Shanghai Xiaolongbao (Soup Dumplings)

About This Recipe

Xiaolongbao — literally 'small basket buns' for the bamboo steamers they're served in — are arguably the most technically demanding street food in Chinese cuisine. The genius is the soup: pork stock thickened with pork skin gelatin sets into a firm aspic when cold, gets minced into the filling, and melts back into a scalding broth as the dumplings steam. Each parcel must be sealed with at least 18 pleats (the masters at Din Tai Fung insist on exactly 18) and the skin must be thin enough to see the filling through it yet strong enough not to burst. Eaten properly — gently lift the dumpling by its topknot with chopsticks, place on a soup spoon, nibble a tiny hole, sip the broth, then eat the dumpling with a sliver of fresh ginger in black vinegar — xiaolongbao is one of the great pleasures of Chinese cuisine. Originating in the Shanghai suburb of Nanxiang in the 1870s, they spread across the Jiangnan region and, via Din Tai Fung's global expansion, became Taipei's most famous culinary export. Making them at home requires patience — the aspic must be made a day ahead, and pleating is a skill that develops over dozens of dumplings — but the result is genuinely transcendent.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 500 gpork skin, hair scraped, cut in strips (for aspic)
• 300 gchicken bones, blanched (for aspic)
• 2 Lwater
• 30 gfresh ginger, sliced
• 2scallions, smashed
• 400 gminced pork belly (30 percent fat)
• 15 mlShaoxing wine
• 12 mllight soy sauce
• 8 gcaster sugar
• 4 gfine salt
• 2 gwhite pepper
• 10 mlsesame oil
• 300 gplain flour
• 165 mljust-boiled water (for hot-water dough)
• 60 mlChinkiang black vinegar (for dipping)
• 20 gfresh ginger, julienned (for dipping)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the aspic (day before)

   Blanch pork skin and chicken bones in boiling water 3 minutes, drain. Combine with 2 L fresh water, ginger, and scallions in a heavy pot. Simmer 3 hours skimming foam — until liquid reduces to 500 ml and is intensely gelatinous. Strain into a tray and refrigerate overnight until firm aspic forms. Cut into 5 mm dice.

2. 2

   Mix the filling

   Combine minced pork, Shaoxing, soy, sugar, salt, white pepper, and sesame oil in a bowl. Mix vigorously in one direction with chopsticks for 3 minutes until sticky and pale — this is what gives the filling its bouncy texture. Fold in the diced aspic gently to keep cubes intact. Chill 30 minutes.

3. 3

   Make the dough

   Place flour in a bowl, pour in just-boiled water while stirring with chopsticks. Once cool enough to handle, knead 8 minutes into a smooth dough. Cover and rest 30 minutes. Hot-water dough gives translucent, supple wrappers.

4. 4

   Roll the wrappers

   Divide dough into 4 ropes, cut each into 8 pieces (32 total). Roll each into a 9 cm circle, thicker in the center and thinner at the edges — this is essential for proper sealing without bursting at the topknot.

5. 5

   Fill and pleat

   Place a wrapper in your palm, drop a heaped tablespoon of filling in the center (including 2–3 aspic cubes). Pleat the edge with your dominant hand, rotating with the other, making 16–18 small pleats. Twist the top to seal completely.

   Don't worry about pleat perfection at first — focus on a complete seal. Pleating is a skill that takes 50 dumplings to acquire.

6. 6

   Rest before steaming

   Place each finished dumpling on a small square of parchment in a bamboo steamer. Space them 2 cm apart — they expand during steaming. Rest 10 minutes.

7. 7

   Steam over high heat

   Bring water to a furious boil. Steam dumplings 8 minutes over high heat (do not lift the lid mid-steam). The wrappers turn translucent and you can see the soup sloshing inside — that's done.

8. 8

   Serve immediately with ginger-vinegar

   Bring the steamer basket directly to the table. Provide each diner with a soup spoon, ginger julienne in black vinegar, and chopsticks. Teach the lift-pierce-sip-eat technique before the first bite — the soup is genuinely scalding.

Variations

• •

  Crab and pork (xie fen xiaolongbao) — add 80 g fresh crab meat and a teaspoon of crab roe to the filling; Shanghai autumn specialty.

• •

  Truffle xiaolongbao — Din Tai Fung's modern luxury version with a sliver of black truffle on top of each dumpling.

• •

  Sheng jian bao — pan-fried, larger soup buns with sesame; same filling, leavened dough, fried with steam in a covered pan.

• •

  Chicken xiaolongbao — replace pork with minced chicken thigh and use chicken-only aspic for a halal-friendly version.

Storage

Best eaten fresh from the steamer. Uncooked dumplings freeze 1 month on a tray then bagged — steam from frozen 10 minutes. Once steamed, leftover dumplings refrigerate 24 hours; reheat by steaming 4 minutes (microwave bursts them).

Frequently Asked Questions