Li spreads the word about a traditional Nanxiang delicacy
Print Edition
Shanghai people must be familiar with this breakfast: a saucer of vinegar and several xiaolongbao, small steamed stuffed buns cooked in bamboo steamer.
However, many people may not know that the brand-building of Nanxiang xiaolongbao has a lot to do with a person known as Li Jiangang, general manager with Guyi Garden’s Xiaolongbao Food Co in Jiading Town.
More than a dozen pastry chefs are busy working at the restaurant: creating wrappers, making them thin and stuffing them with meat ... A man in worker’s overalls carries a tower of bamboo steamers half his height to the kitchen. He is Li Jiangang.
A pastry chef in this company makes 2,000 xiaolongbao a day on average and during peak season, the workload is even heavier. So as general manager, Li has to put on his white work outfit and lend a hand.
Seeing the xiaolongbao popular with more and more customers at the restaurant, Li 55, said that his efforts are worthwhile.
“I graduated in 1975 from junior high school before I came here to learn to make xiaolongbao. I also went to Overseas Chinese Hotel in downtown Shanghai to learn other culinary skills later,” Li recalled his career of 38 years in making the traditional delicacy.
Now as an inheritor of authentic Nanxiang xiaolongbao making technique, he has brought the food to many culinary competitions, winning quite a lot gold medals.
The reason for these prizes is that Li has set strict working procedures for making xiaolongbao — each bun should be made of 5 grams of wheat powder and stuffed with 15 grams of meat. To close up the bun, there should be over 14 wrinkles of wrappers.
“Big food chain companies all have their standard production procedures. Without standard procedures, the quality of xiaolongbao will degenerate,” Li said.
Making xiaolongbao famous only in China is not the ultimate goal for Li. How to take this classic food to the overseas is his dream.
In early 2007, Li opened the first overseas branch of Nanxiang xiaolongbao in Macau. Now, Li also has a branch in Tokyo’s Ginza.
The xiaolongbao has conquered customers with its thin skin, tender meat, succulence, tasty and delicate appearance.
Li concluded that the reasons he succeeded when expanding overseas market was to make products that suit locals’ tastes.
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