FavorFlavs #39

We all have them: favorite flavors, ingredients, and kitchen tools. FavorFlavs we always reach for (again). These are ours.

xiao long bao (soup dumpling)

What do we talk about most often in the editorial office? Apart from – quite naturally – fries and mayonnaise?

About the soft dough pillows filled with soup and, for example, ground pork that Chinese people eat for breakfast.

Exactly, xiao long bao, or soup dumplings. Unlike in many countries around here, they unfortunately still haven’t become a hype, even though eating dim sum has meanwhile become a national pastime. Especially at the weekend.

Although there are many delicious dim sums (literally something like: ‘touches the heart’), the xiao long bao has nevertheless earned a very special place in our hearts.

Bringing a xiao long bao to your mouth is guaranteed to make a mess.

Is it because of the gelatin that is tucked into the hand-crafted, artfully folded piece of dough together with the ground pork (or another filling), and which turns into a rich soup when heated by steam in a bamboo basket? Is it the aroma that comes from this soup? The guaranteed mess when you try to move such a dumpling to your mouth with chopsticks?

We don’t know exactly. But we are definitely addicted to these ‘pillows of happiness’, as Anthony Bourdain once described his favorite in its city of origin, Shanghai.

Oh, and if you can’t find it on the dim sum menu at your favorite Chinese restaurant, try looking for the Cantonese spelling siu long pau. Most Chinese restaurant owners in our country are originally from Hong Kong, after all, and speak Cantonese there instead of Mandarin.