Novelty dumplings, genuine succulence
Print Edition
MANY people would say the ultimate in mouthwatering succulence is to bite into a xiaolongbao, or small steamed dumpling, with its thin wrapping and savory pork filling.
Li Jiangang, general manager and executive head chef of Shanghai Guyi Garden Restaurant, is on a mission to take that satisfaction to a higher level.
Li, 60, who is a sixth-generation xiaolongbao master in Nanxiang Town, Jiading District, was honored as a standout worker of Shanghai in 2017.
Nanxiang is the cradle of the Shanghai xiaolongbao, famous for a secret recipe conceived in the 1870s and beloved by even the pickiest diners.
After graduating from middle school, Li worked as an apprentice in the kitchen of a xiaolongbao restaurant next to the 400-year-old Guyi Garden.
The wrapping of Nanxiang xiaolongbao is made from a tiny bit of dough kneaded on an oily table. A deft hand places the filling onto the thin dough and pulls it into an onion shape with 18 wrinkles on top.
The secret of the juicy pork filling is jelly of collagen made from pig skin cooked in water.
Division of labor has greatly increased the efficiency of making the dumplings. A dab hand can make 2,000 in six hours. About 60,000 are sold every day at the restaurant.
Li says it takes more than 10 years to truly master the culinary art.
“Every detail matters, including the percentage of water in the filling, the hand gestures in making the wrapping and the level of heat under the steamer,” he says.
Li recalls that it took a lot of patience to learn how to treat the pig skin.
“The master required that all fat on the skin be scraped off with a knife so that the eventual broth doesn’t taste greasy,” he says.
In 2000, Li led the effort in standardizing measurements of Nanxiang xiaolongbao. They require a diameter of 2.5 centimeters and a wrapping that is 1.5 millimeters thin, weighs 8 grams and contains 16 grams of stuffing.
Those were the measurements in a method passed down from about 140 years ago.
“A trained xiaolongbao maker should be doing it just about right, but I do check the results from time to time,” Li says.
In recent years, dumpling chefs across the country have started to experiment with new fillings, using new ingredients mixed in with the pork. But few have been as inventive and daring as Li.
While xiaolongbao with fillings of crab, shrimp, scallops, shiitake mushrooms and salted egg yolk can be found in some other restaurants, Li extended the array in 2016 to include banana, cheese, winter bamboo shoots, lotus root and the extremely delectable lion’s mane mushrooms.
Still, not everything is ideal for making a xiaolongbao filling.
“We also tried shepherd’s purse but then dropped the idea because it made xiaolongbao taste too much like wonton,” Li says.
His innovation went up a notch last year when he introduced colors to xiaolongbao. Pumpkin rind, spinach, truffles and dragon fruit were used to tint the doughs yellow, green, black or red. Each has a different filling. The filling for the red dumplings is slightly spicy, which is very unusual for xiaolongbao.
Li has also concocted a xiaolongbao wrapping in three colors and has acquired a patent for it.
Diners are curious to try the new dumpling varieties. Reviews are mixed.
“They’re a hit, especially among younger diners, but some people think I have gone too far,” Li says. “I believe innovation in the color and filling doesn’t hurt because the traditional skills of making xiaolongbao are still intact.”
In fact, very few elements in the tradition have actually been modernized.
For one, a machine has replaced human labor in kneading the dough to make the wrapping softer. The pork is now refrigerated for 24 hours ahead of preparation because the meat is firmer and tastes better this way.
Every day, Guyi Garden Restaurant starts to fill up at 11:30am. Li says 2,000-3,000 people dine there every day, and many others come to buy xiaolongbao to steam at home.
Among the diners are Nanxiang locals, tourists and those who travel from across Shanghai to taste what they consider to be the authentic Nanxiang xiaolongbao.
The famous dumplings cost between 1.8 yuan and 4.8 yuan (30-80 US cents) each. Due to expensive downtown rents, Li says he has no plans to open another restaurant in Shanghai at the moment.
There is a Guyi Garden Restaurant in the city of Qingdao in Shandong Province. Li says more outlets will be opened there in the near future.
The far-reaching reputation of Nanxiang xiaolongbao has brought Li overseas business opportunities. Not all have been successful.
Together with business partners, Li opened xiaolongbao restaurants in Macau and Tokyo in the early 2000s, but both closed down during the financial crisis at the end of the decade.
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