From Culinary Class Wars · 2024-2024 · Reconstructed
Dongpo Snowflower Dumplings
Serve when
Serve the moment the dumpling wrapper is peeled back to reveal the braised pork filling glazed dark and glossy underneath.
In the series
Season 1
- S1E1 · ~00:15:00 Black Spoon contestant "Goddess of Chinese Cuisine" plates dongpo snowflower dumplings for her Round 1 signature dish, one of the standout dishes that advances her straight through
In the series
Round 1 gives every Black Spoon a hundred minutes and one shot at a single judge's verdict, and this dish does what a signature dish has to do in that format — announce a whole technique (a slow, patient dongpo braise) inside a single, elegant bite that a judge can read in seconds.
Ingredients
- For the dongpo pork filling:
- For the dumplings:
Method
- Sear the pork belly skin-side down until deeply browned, then set it in a small pot with the scallions, ginger, and star anise.
- Add the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and rock sugar with just enough water to cover, and braise gently, covered, for about 2 hours, until the pork is meltingly tender.
- Let the braised pork cool, then dice it small and reduce the braising liquid to a thick, glossy glaze; toss the diced pork through the glaze.
- Spoon a small mound of the pork filling into the center of each wrapper, dab the edges with egg white, and gather them up into a pleated purse, leaving the top slightly open like a blossom.
- Steam the dumplings for 8 to 10 minutes, then scatter the julienned daikon over the open tops so it fans out like snowflakes.
- Serve hot alongside steamed bok choy.
Substitutions
- Rock sugar: ordinary granulated sugar works, though rock sugar gives the glaze its characteristic clean shine.
- Shaoxing wine: dry sherry is the standard swap when Shaoxing wine isn't available.