[Recipe] Taiwanese Pepper Bun 台灣胡椒餅食譜

Taro and yam balls weren’t the only food item I’ve grown fond of from our Taiwan trip last fall. There’s also pepper bun 胡椒餅. In fact, my first memory of having pepper buns went all the way back to my family trip to Taipei more than 10 years ago. After all those years I still vividly remembered the piping hot, peppery filling inside the crispy bun — it was so delicious and memorable that I include it as a must-have for everyone visiting Taiwan. And I couldn’t stop telling Mr. about it before and throughout the trip. Taipei was our last stop, so we had to wait till then to get our fill. I told Mr. to wait, but we did succumb to the temptation and get some pepper buns at our other stops, but it was a bad decision because it was nothing like the ones in Taipei.The very night we arrived in Taipei, we immediately went for some pepper buns. We didn’t go to Raohe Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市 as it was reserved for another day, but we went to the brick and mortar storefront of the same vendor at the night market 福州世祖胡椒餅. We waited for the pepper buns fresh out of the clay oven, and boy were they hot. Pretty sure we burned the roof of our mouths when we took our first bite. And it was soooo good! It’s just as good as I remembered. The meat was juicy, peppery, and the crust was crispy and flaky.

When we went to Raohe two days later, I couldn’t help myself but crave for one more pepper bun before we flew home to Vancouver.

It was busy at the night market — the pepper bun stall was right at the entrance and there were easily 50 people in the line up. We made it our last stop to get pepper buns and by then, the line was more reasonable, reduced to about 15-20 people. Honestly, I think the buns were better at the storefront. The night market was just too busy and they couldn’t make the buns fast enough to fulfill the demand. The crust was a bit soggy, a bit underdone.

And now, during this pandemic, Mama Lam has been cooking a lot more and experimenting different recipes. She accepted the challenge to make pepper buns and she didn’t disappoint. She researched a number of recipes online and put together one that worked, with techniques that she learned from making other things. The recipe comes in three parts that make up the flaky dough and tasty filling.

Ingredients

Crust

Part A

• 250g All Purpose Flour
• 130g Water
• 25g Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Yeast

Part B

• 75g Cake Flour
• 40g Ghee

Filling

• 300g Ground Pork
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
• 2 teaspoon Ground Fresh Ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 100g Green Onion
• Black and White Sesame Seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven at 400°F (200°C)2. At medium-low speed on a stand mixer, blend everything in Part A into a dough ball.3. Mix Part B together into a dough ball.4. At medium speed on a stand mixer, blend only the pork for 30 seconds. Add soy sauce, black pepper, sesame oil, ginger and salt, and blend for 1 minute.

5. Divide the two dough balls as well as meat mixture into 10 portions each.

6. Roll out Part A, stuff in Part B, seal and roll it back into a ball.

7. Roll out the ball into oblong shape. Then roll it up and rotate it 90 degree.

8. Roll the dough out again. Stuff the meat mixture and 10g green onion. Seal the closing, flip it over, brush the top with some water and sprinkle sesame seeds.9. Bake the buns for 20 minutes.The results? Similar to making puff pastry, step 6 and 7 allowed the ghee mixture to be mixed into the dough and created the flaky crust. The filling was juicy and flavourful. It’s a little bit different from the ones we had in Taipei (for one this is not cooked in a clay oven so it’s missing the charred element) but it’s just as good. When I first saw the ingredients, I thought it was too little black pepper; but between the black pepper and fresh ginger, the buns packed a punch! Of course, different brands of peppercorn may have different heat level so you may have to test it out and adjust the amount.

Tips

• You should divide your meat mixture into 10 portions before making the buns. We just used an ice cream scoop so while we made sure it’s equal portion size, we did have some leftover meat at the end.
• For juicier filling, don’t use 100% ground pork. Create a blend by mixing with a different cut such as pork shoulder butt (charsiu meat).
• Hand-minced meat would create a better mouthfeel than store-ground meat because the meat would be coarser.
• You can use lard instead of ghee to add another layer of flavour and richness to the bun.