Xiao Long Bao
Soup Dumplings
Ingredients
For the broth —
3 pounds chicken carcasses
2 pounds necks, backs, and/or wings and 1 pound feet
1/2 pound Chinese ham or slab bacon
6 scallions (whites separated, half of the greens roughly chopped)
2 carrots, roughly chopped
One 1-inch knob fresh ginger
1 tablespoon white peppercorns
2 bay leaves
For the filling —
1/3 pound ground pork
1/4 pound raw shrimp, peeled & deveined and chopped fine
The other half of the scallion greens, chopped fine
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For the dough —
2 cups dumpling flour
1 cup hot water
Other —
Cabbage, for the base of your steamer (so the dumplings don’t stick to the bottom when cooking)
Directions
Place the ingredients for the broth in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat and then bring it down to a simmer, skimming any white foam from the top
Allow to simmer uncovered for 6 or more hours, strain the broth and discard the solids, refrigerate the remaining broth overnight
Combine ingredients for the filling in a pot, and mix well using clean hands. Refrigerate until ready to use
Meanwhile prepare the dough: put the measured flour into a bowl and begin kneading with one hand while slowly pouring in the hot water with the other. Add just enough to form a cohesive dough (probably won’t need the whole cup) Cover with a damp towel and let rest for at least 30 minutes
Separate rested dough into 4 sections and roll each out into cylinders, slice each cylinder into 6 pieces and roll each piece into small balls. Press each ball with the palm of your hand until flat, then roll towards the center with a rolling pin, rotating the piece until it’s uniform and flat
Remove your filling from the fridge and mix in 1.5 cups of jellied broth. Stir until mixed together
Place a small spoonful of mix into each dumpling wrapper and pinch along the rim until sealed
Place down your cabbage leaves along the bottom of your steamer, and steam for 10-15 minutes. Serve with quality soy sauce or Chinese dumpling vinegar, and thin sliced skinned ginger
Pro Tip
The broth inside should be piping hot once steamed, so it’s good to take a small bite of the wrapper and allow steam to escape from that lil hole before goin in on the whole thing.
Note from Jack
DinTaiFung (the world famous Taiwanese soup dumpling chain) makes undeniably the best soup dumplings on earth. It’s said that each handmade dumpling has exactly the same number of folds, an intricacy I imagine I could never achieve even if I spent the next 10 years making them each and every day. It’s my love and respect for DinTaiFung that has led to this weird self-inflicted gate keeping, and regardless of how many different styles of dumplings I’ve made over the years, soup dumplings have always seemed like too mammoth of a task. I’m blessed to have a sister who pushed me to just make em and I think these turned out pretty damn good. What’s above is largely this recipe I found on Reddit a few years ago, with minor personal tweaks here and there. I’ll tweak it a little more this year and be sure to update it here when I do.
