As I did some work this morning, I didn’t realize that my wife and son made Northern Chinese steamed buns, known as mantou.

These just came from the steamer about five minutes ago.

Big. Fluffy. Delicious.

Dan, my wife, told me that she asked our son what he wanted for breakfast. Mantou, he said, noting that he hasn’t eaten the buns for some time.

So, my wife and my son started making the all-natural buns that you can find in Northern China, which has a tremendous amount of flour.

You might have had them if you’ve dined on Beijing duck.

Southern China, as you probably know, has more rice.

As a kid, I loved eating these in Northern California. We didn’t make them at our house.

But my uncle, Ted, knew some restaurant owners in San Francisco Chinatown. One year, for the holidays, he asked one of his restaurant friends to get his cook to make them for me.

The Cantonese often eat steamed buns with barbecue pork inside.

I’ve always liked the plain ones. Uncle Ted gave me a big box full of them.

It was one of the best presents that I received that year. We froze them and I ate one each day until there were no more.