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Finding the perfect dumpling
Dec 6, 2015 at 11:48 PM Post #2 of 26
spareribs said:
I'm always on the search for finding the perfect dumpling.

Mmm.... Dumplings. So good when you find that right one.



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ooooooooh man those look good
 
let me ask you this, how well do Dumplings fare when frozen an Mircowaves
 
I'll elaborate, I have a think for... anything I can make in mass quanities, then freeze an reheat for 2 weeks at a time
I just did Buritos after eating some AMAZING ones, 
 
Non the less, not to de rail, but how do you like the Frozen kind? It goes without saying, the very BEST are made fresh, but how does a PERFECT fresh Dumpling change when it's frozen... 
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 11:59 PM Post #3 of 26
Hmmm good question...

My only experience is the frozen Japanese gyoza style ones that you pan fry with oil and a splash of water and it turns out to be fried on the bottom and steamed on the top. Make sure there is a lid to keep it covered.

Perhaps they are the best frozen kind?

But in my opinion, the perfect dumpling should only be streamed for that perfect pasta like texture even though other non steamed types can be decent and acceptable.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 12:08 AM Post #4 of 26
spareribs said:
Hmmm good question...

My only experience is the frozen Japanese gyoza style ones that you pan fry with oil and a splash of water and it turns out to be fried on the bottom and steamed on the top. Make sure there is a lid to keep it covered.

Perhaps they are the best frozen kind?

But in my opinion, the perfect dumpling should only be streamed for that perfect pasta like texture even though other non steamed types can be decent and acceptable.
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ooooh that's a darn good idea. pan fried with oil for a crunchy bottom an a steamed top... might be able to replicate that with a touch of oil/ water on the bottom of a nice ceramic dish 
 
so then let me ask you this, whats some of your favorite dumpling fillings, or whats a good dumpling for a seasoned cook to start with? 
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 12:15 AM Post #5 of 26
Ideally, it's best to live near a Chinese community like in San Francisco, New York, Australia, etc... Where you just pop in a place that makes their own dumplings. Some places are good, bad or excellent. It all depends. Mmm.... I love dumplings.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 12:18 AM Post #6 of 26
For dumpling fillings, it's hard to say. In my opinion, quality pork meat that's grounded.

Other fillings could include a transparent type of noodle or cabbage.

It may be best to look at Youtube videos for ideas. I've never made dumplings personally.

You can buy frozen Japanese style dumplings in some supermarkets and they can actually be acceptable.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 5:05 AM Post #7 of 26
There's a kind of xiaolongbao that is bite sized but filled with "soup." Except instead of the usual soup, half of it is pork fat, which renders during the steaming process, leaving a thick, gelatinous filling. Fair warning though - don't get too many of those from the cart. Take enough for everyone to have one each at a time, since it's best when it's at the hottest temp your mouth can take, plus if you eat four in succession your head might start spinning before you've tried everything else.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 10:39 AM Post #8 of 26
The pork fat thing is interesting.

I've noticed that at many Chinese supermarkets, the ground pork has a much higher fat ratio compared to the ground pork at the American supermarkets. In my opinion, the Chinese high fat ground pork tastes better.

As for other fillings, I've seen leeks or spinach mixed in with the meat.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 11:05 AM Post #9 of 26
For those making at home either home made or frozen, you can make you own dipping sauce just by mixing soy sauce and rice vinegar. If you don't have rice vinegar, the cheap standard vinegar will work. Or you can buy some kind of dipping sauce in the bottle.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 12:45 PM Post #11 of 26
spareribs said:


The pork fat thing is interesting.
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It's like roasted pork belly, but in gelatin-like format. Alternately, it's like swallowing ramen in gel form, just mildly mashing it against the roof of your mouth with your tongue.
 
Quote:
spareribs said:


I've noticed that at many Chinese supermarkets, the ground pork has a much higher fat ratio compared to the ground pork at the American supermarkets. In my opinion, the Chinese high fat ground pork tastes better. As for other fillings, I've seen leeks or spinach mixed in with the meat.
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Pork tends to be very bland actually without the fat - look at how porkchop, bacon, and roast belly are great precisely because of the fat. Even the deep-fried pork shank and trotters are fatty. It's not like beef where sirloin without marbling has very beefy taste as long as you eat it rare (otherwise cheap sirloin gets too chewy very quickly, although freshly butchered round steak is just delicious considering it's around $3/kg), and marbled pork chops like kurobuta are expensive and harder to find than decent beef.
 
That said, when I make katsu at home there are some cuts of pork with enough intra-muscular fat - kinda looks like ribeye but I'm not sure what part it comes from, supermarkets here just label them "pork steaks" and in the lower-tier stores they have more fat than the suspiciously too red and improperly cut beef ribeyes that look like tenderloin with a fat cap (they remove both of the elongated muscles, even the one that isn't attached to the rib which is very tender and meaty, and I have no idea why since the ribs they have on display only have the meat that's around the bone).
 
The key to making these though is to keep your hands wet because the fatty ground pork will otherwise stick to your fingers, after which you need to wash your hands in warm water. What we add here are leeks and very finely minced garlic.
 
 
Quote:
spareribs said:


For those making at home either home made or frozen, you can make you own dipping sauce just by mixing soy sauce and rice vinegar. If you don't have rice vinegar, the cheap standard vinegar will work. Or you can buy some kind of dipping sauce in the bottle.
Click to expand...

 
This is what we use here:

 
 
As staple as vinegar is in the Philippines (right now I have red cane, pineapple, regular white cane, balsamic, and rice wine), we don't use it in dimsum. Anyone who wants hint of sour in dimsum squeezes lime onto soy sauce, and sometimes spike that with the chili garlic. I just like the garlic sauce on its own, especially the spicy oil. Back in high school the best seller in our cafeteria (ours was more like a food court, which is why initially I didn't get why there was a lot of buzz over what kind of processed mystery meat US and UK schools were serving) was the deep-fried pork dumpling served over a bowl of fried rice or fried noodles (both cooked in chicken broth then fried with lard and garlic), with arse-searing chili garlic piled on top. Next to that it was a toss-up between the katsu and the chopped pork mask, ears, and liver.
 
Also, apart from Jap dumplings, the wrappings here are almost always the very thin ones. In some cases they're just wrapped in a similar fashion using the same basic shape to differentiate the fillings, espcially "shark's fin" which is actually pork but I think has higher fat content; the regular pork dumplings in some places are in square-ish dumplings left with the meat sticking out the top. Almost in all cases they're steamed, except for some that are deep fried. 
 
Dec 15, 2015 at 11:26 PM Post #12 of 26
took me a week but I'm making my Gyoza tommorow, I can do my own dipping sauce! I've got a nice pantry full of stuff from my Local Asian Market, an I enjoy a lot of Asian cooking
 
I might honestly try some of my Plum Vinegar with a little chili oil an some minced garlic 
 
an Spare ribs that link was excellent thank you very much for sharing it! 
 
Dec 16, 2015 at 7:00 PM Post #14 of 26
spareribs said:
Sounds amazing. The key to nirvana is when you unlock the path to the perfect dumpling.
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Indeed, an a half a pound of halk cooked pork an Dumpling paper later, I can say these are tasty! Here's to hoping I don't get sick <.< as half the dumpling were actually "cooked" through the other half were a little rare
 
ehm, I had the pan WAY to hot an burned the paper an had Raw pork... oh well tasted GREAT, despite the wonky texture 
 
I also need a lime an some garlic paste 
 
Dec 17, 2015 at 12:14 AM Post #15 of 26
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mshenay /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Indeed, an a half a pound of half cooked pork an Dumpling paper later, I can say these are tasty! Here's to hoping I don't get sick <.< as half the dumpling were actually "cooked" through the other half were a little rare
 
ehm, I had the pan WAY to hot an burned the paper an had Raw pork... oh well tasted GREAT, despite the wonky texture 
 
I also need a lime an some garlic paste 
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Good luck...commercially available ground meat is run through a grinder that isn't cleaned often enough, much less the meat not having been handled the same way sashimi-grade beef and tuna are handled, since the presumption is that these will be eaten well done. 
 
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