When this performance is over you'll be taking a xiao long bao
Delicate pleated parcels hiding a juicy pork filling and a mouthful of scalding-hot soup. The trick is jellied stock that melts as they steam. Bite, sip, repeat, and try not to burn your tongue.
The challenge
- Making aspic from scratch
- Paper-thin wrapper pleating
- Sealing without leaks
- Steaming without bursting
- Achieving soup inside
Shanghai's soup dumplings are an engineering feat disguised as dim sum. You're making gelatinized pork stock (aspic) that gets mixed with seasoned pork, then wrapped in delicate dough and steamed until the aspic melts back into liquid soup inside.
The wrappers need rolling paper-thin and pleating into at least 18 folds at the top for luck and skill demonstration, with each seal perfect: one weak point and your dumpling explodes in the steamer, spilling its precious soup. You will need to nail the meat-to-soup ratio so each dumpling has that signature burst of hot broth when you bite in.
Prep: 2 hours 30 minutes (plus 4 hours setting) Β Β·Β Cook: 2 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the aspic
- 500 g (1.1 lb) pork skin (or pork trotters / chicken wings)
- 1.5 litres (6 cups) water
- 2 spring onions and 3 slices fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp powdered gelatine (optional, for extra set)
For the filling
- 350 g (12 oz) fatty pork mince (ground pork, about 30% fat)
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp finely grated ginger
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
For the wrappers
- 300 g (2 1/3 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
- 160 ml (2/3 cup) lukewarm water
- 1/4 tsp salt
To serve
- Black (Chinkiang) vinegar
- Fine matchsticks of fresh ginger
- Napa cabbage leaves or baking paper, for lining the steamer
Method
- Make the aspicPut the pork skin in a pot of cold water, bring to the boil for 5 minutes, then drain and rinse. Scrape off any fat and cut into strips. Return to the clean pot with the 1.5 litres (6 cups) water, spring onions, ginger and Shaoxing wine. Simmer very gently, partly covered, for 2β2.5 hours until reduced to about 500 ml (2 cups).
- Set the aspicStrain the stock through a fine sieve, season lightly with salt and stir in the gelatine (if using) while hot. Pour into a shallow dish and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight until firmly set. Chop the jelly into very small cubes; you need about 250 g (9 oz).
- Mix the fillingIn a bowl, combine the pork with the soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, sugar, salt, pepper, sesame oil, ginger and spring onions. Stir hard in one direction for 3β4 minutes until it turns sticky and paste-like. Fold in the chopped aspic, then refrigerate the filling for 30 minutes so it stays firm.
- Make the doughMix the flour and salt, then stir in the water and knead for 8β10 minutes until very smooth and elastic. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Portion and rollRoll the dough into a long rope and cut into 36 pieces of about 12 g (0.4 oz). Keep them covered. Flatten each piece, then roll into a circle about 8 cm (3 in) across, rolling the edges thinner than the centre. The thicker middle supports the soup; thin edges keep the pleats from getting doughy.
- Fill and pleatPlace a heaped teaspoon (about 15 g / 0.5 oz) of cold filling in the centre. Holding the wrapper in one hand, use the thumb and index finger of the other to make small overlapping pleats around the edge, rotating as you go, aiming for 18 or more. Pinch and twist the top firmly to seal so there are no gaps.
- Prep the steamerLine a bamboo steamer with cabbage leaves or perforated baking paper. Set the dumplings in it with at least 2.5 cm (1 in) between them, as they spread as they cook. Keep the filled ones in the fridge while you finish the rest.
- SteamBring a wok or pan of water to a rolling boil and set the steamer over it so it sits above the water. Cover and steam for 8β10 minutes over high heat, until the wrappers turn slightly translucent and the dumplings look puffed and wobbly.
- Serve with careMix black vinegar with ginger matchsticks for dipping. Lift each dumpling gently by its topknot into a spoon, nibble a small hole, sip the soup, then eat the rest. Serve straight from the steamer.
- Teach the dumpling danceShow everyone how to do it: lift, nibble a hole, sip the soup, then eat. Anyone who bites straight in and gets scalded has to sit out the next round. Take a xiao long bow when it's over.
Tips from the trenches
- The aspic must be firmly set and the filling well chilled, or it'll be impossible to wrap without leaks.
- Roll the edges thin and keep the centre a little thicker: the base holds the soup, the edges make the pleats.
- Don't overfill. Too much filling stretches the wrapper and is the number one cause of steamer blowouts.
- Steam on liners, not bare bamboo, so the delicate bottoms don't stick and tear.
βChefs don't make mistakes; they make new dishes.ββ Elizabeth Brigg
