun/), the other difference is how they are pan-fried. Clear water (清水) or Troubled water (混水) method. The difference between the two can be identified by looking at them. The “troubled water” variety is cooked by deep-frying the pinched dough in the oil, a method commonly used by street vendors around the city that hides the seam of the dough in the browned bottoms, creating buns of uniform size and shape.
Da Hu Chun, on the other hand, uses the “clear water” technique, in which the twisted seal of dough is left facing up and the half without the seam is fried in oil. The steam and wok-shaking distort these lumpy, twisted buns into un-photogenic packages. Buns made this way contain less soup, so the focus at Da Hu Chun is really on the meat, juicy bits of pork that are sweetened with secret ingredients.
三鲜生煎 (Shanghai Pan-Fried Buns)
Lunch @ "Da Hu Chun" (皇后大壶春), an old school eatery famous for the local pan-fried buns.
"Da Hu Chun" (大壶春) is one of Shanghai’s oldest fried pork bun shops, which first opened in the 1930s. The reason I know this shop is because it was featured in Shanghai Airline's Inflight Magazine. I do realise that the branch I went to (as featured in the magazine) had a longer name (it has a "Empress" prefix) and I am not sure if the 2 are affiliated in any way.
Da Hu Chun's pan-fried buns have a bready thicker skin, compared to the other famous chain of Xiao Yang Shen Jian (小杨生煎), which is crispily thinner. Da Hu Chun's buns also contains no soup/broth trapped by the skin, while Xiao Yang's literally could explode if one is to take too hazardous a first bite. The addition of yeast to the dough is one crucial difference.
As advised by this link (www.culinarybackstreets.com/shanghai/2013/da-hu-chun/), the other difference is how they are pan-fried. Clear water (清水) or Troubled water (混水) method. The difference between the two can be identified by looking at them. The “troubled water” variety is cooked by deep-frying the pinched dough in the oil, a method commonly used by street vendors around the city that hides the seam of the dough in the browned bottoms, creating buns of uniform size and shape.
Da Hu Chun, on the other hand, uses the “clear water” technique, in which the twisted seal of dough is left facing up and the half without the seam is fried in oil. The steam and wok-shaking distort these lumpy, twisted buns into un-photogenic packages. Buns made this way contain less soup, so the focus at Da Hu Chun is really on the meat, juicy bits of pork that are sweetened with secret ingredients.