xiao long bao 小籠包, potstickers 鍋貼, and pan fried pork buns 生煎包 - part 4

Success! I made some decent xiao long bao 小籠包. For me xiao long bao 小籠包 is the holy grail of a good Shanghai restaurant dishes that once I thought very difficult to make. If I succeed in making this, everything else should be cake walk. There were some challenges along the way, but thankfully I eased myself starting with other Shanghai delights that are easier to make. I also needed to get some bamboo steaming basket liners so the xiao long bao 小籠包 would not be sticking to the bamboo slats.
The pork belly that I made the filling with was too lean so I picked up some pork fat to add to the minced meat filling. I only need a little so the rest was store in the freezer for future use. Today the bamboo steaming basket liners arrived by mail so I retrieved the pork filling that I made a few days ago and mixed in some of this diced up pork fat.

I opted for this silicone liner rather than single use paper liners

the minced meat filling - this will make a lot of xiao long bao 小籠包; I learned from this experience that the filling keeps quite well in the freezer

the first xiao long bao 小籠包 that I made to test for flavor

yes, this is the first of the batch

too good, another one

I made the dough quite small so the skin would be very thin

two more; the condiment is thinly sliced ginger in wine vinegar and I like a few drops of hot chili oil

To keep them in the best shape I made two or three and steam them while eating and making.

another order of two ready; the skins are really thin but no leak

So far none leak so I am extremely happy. They are miniature size so only take five minutes of steaming. They are certainly not as pretty as the ones at Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豊. The filling is very tasty and authentic. Mine is not as fat as most shops would make them, as I don't want to take in a lot of fat.

I went and watched 偷師 at the newly open Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豊 in town how they roll the dough and wrap the xiao long bao 小籠包; seeing the process upclose really help, especially the small size of the dough


One side benefit of making steamed delights at home in winter time is the steam release as well as heat increase the humidity in the otherwise very dry air indoors.

I am multitasking in making, eating and blogging this happy meal

I know in time I would improve the wrapping technique so they would look like those made by trained wrapper

for reference these was the ones we had in the Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豊 in Toronto a few months ago; they are larger than the ones I made today

It was only a few months ago that I was eating xiao long bao 小籠包 in a Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豊 in Toronto with my relative. I did not imagine that I can achieve this level of success in recreating this many dishes of Shanghainese delights that I made in the recent weeks. Many of these started with this piece of pork belly a week ago.

this piece of pork belly just keeps giving including the filling for these xiao long bao 小籠包

I was struggling in deciding should I buy the single use paper liner or the reusable silicon mesh. It turned out the silicon mesh is a good choice. The delicate xiao long bao 小籠包 does not stick to the mesh at all. It came in a pack of four and can be reuse indefinitely.

Coincidentally our local newspaper has designated this week as the Dumpling Week, to encourage people to go eat dumplings at one of the many local restaurants. I am quite happy to stay home and enjoy my fruits of labor.