When it comes to Chinese cuisine, nothing quite beats its famous xiǎolóngbāo which are adored by both locals (including expats living and working in China) and tourists.
The feeling of popping that tiny bun to soak its juicy soup is special!
Xiǎolóngbāo (literally “little basket bun”; also known as soup dumpling) is a type of baozi (filled bun or bread-like food item) from Eastern China, including Shanghai and Wuxi. These buns are traditionally steamed in bamboo baskets, hence the name.
In high-quality xiǎolóngbāo, the ratio of meat to stuffing is as high as 85%.
Getting a good hold of these little guys is more difficult than it may seem, but making them is even harder! Wrapping such fillings with a thin skin layer is no easy task.
How do people properly eat xiǎolóngbāo?
First things, pick one up with your chopsticks and drop it in your spoon.
Then, bite the top off to allow for the soup to either spill into the spoon or just to allow for it to cool off a bit (it’s usually burning hot!).
Slurp up the soup and eat the rest.
It’s SO. GOOD!
Another way to eat is like this:
or this:
Bite through a small hole and suck out the juice
Learning the art of eating xiǎolóngbāo has led a lot of foreign content editors and video producers to upload videos of themselves eating them.
But the xiǎolóngbāo don’t just come in tiny sizes…
They have large portions too!
You have to use a straw to eat this kind of soup dumpling.
