Braised Oxtail Baozi
UPDATE 10/2017: I’ve updated a more comprehensive stop motion tutorial which I’ve moved onto my Patreon account (new educational forum where I will share detailed tutorials and more). Access it there!
In my previous post on purple mantou, I talked about how obsessed I was with steamed buns, and that obsession really stemmed from a favorite breakfast street food from Shanghai: pork baozi! Giant fluffy pork baozi. When I worked in Shanghai for a summer, I stopped by a little breakfast stand and got pork baozi (and possibly shaomai too, hehe). Since then I love everything stuffed in fluffy mantou. I’ve been meaning to make this for awhile, and I’m so happy to finally share this with you. Tender, braised oxtail (in the red-braise method) and succulent mushrooms, all stuffed in soft fluffy mantou dough. If I’m honest, this does take awhile to make, with the braise and the dough and the assembly and finally steaming, but it’s so worth it. Trust me. And you can freeze any leftovers and ta-da! Easy, convenient and delicious breakfast awaits next week.
See GIF below for wrapping technique. I definitely have to work on my wrapping technique – you ca see how messy they are :). 
Also, I’m so obsessed with this waxed canvas apron from Rehouse VT! What I’m wearing is a full coverage Pinafore. You can’t see it here but its tied with gorgeous leather straps. It fits my aesthetic perfectly and I can’t wait to do more with it. Many thanks to Matt and Britt 🙂
RECIPE: Braised Oxtail Baozi 包子
Braised Oxtail
2-3 lb oxtails
1 tbsp oil
2 slices ginger
4-6 cloves garlic
2 whole star anise
2 bay leaves
3 stalks scallion, roughly chopped (to be removed later)
2-3 sichuan peppercorns
1/4 cup shaoxing wine
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar (rock s sugar if you have it)
citrus peel
1.5 cups stocksalt
1 cup mushrooms (I like beech, but sliced shiitake works well here too)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
Rinse oxtail and pat dry. Heat a dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown all sides until golden brown.
Remove oxtails from pot, set aside. Add in ginger, scallions, garlic, star anise, bay leaves, peppercorns. Cook until aromatic, around 2 minutes.
Add in shaoxing wine, soy sauces, sugar, water and deglaze pot. Place oxtails back in, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 2-3 hours, until meat is fork-tender and falls off the bone. Add more water if necessary!
When oxtail is fork-tender, remove from pot. Use a fork to remove and shred meat. Set aside. Reserve a few tablespoons of braising fluid. Cook mushrooms over oil and then melt butter. Add in flour and whisk until thick. Thicken with braising fluid until you obtain the consistency you want. Toss oxtail shreds with mushroom gravy mixture and let cool completely.
Mantou Dough
400g flour
220g milk, lukewarm
1.5 tbsp active dry yeast
20g sugar
Mix warm milk with yeast and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, until foamy. In a separate bowl, add flour. Make a well in the center and add milk/yeast mixture. Stir with chopsticks until a dough starts to form.
Knead until the dough, bowl, and hands are clean and shiny. (10 minutes – ps, this is an old Chinese saying to indicate when the dough is ready to rise!)
Cover and let rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.
Punch dough down and knead a few times, then get ready to make baozi.
Roll into a log, divide into 6 pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll around the edges, so that the edges are thinner than the middle. Spoon cooled oxtail-mushroom mixture. Pleat and seal (see GIF above for illustration).
Bring cold water to a boil. Put steamer on, place lid on, steam for 15-17 minutes, then turn off heat and let sit for 2 more minutes.
Oh my gosh – I love this! I’ve been wanting to play around with video for awhile now but it feels so daunting! This tutorial is just what I needed! Less daunting than video but the end results are just as fun. So excited to play around with this! Thanks, Betty! <3
I’m with Shelley…I’ve always been sooo intimidated about doing video or stop motion or anything like that. This looks do-able, though I’m sure it still takes a ton of work, especially to make them as pretty as yours. I’m going to try it, at least once. I said it here so it’s happening. I’ll def tag you if I do 😉 Thanks for this, Betty!!
this. is. awesome!
This is the best thing ever!!
Great tutorial and LOVE the idea of using braised oxtail in dumplings!!!
P.S. For what it’s worth I think your dumpling folds look quite spot on 🙂
Hi Betty!
Thanks for posting. I was wondering what FPS you like to shoot at for these?
Thanks,
Amazing, Betty. I love oxtail and buns, so I’ll definitely be making these. Great tutorial. I also love the filtered look of all of your photos. What I love most about your posts is your generosity…in sharing your knowledge, excitement and recipes. You feel the warmth and it’s contagious. Keep up the amazing work!
You are amazing. This is amazing. EVERYTHING IS AMAZING! I’m seriously always so amazed by the effort and detail you put into all these posts – this tutorial is totally helpful and I am using this… and I use Photoshop on a daily basis yet somehow have never played with this feature slash probably need to stop using GIFmaker.me lol
How do you take the pictures? Is the camera on an auto timer type thing that takes a photo every 5 seconds or so?
Very new to this,
Thank you!
Ahhh this is amazing Betty! You are incredibly talented. Both the baozi and your stop motion videos – seriously cool, and I really want to have a go at both! Do you know if there are any other apps besides photoshop that you could use to make similar videos? I use lightroom but don’t think it has that function, and otherwise only have iMovie… thank you! <3
They look amazing!! What kind of flour did you use?
Thank you so much for the awesome tutorial!! I was just introduced to your blog and have spent the last hour looking at a ton of seriously gorgeous and delicious recipes, looove everything I’m finding and am totally making that grapefruit cake next week!
I just started playing around with stop-motion-gif videos (http://www.sweetphi.com/5-ingredient-vegetarian-freezer-burritos/ – there’s an attempt) but cannot wait to try your awesome method – it’s going to be so much prettier!
Thank you again!!!
This tutorial was amazing!! I had always wanted to try stop motion but was discouraged because I thought I had to learn some complicated software. With this tutorial I made my first stop motion video in less than 15 minutes (no joke!) and now I am hooked! Thanks so much for the step by step instructions and pictures. Check out the video I made following this tutorial: https://www.instagram.com/p/BECMIjuBNj4/?taken-by=luciabalcazar
Hi Betty! Thanks for this tutorial and for refreshing my memory! I used to do a lot of GIFs in the beginning days of my blog but then I stopped. You’ve inspired me to bring them back! How do you go about doing your overhead GIFS? Do you have a boom stand on your tripod and a self timer? Or a remote control release? Haven’t quite figured out how to do GIFs with myself in the shot, rather ones with with me just photographing each step/motion.
All the best,
Kara
Lol. laughed when courtney said she uses GIFmaker, bc that’s exactly me! You seriously do put in a lot of detail! Thank you for the tips!! Also, your baozi makes my mouth water and I wish I had a frozen stock in my freezer too!!
This is absolutely beautiful! I have been thinking of doing stop motions for the longest time, just been trying to figure out how to do it best on my own. Usually when I’ve done stop motions, it’s usually a 2 person activity. One person to shoot, and one to move the items. So did you have someone shoot with you or is there a setting wherein the camera/program shoots automatically every few seconds, as I’m looking to shoot alone.
Once again, amazing job! Lighting is amazing and the movement is flawless!
Hey seriously cool tutorial – filed away for later usage. You clearly know your way around a ball of dough too – those buns look perfect.
I. Am. Making. This. Today. Your blog is such a source of inspiration.
All your posts are beautiful – you are incredibly talented!
I can’t seem to find the tutorial on this post…is the problem on my end?
Thanks,
Sandra
This recipe looks DELICIOUS! I was wondering where you use the stock in the oxtail recipe? It calls for it in the ingredients, but then I didn’t see where you add the stock in the instructions.
And what kind of flour did you use? Just regular AP flour or bread flour?