Breaking (a) Sausage Roll (and more) with Sunny
13,000 steps later around Chinatown
Breaking bread:Â
Conversations over goooood bread, and even better company.Â
An interview series that centers around our favorite breads, and the personal histories and memories baked into them.
Breaking (a) Sausage Roll (and more) with Sunny
BREAD IN CHINESE CULTURE
I never go out of my way to eat bread, or to buy bread. So even for this I was excited because it's an excuse for me to go and get some bread. I would never come by myself all the way to Chinatown just to buy bread. I always need to do something else, and then I'll be like, oh, I'm passing by the bakery.Â
We don't really eat bread, at least in Chinese cuisine. You don't have a lot of bread focused meals. It was introduced a little later to me.Â
Are these different types of bread more like a pastry, or a dessert?
Yeah, it's more like a dessert. None of our meals are centered around bread.
Hi, Sunny.Â
Hello.Â
Where are we?Â
We're at Good Mong Kok Bakery.Â
What are we going to order?Â
We're going to order a sesame ball, beef shumai, shrimp dumplings, one egg tart, and then one, what was that called again? The scallion bun.
We are now in Little Swan Bakery. And so I grew up going to a small bakery, sort of like the one I go to in SoCal. And it was the only one in town that had Asian bread. My mom would take us once or twice a week after school just to pick up some bread and cakes. It was always a good memory.Â
Give me a tour. What would you usually get?
I always really like the sausage rolls they have here. Yeah, this one's fancier. And then my sister liked the pineapple bread.
But honestly, even when I'm home now, I don't go out of my way to eat this. Like, this is all food I don't go out of my way to eat anymore at home. But I always seek it out here when I'm away from home.Â
Any recommendations for someone who hasn’t been to a Chinese bakery? So if we're going sweet, what should we get here?
It depends if you're looking for chocolate-y bread. Some of these are like a coffee bread, which is just straight up bread. My sister loves them.
Is pineapple a popular flavor?
I can't remember the last time I've eaten a pineapple bun. They're just like a staple. Let's do a pineapple bun. This is one of the classics when it comes to Asian bakery bread.
I also love cream puffs. I started making them when I was in college. I baked them all the time.
TASTE TEST
Should we officially start breaking bread? I’ll follow your lead on where to start.
SAUSAGE ROLL
This is something that I've grown up eating. Every time I go to an Asian bakery, I always buy this. Even the smell is very familiar. It smells like Hawaiian bread to me.
Oh! I expected it to be sweet. Like the dough. But it's not sweet.
I would say this bread is a little less seasoned. It's not oily.
How do you compare it to Little Swan?
I think Little Swan uses more scallion in their dough. This one has none.
Is this a meal for you? Like when would you decide to eat sausage rolls?
I eat it when I am traveling. As a kid, I felt like it was a snack.
Or after school, I go to the bakery and I always like to eat this. But now, I don't eat that much bread normally when I'm by myself. My family also doesn't eat too much bread.
My carbs come from rice and noodles. Bread is like a treat. So if I buy this, it will usually be a snack for me. Or when I'm traveling — they’re easy. They're on the go. And you can toss everything at the end. And the sausage is protein in my head.Â
Where can I find the best sausage roll?Â
I've never tried to go out of my way to find a really good sausage roll. I see it. I know exactly what it is. I'm not trying to ever find the best one. It's functional. It's safe bread.Â
In college, in our servery, which is like a cafeteria, its buffet style. There are different types of cuisines, and all these cuisines change except for the salad bar. At the hamburger bar though, they always had roasted chicken breasts. It's always cooked the same exact way. Everyone at school calls it safety chicken. You can always go to that safety chicken. That's what this sausage roll is for me, like a safety chicken. I get it if I'm having a bad day.
PINEAPPLE BUN
I've never properly eaten this before. I think I'm going to start eating this one from now on. I can see why people get it. Very subtle.Â
There's no filling, right? This reminds me of ensaymada, a Filipino pastry, but instead of pineapple, it has cheese. It has the same brioche base. You don't have the pineapple often, is that right? But it's a staple of Chinese sweets.Â
Yeah, I feel like pineapple bun and sausage bun are two classics. I can’t remember the last time I had this and it's just something that people pick up in the bakery. My sister likes it.Â
EGG TART
The egg flavor here is strong. There's something so nice about just biting into the warm crust. I didn't really like egg tarts growing up, this was also like a college development, but I love them now, they're my favorite.
SCALLION BUN
We also got a scallion bun that I've never had before, but a random guy recommended it today, so we'll try it.Â
FAVORITES?
Definitely the egg tart. And then, I really liked the sausage roll. The dough was really well made — it wasn’t too oily.
So egg tart and sausage roll are my favorites. And now I feel like I have a new appreciation for the pineapple bun now.Â
POST-BREAD WALKS IN CHINATOWN
WHAT KINDS OF KITCHENS DID YOU GROW UP WITH?
I grew up in the US and so my house is very standard. It was built in the eighties. You cook outside because in Chinese cuisine, you are always sauteing the oils and the smoke. I've only seen those in movies. And then I've peeked into some of the more ancient, older courtyards that still exist in places like Beijing. I know in China, the very old ones. My grandma had an indoor and outdoor kitchen. It's like a courtyard.Â
My grandma from my dad's side is a very good cook. She makes these lamb hand pulled noodles. They're so good. My dad has made them for me. They're one of my favorite things. There’s something so nice and chewy about it. It takes like 12 hours because you have to make the noodles the night before and then you soak them in oil and you leave it in the fridge and the next morning you wake up early. Â
WHAT WERE MEALS LIKE GROWING UP?
I always grew up with Chinese food where my dinner, and each meal, is family style. Unless you do a dish like a wonton soup, where you have to have your own bowl. But even with some soups like hot pot, it's still a family style event. Hot pot is one of my favorite things. You just have one giant bowl and you throw in a bunch of stuff.
My mom makes tomato, egg noodle soup. The ingredients are just simple. Two eggs, one tomato.
WHAT’S A MEAL YOU LIKE EATING TO WHEN YOU VISIT CHINA?
One thing I always love to eat when I go back is Peking duck from Beijing. We only eat Peking duck in China. We've gone out to eat at some restaurants in the U.S. It doesn't hit the same. There's only one specific restaurant that I like in China.
LIVING, PAST, OR FUTURE — WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BREAK BREAD WITH?
I've always thought about what it might be like to meet my ancestors, my great grandparents, or even great, great grandparents. I’d like to sit down in their home and see the way they lived and where I've come from. I've seen photos of my great grandmother from my mom's side, but not so much from my dad's.
It's really weird because it's like my grandparents were definitely parts of my parents' lives, and my parents' grandparents were a huge part of their lives, but I have never seen them. I would like to meet them and go back generations.Â
SYNCHRONICITY
Sunny and I serendipitously walked into an exhibition in Chinatown that featured two popular bakeries: Yummy Bakery & Cafe and Garden Bakery.Â
In the exhibition, Bahar Behbahani collaborated with Chinatown bakers to explore the fundamental universal and personal aspects shared between Chinese and Persian rituals of bread making. The exhibition showcased the ceremony and memory-making involved in making bread, highlighting how our personal histories and memories are woven into them across diasporic waters.
Synchronicity swirls indeed.
