Burn your tongue on some Shanghai dumplings. By Mim Koletschka, photography by Badre Mammar

You might be left unable to speak because your tongue is seared to the third degree, your shirt may be full of soup dribble and you just might be embarrassed at how slippery these things can get when using plastic chopsticks, but the xiao long bao, Shanghai’s traditional soup dumpling is a burst of flavorful porky goodness.

The Craze

You don’t know juicy until you try the xiao long bao. This ancient dish came out of the small town of Nanxiang right outside of Shanghai. It quickly gained popularity heading into the big city and now the little dumpling has gone global with its juiciness. New York’s Chinatown had a xiao long bao craze; Joe’s Shanghai (9 Pell Street NYC) had lines wrapped around the street with New Yorkers waiting to taste the soupy bun. Taiwan’s international chain, Din Tai Fung, has exacted the science of making the dumplings and our city has restaurants cooking up some piping hot xiao long baos. But be forewarned, these little suckers are truly hot.

The Geriatric Tit

The art of cooking this dangerous dumpling is all about the three T’s: thinness, temperature and last but not least timing. According to Executive Chinese Chef Cheung Chin Choi of Intercontinental’s Summer Palace, to make a good xiao long bao, “the dough has to be very thin, and when you eat it you have to be very careful because we just steamed it, and the juice inside is very hot. If you over-steam it, the dumpling will break. So timing is very important. Timing depends on size, but in our kitchen it takes 7 minutes.”

Traditionally the stock is made from boiling pork skin. The cook will boil the skin in pork flavorings and solidify it by putting it in the fridge. Because the skin contains collagen, it sets into gelatin. The cold, gelatinized meat is then diced, mixed with ground pork and they then wrapped in the thin dough. The dough is twisted (so the knot is at the top where you pick up the dumpling) and steamed. The heat melts the gelatinized pork and returns it into liquid form—this is the soup of the dumpling.

To test if the dumpling you are about to bite into is the real deal, you should, “Pick the dumpling up by the top knot with your chopsticks and the dumpling should sag, like geriatric tits. It sags because of the soup and the thinness of the dough.” says Christopher St. Cavish, food editor of our sister publication in Shanghai, SH. If it passes this test, bite into the hot dumpling. The pork has to taste extremely fresh and there shouldn’t be any odor of pork; it should be all about the flavor.

How To Eat It

For the novice: Two tools—the chopstick and the Chinese soupspoon. As Chef Choi duly warns, “Beginners better use a spoon.” Grab the dumpling by the twisted top—a good xiao long bao’s dough will be thin but sticky so it wont break while you are lifting it off the steam bamboo basket. Dip it in the red vinegar with thin slices of ginger and put it in on your spoon. Nibble a little hole in the middle of the dumpling and some of the steam will escape. The spoon is there to collect some of the soup that will most likely spill out. Slowly but surely chew your way into the hot splendor but be sure to eat the soup with the pork and the thin dough.

For the pro: Just grab your chopsticks, dip and bite. If they are small enough, traditionally the Chinese just eat the dumpling in one bite. But even the tough Chinese tongue hardened by years of piping hot food are not superhuman. Bite a little hole to let the heat escape, suck the soup and quickly eat the whole dumpling for that burst of flavor.

Where to Get Them

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao
Urban Kitchen, Erawan Bangkok, Ratchadamri Rd., 02-250-7988. Open daily 11am-10pm.
Traditional: pork (B75/4 pieces). Contemporary: French goose liver and pork (B120/3 pieces)

Other Crystal Jade outlets:
●    5/F, Park Food Hall, The Emporium, Sukhumvit Soi 24, 02-664-8339. Open daily 10am-10pm.
●    991 Citi Resort Building, Sukhumvit Soi 39, 02-204-2964-6. Open daily 7am-3am.
Gold Shanghai Xiaolongpao
6/F, CentralWorld, Ratchadamri Rd., 02-613-1524. Open daily 10am-10pm.
Traditional: pork (B50/3 pieces) crab (B70/3 pieces).
Thai-style: kaprao (B50/3 pieces), tom yam (B65/3 pieces).

Yuan
2/F, Millenium Hilton Bangkok, 23 Charoen Nakhon Rd., 02-442-2000. Open daily 11:30am-2:30pm (Sun 11:00am-3pm) 6-11pm.
Traditional: pork (B90/3 pieces).

Summer Palace
Mezzanine level, InterContinental Bangkok, 973 Pleonchit Rd., 02-656-0360. Open daily 11:30am-2:30pm 6:30-10:30pm.
Traditional: pork (B80/4 pieces).

Shangarila Kitchen
181-181/1 Soi Pipat 2, Narathiwat Rd, 02-636-6840. Open daily 10:30am-9:30pm.
Traditional: pork (B80/10 pieces), seafood (B100/10 pieces).

Peking Restaurant
B1/F, Ploenchit Center, 02-656-9988. Open daily 10am-10pm.
Traditional: pork (B80/6 pieces).

Taohu Yung Hoe
68 Narathiwat Rd., 02-635-0003/4. Open daily 10am-10pm.
Traditional: pork (B140/8 pieces).