Jinhua Soup Dumplings have a rich history dating back nearly a thousand years to the Southern Song Dynasty. Legend has it that a palace chef brought his unique skills to Jinhua, creating these exquisite dumplings that quickly became a staple on local tables.
Making Process:
The preparation of Jinhua Soup Dumplings involves meticulous steps:
- Preparing Ingredients: Key ingredients include fine flour, lean pork, fresh pork skin, old hen, and diced bamboo shoots. The quality of these ingredients is crucial to the dumplings’ taste and texture.
- Making Gelatin: Pork skin and old hen are simmered with water to make a rich broth, which is then cooled and turned into gelatin. This gelatin is essential for the dumplings’ flavorful and abundant soup.
- Preparing Filling: Lean pork is minced and mixed with diced bamboo shoots and seasonings to create the filling. Balancing the proportions and techniques is important for a delicious filling.
- Making Dough: Fine flour is mixed with water to form a dough, which is then fermented and rolled into thin wrappers. The thickness and softness of the dough are key to the dumplings’ quality.
- Shaping Dumplings: The filling and gelatin are wrapped in the dough, pinched into pleats to seal, and formed into dumplings. Skillful wrapping ensures the dumplings are well-shaped and the filling is evenly distributed.
- Steaming: The dumplings are steamed in a bamboo steamer until fully cooked. Precise control of heat and timing is essential for ensuring the dumplings are tender and flavorful.
Flavor Characteristics:
Jinhua Soup Dumplings are renowned for their unique characteristics:
- Thin Skin, Tender Filling: The dumplings have a thin, soft, and chewy skin with a tender and juicy filling. Biting into the dumpling releases a burst of flavorful soup.
- Rich Soup: The use of pork skin and old hen gelatin results in a particularly rich and delicious soup inside the dumplings.
- Fragrant Aroma: During steaming, the dumplings are placed on a layer of green pine or other aromatic plants, adding a fresh and pleasant fragrance to the dumplings.
