Name: Xiaolongbao
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: East Asian
Ingredients: For aspic (soup gel — make the day before): 500g pork skin or pork trotters, 1 cup water, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 spring onion (bruised), 2 slices fresh ginger; For dough: 2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup boiling water, pinch of salt; For filling: 300g ground pork (30% fat — lean pork will be dry), 2 tsp fresh ginger, finely minced, 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp sugar, 2 spring onions, finely minced; For dipping: 3 tbsp Zhenjiang black vinegar, fresh ginger cut into fine matchsticks

Delicate thin-skinned dumplings cradling a mouthful of hot pork broth and minced filling. Shanghai's greatest export — impossibly light, dangerously hot inside, requiring their own eating technique.

The Cultural Story

Xiaolongbao means "little basket buns" — named for the bamboo steamers they arrive in, stacked and steaming at the table. They were invented in Nanxiang, a small town outside Shanghai, in the 1870s, and the recipe has barely changed: thin wheat skin, pork and ginger filling, and the miracle of the soup inside. The soup is not added as liquid — that would make the skin soggy before steaming. The trick is aspic: pork skin and bones are simmered for hours until the liquid reduces to a thick gel, which is then chopped and mixed into the raw filling. The cold gel holds firm while the dumplings are assembled, but when they hit the steamer the gelatin melts back into hot broth, creating a pocket of liquid inside each sealed skin. To eat a xiaolongbao incorrectly is to lose the soup on your shirt. The technique is specific: pick up the dumpling gently (bamboo tongs or two chopstick prongs in the fold), place it on a spoon, bite a small hole in the skin, wait for the steam to clear, drink the broth from the hole, then eat the rest. Patience is rewarded. Rushing is punished by a scalded tongue.

Ingredients

For aspic (soup gel — make the day before): 500g pork skin or pork trotters, 1 cup water, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 spring onion (bruised), 2 slices fresh ginger
For dough: 2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup boiling water, pinch of salt
For filling: 300g ground pork (30% fat — lean pork will be dry), 2 tsp fresh ginger, finely minced, 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp sugar, 2 spring onions, finely minced
For dipping: 3 tbsp Zhenjiang black vinegar, fresh ginger cut into fine matchsticks

Instructions

1Make aspic (day ahead): simmer pork skin in water to cover for 5 minutes, drain and rinse. In a clean pot, cover with 1 cup fresh water, add wine, soy, spring onion, and ginger. Simmer 90 minutes until very gelatinous. Strain, cool slightly, pour into a shallow dish and refrigerate overnight. The liquid will set firm.
2Make the dough: pour boiling water into flour and stir immediately with chopsticks or a fork. Once cool enough to handle, knead for 8 minutes until smooth and silky. Cover with a damp cloth and rest 45 minutes — this is mandatory. The gluten must relax or the skins will tear when pleating.
3Dice the cold aspic into tiny cubes (about 3mm). Mix with the ground pork, ginger, wine, soy, sesame oil, white pepper, sugar, and spring onion. The mixture should be sticky and hold together. Refrigerate filling until cold.
4To shape: roll the dough into a 1cm thick log, cut into small pieces (about 10–12g each). Dust with flour, flatten each piece with your palm, then roll with a small rolling pin into a circle about 9cm wide — thinner at the edges than the center.
5Place 1 heaped teaspoon of cold filling in the center. Begin pleating the edges: pinch and fold the skin in tiny overlapping folds all the way around (aim for 16–18 pleats), gathering them to a closed point at the top. Twist gently to seal. A closed, pinched top prevents broth leaking.
6Place finished dumplings on parchment-lined bamboo steamer baskets, spaced 2cm apart — they will expand.
7Steam over boiling water for 7–8 minutes. Do not open the lid during steaming.
8Serve in the steamer. Pour black vinegar into a small dish, add ginger matchsticks. Eat each dumpling from a spoon: bite a small opening, let steam escape, drink the broth, then eat the rest with vinegar. Handle gently — the hot broth will spill if you grip too hard.

Xiaolongbao

The Cultural Story

Ingredients

Instructions

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