Brain Marrow Rolls
A Hunan-style snack made by wrapping a filling of pork fatback and white sugar in tender fermented dough, then steaming it.
Ingredients
Alkaline young fermented dough
600 g
Pork fat
300 g
Granulated sugar
250 g
Fine salt
5 g
Cooked pork lard
25 g
Instructions
1
Make the sugar-oil filling
Cut the pork fat into strips, grind into a mince using a meat grinder, mix with fine salt and let marinate briefly, then grind once again, add the granulated sugar and mix well to form the sugar-oil filling.
2
Roll out the dough
Knead the young fermented dough until smooth, shape into a large rope, and use a rolling pin to evenly roll it out into a sheet about 6.6 mm thick, then trim the edges neatly.
3
Fill the dough
In winter, first steam most of the sugar-oil filling in a bowl until melted, pour it over the unsteamed portion and mix everything together. Spread the filling evenly over the dough sheet with a knife, working quickly and gently.
4
Shape the rolls
Roll the sheet forward and inward into a cylinder about 3.3 cm in diameter with the seam facing up, press flat slightly, then cut into 3.3 cm long tile-shaped pieces. Roll both ends toward the center, flip the edges over one by one, and press a single line down the middle of each piece with a chopstick.
5
Steam the rolls
Place a small piece of white paper under each roll, arrange them in a steamer, and steam over rapidly boiling water over high heat for about 15 minutes until cooked through. Remove and arrange on a plate to serve.
