Chinese dumplings, also known as jiaozi, are arguably the most celebrated dish in Chinese cuisine. Dumplings to the Chinese is like turkey to Americans.
Word-of-mouth brought me to Jojo Taipei Restaurant. The Taiwanese style dumplings (guotie) are good but not great. The first flaw in this dish is that the wrappers are overly thick. Second, the shape of guotie (fried Chinese dumpling) is supposed to be open-ended so that steam can flow through the center of each dumpling while steam-fried. The ones I had were all sealed at the corners.
How then, can we tell whether a restaurant is serving authentic jiaozi?
Wrapper
The thickness of the wrapper is determined by the water-to-flour ratio. Most northern jiaozi have thicker wrappers because we add less water to the mix, resulting in a chewy, fulfilling texture. Southern jiaozi is just the opposite. As far as the cooking method of jiaozi, northerners prefer jiaozi boiled and serve them as the only course in a meal. Southerners, on the other hand, favor smaller portions of steamed jiaozi as a side dish.
What does this tell us? Well, the main reason Chinese people fry jiaozi is because it is a convenient way to reheat leftovers. However, since northerners boil jiaozi, it is much easier to “reboil” them. Therefore, fried jiaozi is mainly a southern tradition. If you are chewing fried jiaozi and have a mouth-full of cooked dough, you know to Yelp for a different restaurant next time.
Filling
The ingredients in the filling can range from celery and pork to pickled cabbage and noodles. Great chefs are those that are able to make jiaozi with thin wrappers and rich fillings. Pay close attention to how much filling there is in a jiaozi at a dim-sum place. It is the easiest way to tell if a chef knows his/her trade of including enough filling to deliver a burst of flavor without overstuffing.
Wanna give it a try? frieddumplingsrecipe
A Tale of Two Foods 