Need ideas for making filled savory cupcake a la Bourbon Steak in D.C

My heart's desire is to come close to duplicating this BBQ Pulled Pork Cupcake. Any ideas on how to do it without the filling and the batter getting mixed up while baking? What kind of batter do you think was used here? Grateful for all input. I'm planning a big "eat in" weekend for friends from several states next month and would love to impress them with something like this! http://www.seriouseats...

Homemadecornbread
  • 3085 views
  • 5 Comments

5 Comments

Ophelia July 12, 2012
To me it looks like a fairly wet biscuit dough, spread on the bottom and sides first, filled with hot pork and then topped with a big dollop of dough. It's very possible that the bottom and sides are formed and then refrigerated or frozen before being filled, topped and baked.
I might try this with cornbread...
 
Sadassa_Ulna July 10, 2012
The photo in the article shows a portion of the menu that reads: 'cheddar scallion biscuit, smoked pork shoulder... allow 20 minutes' - so there are a few clues. I would definitely go with biscuit type of dough. The photo that shows a cut section of the cupcake shows a really thin wall. I hope you get information from readers that have made something like this before, but for what it is worth here is my two cents:
I would take a very cold ball of the filling (i.e. the fat is solidified) and wrap it in a thin flat disc of biscuit dough like a tootsie roll or burrito so that the dough is thin around the middle and coiled up at each end. Then I would trim/fold/pinch those coiled ends somehow so there are no voids for juice to escape through? Then insert into cupcake mold sideways so "ends" are at top and bottom.
Or maybe wrap up like a ball and trim/fold/pinch the excess and that becomes the thicker "top?"
Good luck, I hope you solve the mystery!
 
Benny July 12, 2012
wow, that looks good. I think this is a pretty good idea. Honestly, something like this is open to your own method. Just experiment and make it your own recipe :) The cold pulled pork wrapped in bisquit dough, cut and inserted into muffin pan (as written above) seems like it should work.
 
Homemadecornbread July 10, 2012
Will do SceneMT. I haven't tried anything yet, though I have scoured the web to no avail and given it a lot of thought. Seems like the cake portion might be a dough as opposed to a batter, but both have potential drawbacks. I know there are bakers out there in Food52-land who will know how to pull this off!
 
SceneMT July 10, 2012
I have been searching for some advice on this very thing! I was thinking it must be a 'biscuit' style batter? maybe just fill up the muffin cup 1/2, add in the filling, then pour more batter over. Have you tried a starting point recipe yet? Just wondering if you had trouble with it being soggy already? Please give us an up to date if you figure anything out!
 
Recommended by Food52