That beautiful creature pictured above is Bao to the Pork, a blessed union of 14-hour hickory-smoked pulled
pork and a bun that’s steamed just so. You can find it at the newly opened
Pork & Mindy’s in Chicago.
But should you want to try your hand at creating something similar, we enlisted the chef, one Jeff Mauro, to bestow us all with this important life advice.
“Besides the hickory-smoked pork, Asian plum sauce and steamed bao bun, what really ties this sandwich together is the combination of pickled daikon and carrots with the fresh cucumber/jalapeño relish. They’re very easy to make at home. In fact, it’s quite easy to pickle any fresh veggie. Just heat to a simmer 2 cups of white vinegar, 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of salt. Once simmering, remove from heat and add to freshly chopped veggies. You can do this with carrots and daikons or jalapeños, beets, green beans or even watermelon rind. There is so much more to pickling than just straight-up dill pickles.”
But should you want to try your hand at creating something similar, we enlisted the chef, one Jeff Mauro, to bestow us all with this important life advice.
“Besides the hickory-smoked pork, Asian plum sauce and steamed bao bun, what really ties this sandwich together is the combination of pickled daikon and carrots with the fresh cucumber/jalapeño relish. They’re very easy to make at home. In fact, it’s quite easy to pickle any fresh veggie. Just heat to a simmer 2 cups of white vinegar, 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of salt. Once simmering, remove from heat and add to freshly chopped veggies. You can do this with carrots and daikons or jalapeños, beets, green beans or even watermelon rind. There is so much more to pickling than just straight-up dill pickles.”
