Too colorful for you, huh?
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I will have to try DB again and revalute.
In the past I haven’t appreciated the distinction between Cantonese and Taiwanese dim sum. I’m still not sure that you can’t compare the two because there is overalap but I am not an expert on Dim Sum. DTF does have many different types of dumplings and noodle dishes and buns you could compare to DB.
Hi. I probably didn’t say/describe what I really meant. I think you can compare these similar dishes. However, it will be nice to understand that these restaurants have different focuses. Let me think of an analogy… Oh here. KFC fried chicken is KFC flagship product. McDonald also has fried chicken too. I think it is perfectly fine to compare McDonald fried chicken to KFC fried chicken. Just keep in mind that comparison of their fried chicken is not the same as comparing their entire restaurant quality. I don’t mean Dragon Beaux is a great restaurant though.
Think he was referring to his meal at Tai Pan and not Ming Court.
This group is pretty savvy must say! Yes DTF started their fame with XLB and now a empire built on that singular execution. But XLB was invented in Nanxing just outside Shanghai and became the iconic dumpling of the entire area. See those lines at Yu Garden at the original where many thousands are their way to now 4 stories tall building and many outlets. DTF style was bit difffeernt as their skin in bleached white flour with gluten that special translucent like skin which marked their standard. And yes Cantonese chefs hate making this dumpling as it is outside their repertoire and in a way geocentric dislike to this Shanghai famous dim sum. In fact, few will make it delicately enough not to have a spoon cradle it or a aluminum foil cup to hold the dumpling in tact with the soup inside. In fact, that is sacrilege in Shanghai if either showed up in the presentation. Same with our China Live Sheng Jian Bao (pan-fried with broth inside). Our SJB is the #1 seller loved by most all our guests. The Cantonese have plenty of prideful items without breaching XLB and SJB…have you ever eaten a live shrimp Har Gao from Fook Lum Moon? It’ll blow your mind…good intelligent discussion and hope you all don’t mind a chef interloper in this chat group.
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The XLB at Dragon Beaux (& Koi Palace and MY China) are a good example of the question behind Kauffman’s article. They use machines to form the dumplings, so the chef’s training and consistency drops out as an issue. They use high-quality ingredients, so to some degree the inability of the machines to produce thin skins can be forgiven. The dyed skins are a clever distraction from the dumpling’s lack of translucency. However, in support of the trend towards food voyeurism, the rainbow of spoon-diapered XLB provide a more passive, but perhaps more pretty, photo compared to the DTF “saggy XLB” action shot.
How does that work? Don’t the dumplings have to be steamed?
Ha. Awesome.
Well the shrimp is not Live inside the dumpling skin…it is made with fresh Live shrimp as plentiful in Asia but exorbitant in the West. FLM 4 piece is not cheap at $14 per order. I have eaten Live prawns…if you don’t be careful, it will flip flop around when you bite it even after they shell and clean the live specimen. There are also drunken small grass shrimp where they’re basically inibreated but will flop around in the bowl with the seasoned wine and liquor and spiced broth :))
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Dim Sum labor is extraordinarily high…imagine SF labor costs and the intensely tiring labor to fold these little delicacies…so I don’t fault restaurant groups like Koi/DB as it would add 30% price if all made by hand. Machines obviously have a difference but hey are people really willing to pay for them so they can enjoy that extra fines and delicacy? I loose money on most dim sum items as labor for dim sum is 60% labor albeit very low food costs. I don’t even let them freeze much of anything and try to make ours daily for service. Also know XLB/SJB don’t feeeze well and the skins will crack and juice won’t be there upon steaming!
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Huh, never knew that the skins would crack so easily when frozen.
If you don’t mind me asking, how do they put the soup inside the XLB? Is it usually a gelatin mixture? I don’t think there’s enough juice and fat to melt down just from the meat itself.
Also regarding the har gow, to make the skins more translucent isn’t the tapioca starch usually added to make it look more clear? I know for some other dumplings that have a very chewy consistency if you go overboard with it. Actually… how hard is it to make a har gow lol. Might play around with it since it sorta… looks easier than XLB…
Most people cheat by grinding 40% fat and skin do when steamed the fat melts but that’s not the right way. One must make gelatin from cooking the pork down to get that layer in the middle when cooled…clear aspic gelatin and this mixture is reserved in cooler until ready to use and a ice bath is placed under the mixture when folding it into the meat mixture. Shanghai secret is also using chicken feet as gelatin from that is extra sticky and tasty. Now you have a ancient CHINESE secret!
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Correct assumptions on hargaw! Skin mixture proportions are key as well technique of course.
Asking if anyone can clear up something for me.
The English name for shrimp dumpling and bbq pork is har gow and char siu. As far as I know, these two items are of Cantonese origin.
Growing up speaking some limited Cantonese and Toishanese, we would pronounce with a hard “A”.
Ha gow and cha siu. That is the way my ear hears it pronounced in SF Chinatown and Hong Kong.
Adding an “r” to either sounds Beijingnese to me. Am I totally off base, or just plain wrong about the phonetic spelling and English pronunciation of these items ?
Mmm… I don’t think there’s an official romanization on Cantonese so that’s probably the reason why you tend to see variations on it. I just tend to copy whatever was on the dim sum menu last I checked haha. But when I pronounce them, there really isn’t an r there… hm…
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Sorry to hear - we finally visited last Friday for lunch based on all of the terrific reviews on here. Hope they recover soon.
The r is not pronounced in Cantonese , no idea why it is romanized that way. In mandarin, the word for shrimp (xia) doesn’t have an ‘r’ ending either nor does the word for fork (cha)
The difference between Cantonese and Taiwanese dim sum is probably bigger than NY thin slice vs Chicago deep dish pizza. The products are totally different and how you judge them are different. As others have noted too, XLB at DTF is actually a Taiwanese interpretation of a Shanghainese product.
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It’s a Bostonian “r”.
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