Yay China for the new Pork Bun Receipe!

The Associated Press put out an interesting food article today about Chinese Pork Buns. The headline was... Beijing steamed buns include cardboard. Yes, you read that right. The original report comes from China Central Television where they led an undercover investigation on baozi, or steamed pork buns, in the growing Chaoyang district of Beijing. Baozi are a common snack in China as they are in China Town restaurants across America. Steam cooked in large bamboo baskets, they have an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and a filling of sliced pork, but the new filling recipe called for 60% minced, caustic-soda-soaked cardboard and 40% fatty meat with some powdered seasoning for good measure. Even the interviewed cook admitted it didn't taste like much.

"This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," [the reporter] says. "Can other people taste the difference?"

"Most people can't. It fools the average person," the maker says. "I don't eat them myself."

Doesn't look like I want to go to the the 2008 Olympics anymore...

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Culinary Word of the Day: Banh bao
Bánh bao in Vietnamese. Banh bao is a ball shaped dumpling with pork meat, onions, eggs, mushrooms and vegetables inside. The steamed bun often has ground pork, Chinese sausage and a portion of a hard boiled egg inside. This delicacy originated with the baozi from China but was adapted by the Vietnamese and is also available in most other countries with Vietnamese populations. Source: Wikipedia