medtran49
Forum GOD!
These are a good bit of work. I broke it up by making the soup part a day ahead. In all honesty, I've only made these once and I don't know if I'll ever make them again. They were great, but so much work that I think I'd rather have these in a dumpling/dim sum restaurant than make them myself again.
Soup
1/2 lb. pork skin, cut in half
1 lb pork bones
1 pig's foot
3 scallions, cut into 1" pieces
One 3" piece ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine)
Kosher salt
Filling
1-1/4 lp ground pork
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
1-3/4 tsp kosher salt
1-1/4 tsp Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine)
1-1/4 tsp sugar
1-1/4 tsp sesame oil
3/4 tsp finely grated ginger
3/4 tsp freshly ground white pepper
Soup
In a large saucepan or small stockpot, add pork skin and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, then drain and rinse with cold water. Slice skin lengthwise into 1" wide strips, trimming any fat, then slice strips crosswise into about ¼"-wide pieces. Return skin to same stockpot and add bones, pig foot, scallions, ginger, wine, and 8 cups cold water. Bring to a boil, skim surface of any foam, and reduce heat. Simmer, skimming often, until liquid is almost opaque and reduced to 2 cups, 60−75 minutes. Cool, refrigerate overnight and skim off any fat or impurities that have risen to surface. Warm up enough to remove solids and make liquid again. Season with additional salt if needed. It should taste like a nice porky stock.
Strain liquid into a 15x11 jelly roll sheet pan; making sure not to add any residual debris and chill until set, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. If making ahead, cover soup with plastic wrap once jelled. It's easier to place the pan in the refrigerator before filling and use a measuring cup to transfer the broth from the pot into the pan.
Filling
Mix ground pork, scallions, garlic, soy sauce or tamari, salt, wine, sugar, oil, ginger, and pepper with chopsticks in a medium bowl, stirring in one direction until it all comes together and a light film forms on the sides of bowl, about 20 seconds.
Cut a fine crosshatch pattern in jelled soup to create very small pieces (about ⅛" squares). Scrape into bowl with filling and very gently mix to combine. Cover and chill until ready to use.
Dust a board very lightly with flour. Roll unleavened dough (post 4) into a 1 inch log and cut pieces about 1 inch long. Then, use a short 1 inch dowel to roll out into thin rounds, about 4" in diameter. Work from the center outward, applying slightly more pressure as you reach the edges to make them a little thinner. Cover with plastic.
Lay a wrapper across the upper part of your palm and bottom half of the fingers of your nondominant hand. Spoon 1 Tbsp. filling into wrapper, making sure to get some pieces of jelled soup. It's important to keep the filling cool as the soup will start to melt. Use just a small amount in a small bowl at a time and keep remainder in refrigerator.
Lightly spread out filling with the back of the spoon, leaving at least a ½" border. Spoon a couple more pieces of jelled soup into center of filling. Slightly cup your palm around dumpling and gently grasp edge of wrapper between your thumb and index finger. Position your other thumb and index finger ½" away in the same fashion.
Using fingertips on one hand, gently pull and stretch wrapper outward before bringing it in to meet opposite fingers. Carefully fold stretched area in on itself, creating a pleat. Pinch to seal.
Rotating dumpling as you work, repeat process to create a series of 18 pleats, leaving a small hole in the center. You’ll probably get only 10 or 12 pleats the first few times you do this; as your skill increases, so will your folds.
Pinch edges together and gently twist to seal. Place dumpling in prepared steamer and cover with plastic wrap.
Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. Place dumpling on a square of parchment paper cut just slightly larger than the dumpling size. Cover with a dampened towel or plastic wrap to keep dumplings from drying out.
Once all the dumplings are done, place bamboo steamer basket over a large skillet of just boiling water, making sure water doesn’t touch steamer, and cover. Steam dumplings 8 minutes. Serve directly from steamer with your favorite dipping sauce.
