Juicy-Filling Steamed Buns 水馅包子

Juicy-Filling Steamed Buns (水馅包子) are soup-filled pork buns from Goubangzi (沟帮子) in the city of Beizhen (北镇), Jinzhou (锦州), Liaoning. Liaoning Daily (辽宁日报) compares them to soup dumplings: one bite releases a mouthful of broth. In 2024 the Liaoning Department of Commerce put Goubangzi water-filling buns on its list of Liaoning landmark foods for Jinzhou.

Ingredients

The meat is only pork front shoulder (猪前槽), a cut with a good balance of fat and lean. Liaoning Daily says cooks like to season the filling with sea cucumber, dried scallop and shelled shrimp, and that the filling is mixed with chicken stock, which makes it fresher-tasting and more tender.

Flavour and texture

Liaoning Daily lists four qualities: a thin skin around a runny filling, a white wrapper with even pleats, richness without greasiness, and a savoury, fresh taste.

Where it comes from

China News Service (中新网) counts the water-filling bun among the four specialities of Beizhen, alongside Goubangzi smoked chicken (沟帮子熏鸡), Beizhen pig's trotters and Yali pears. In the same 2024 report, Wang Ying (王莹), director of the Beizhen culture and tourism bureau, called Goubangzi water-filling buns an old Beizhen brand and a provincial intangible heritage item. At a provincial press conference that December, Beizhen's deputy mayor listed the buns among the local foods offered to winter visitors, next to stewed fish from Xinlihu Reservoir (新立湖水库) and the Muslim cooking of Lüyang (闾阳).