- [Alex] Okay.
- [Helen] Wow. - [Alex] What do you think?
- [Helen] Look at this.
- I don't wanna talk.
Salut, my name is Alex.
Today I am in Flushing, it's early in the morning,
it's 8 a.m..
And my mission is to recreate a super popular food,
soup dumplings.
Helen. - Yes.
- [Alex] How are you?
- Good, good Alex.
Good to see you.
- You ready to teach me some stuff?
- All right, let's start.
Pork soup dumpling dough.
I use hot water and cold water.
- [Alex] How long to do you need to knead this for?
- About 10 minutes.
- [Alex] I have a scale, can I weigh one?
- You weigh one, 0.6 ounces. See? - Oh wow.
- [Alex] You're like a living scale.
- Now, we ready to make the wrappers.
You wanna make very thin, paper around edge.
Later on you going to make a lot of pleats
This ground pork, mixed with the seasonings.
- Okay. - At the end
they're mixed with the powder gelatin made gel.
- [Alex] Okay, so first you make my gelatin
and then you ground it into pieces
or what? - Yes.
You boil on the stove for three hours.
- I only have 6 hours to remake it.
So how can I do this without cheating?
- [Helen] Next you come a little early.
- Ahh!
- As you can see, I curved my fingers on purpose.
Make little a little bit like a cradle.
- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like a spoon.
Oh, you put loads of stuffing inside there.
- You start to make pleats.
The one over the other.
One over the other.
And don't forget to count how many.
17, 18, 19.
20, 21, no?
- Yeah, 21.
From 18 to 21 pleats. - And then you pinch
and you rip.
Whoa, look at this guys.
Look at the beauty of this.
- They're cutie little babies.
- Right, the next step.
Let's steam them.
So once you have cooked them
and once they are in the bamboo steamers,
how do you know if they're cooked right?
- You time it.
(Alex laughs) You time by seven minutes.
- If you don't have the time-- - It's the best answer
in the world.
You use a (beeping) timer, Alex.
(Helen laughs)
- You did very well, see, nothings dripping.
- I can say this with confidence,
this is the best soup dumpling I've ever had.
Thank you so much.
I'm gonna do my best to recreate this.
- Okay. - I've got six hours
to make this. - Uh-huh.
- You gonna come afterwards? - Yes.
- The game is on.
Bad news, traffic was really crappy.
And I've got five hours left.
It's time to get the recipe going,
I need to start with the gelatin first.
I'm suppose to let it chill slowly at room temperature,
but I don't have time for this.
So basically, what I'm gonna do,
I'm gonna chill it super fast using an ice bath.
I hope things are gonna turn okay.
Perfect, so I've got three cups of flour right there,
to which I'm gonna add half a cup of boiling water,
but gradually.
And half a cup of cold water.
Again, gradually.
So obviously I'm working against the clock on this.
But with dough, I dunno, there are things you can't skip.
Okay, the kneading seems to be okay for me at the moment.
So now let's talk about stuffings.
Helen told me about the basic ingredients
that I need to find in this mix.
Ground pork, scallions, ginger,
rice wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
(upbeat music)
We'll taste and adjust.
I think it just needs more salt at the moment.
So I get the mix where I want it be.
I'm just gonna wrap it up, put in the fridge
and then I'll add the gelatin.
Okay, I just got the gelatin out of the fridge.
It has set nicely.
It's (beeping) solid.
It's like that thing, that ballistic gel
when you shoot into it.
Okay.
If it doesn't work as gelatin for the dumplings,
I can always wear this is a bullet proof jacket maybe.
Guys, we get something important right there.
I've got plenty juices in there.
That just means one thing, it's working.
Wow, it's savory.
It's like sapid.
No, sapids not a word.
Let's switch for another one.
It's like a rich broth that I'm tasting at the moment.
It's super good.
C'est tres bon!
So that's good, that's one thing that's done.
I still get to master trickiest part of that recipe,
which I think is the folding.
Those little, tiny, even pleats, 20.
I'm to make 20 of them for one dumpling.
Let's do this.
I should only be flattening the age of those disc.
(mumbles in foreign language)
This turns out to be slightly more complicated
than I thought.
I was really focused on the pleats.
Well you can't forget about this as well.
I'm starting to get the hang of it,
and yet I need to remind myself that the trickiest part
is still to come.
So I'm gonna use this dough ball to practice my pleats.
Make spoon with the hand then place it in the center.
That's not good enough.
Not good enough, it's not good enough.
This is not good enough, madame!
That might be boring as a YouTuber,
if I were just always satisfied with myself.
"Oh, this is just good enough."
"Well, let's do a dumpling like, that's good enough."
No, that's not how I operate.
My mind just doesn't work like this.
I'm forever unsatisfied.
Say, we're getting somewhere.
This is clearly far from being perfect.
It has 14 pleats instead of 20.
They are not perfectly even,
but this is starting to look like a dumpling-ish.
Yes.
I've got exactly 15 minutes left.
You know what?
Before I serve Helen and just get my final judgment,
I wanna make myself a serving.
A real dumpling serving,
and see where I stand in all this.
How can I be so excited and so nervous at the same time?
It's definitely harder with the soft stuffing inside.
The dough on top is getting thinner and thinner.
Kinda works.
Can probably do a bit better.
Ah!
I've got my first serving steaming at the moment.
We have just a few minutes before Helen comes in.
Wow, this is exciting.
Ooh, oh.
This one is so full of juices, I can see that.
This is one is on the edge of collapsing,
but that's good.
Just slightly on the edge is always good.
Please, please work.
Please.
(car horn blares)
Shut the (beeps) up!
- [Off Camera] Maybe they're honking for you?
- Maybe they're honking for me,
but I'm trying to have a moment.
And New York City keeps honking me.
Flavor wise, I think it's close
It's close.
Juice wise, I think her had just a tad more juices.
(door knocking)
Okay, I heard somebody knocking.
Helen - Hey.
- How are you? - Hey.
- [Alex] Come on in.
- Good to see you. - Come on in.
Come on in. - Good thanks.
- Welcome to the kitchen, Helen.
What do you think so far?
- So far so good, yeah.
- Okay. - Kinda look small,
but it's a bite size.
- Okay, it's a bit small.
I'm gonna try to make the three last a bit bigger.
- Yeah, for yourself it's okay.
If you wanna sell this you may wanna sell cheaper.
(Alex laughs)
Not for the same price.
All your strength should be on the fingertip,
not on your lips as well.
- What am I doing with my lips?
I can see you use your lips like this
when your making each pleat.
Yeah. - Yeah, I'm trying to get
some energy from my lips maybe.
What do you think?
- It's okay.
- Okay, let's cook them.
Now, what is the most common problem that I could be facing?
- The one, open up or it's broken.
The wrappers. - Okay, they might--
- Or the juice will come out
- Okay. - or turn flat.
- So this is the main problem?
- Yes, there is one especially.
- [Alex] Okay.
- Wow.
- What do you think? - Look at this.
- [Alex] This one is plump.
- This is the best one here.
- This is the best one?
This the one you're gonna have, okay?
So the way you eat this,
usually you poke a little hole on the side.
No, sorry, it's a joke.
It's terrible joke.
- It's really juicy.
See, it can come out.
It's pretty good.
A little bit of too much wine somehow, I feel.
- I'm a French person.
- That's why.
The meat be should be 70% lean
and 30% fat.
- It's very lean.
Okay, so needs more fat. - Very lean.
This is more like 20/80.
- 20/80. - Ratio.
20% of fat.
The texture of the skin, the wrapper, is very good.
- It's good? - Yes.
It just a matter of making the pleats on the top,
- Yes. - of pile up so many doughs.
- I'm gonna practice, to be honest.
I'm gonna practice more.
This is the first time I make soup dumpling today.
- For the first time, you can make the soup dumpling
from head to toe, marvelous.
(everyone applauds)
Guys come to taste it and when they're still hot.