(pan sizzling)
- Hello, and welcome to SORTEDfood.
It's been a while since we've got our normal home cooks
or chefs to cook up something from this book,
Signature Dishes That Matter.
Now we've done hundred layer lasagnas.
We've done omelet Arnold Bennett.
We've even done a Big Mac.
So the plan is today to ask you to create Xiao Long Bao.
Made famous by the highly acclaimed
international Taiwanese restaurant Din Tai Fung.
And as if pressure isn't high enough,
it's worth pointing out their standards are incredibly high.
The New York Times once named them
one of the top restaurants in the world.
- Just the world though?
- Just the world.
I picked up bao. - Bao,
that's all I understood. - And fun.
(Barry laughing)
- Din Tai Fung is the name of the restaurant.
- [Jamie] Yeah, fung.
- Xiao long bao is the name of the recipe.
It has other names.
- [Jamie And Barry] Soup dumplings.
- Oh no, soup dumplings.
- Oh, wait a minute.
These aren't the dumpings you put in soup,
these are dumplings that have soup inside of them.
The ones that whenever you eat them,
no matter how long you leave them there for,
they will burn your mouth off.
- [Ben] Yeah.
- [Jamie] Yeah.
- The original recipe for these soup filled dumplings,
although more strictly categorized as buns by the Chinese,
is a closely held secret.
- Don't put it in a recipe book then.
(Barry laughing)
- They are typically made with ground pork and a rich broth.
- [Jamie] If you're feeling ambitious aim for 18 pleats
on each dumpling. - No, no, no, no, no.
Let's not, let's just try
and put soup in a dumpling shall we?
(laughter)
- Shall we just inject it?
- What like a donut?
- Yeah.
- [Ben] The official recipe is a closely guarded secret.
However, our food team have prepared some XLB,
the way we like them.
You're gonna have a taste so that you know
what you're aiming for,
and then we'll give you the stripped back recipe.
(Jamie gasping)
- Yeah, there's one level for you and one for me.
- Give him the the bottom one.
It's really hot.
(laughter)
(upbeat music)
- Eat a little bit.
What'd he do?
- He bit it like a chipmunk.
- I nibbled a little bit off.
(Barry laughing)
You can also poke a hole, but you absolutely want
to make sure you have the spoon to catch the juice
and then you can go all in one to finish the soup.
Super rich broth.
- That really is.
- (laughs) Baz.
- Can we have a mop in aisle three?
- There's more pork in it than I expected, less soup.
It's soup is just...
little bit liquid.
- It's like a soup (indistinct), of soup.
- The good news is
we've done a lot of the hard work for you.
We've written the recipe.
We've then weighed out all the ingredients.
We've even made you a wonderful broth ahead of time.
So then what we're gonna give you is a stripped back recipe,
one hour, and the ingredients.
Off you go.
- I'm gonna be honest with you, Barry.
- Yeah.
What are you doing, what are you doing?
- That is next to useless.
- It pretty much is.
From reading that it sounds like
it all comes down to the dough.
- Three things you've got to get right,
the dough, the filling, and the soupy bit.
- Step one, make a dough.
- Flour
- [Both] and water.
- Perhaps warm water.
- And cold flour.
- Using the (speaker drowned out by laughter).
- That's burning.
I can smell that burning.
- You can't burn water.
- You can burn water Barry.
- [Barry] You can't burn water.
- You definitely can.
- How can you burn water?
- Put in the comments below, can you burn water?
But I think we should just mix it together.
(jazzy music)
- [Barry] How hard do I work this?
- Yeah work it.
- It's not coming together easily yet.
It's like it's not-
- You wanna stretch the gluten.
- [Barry] So I'm guessing you have to work it quite hard,
cling film it, and rest it.
- [Jamie] Yeah, in the fridge.
- [Ben] This can absolutely be done by hand.
You're doing a cracking job.
It can also be done in a machine or in a food processor.
- Oh really.
- Oh Baz.
- Oh we're here now.
- Yes but this is plugged in.
We could move on.
- Is that what that's there for?
- It's an option.
(jazzy music)
- Right Baz, let's have a look
at what we need to be aiming for, for our filling.
(muttering)
A tender ball of minced pork.
- Why are there prawns here?
- So the thing with XLB is that throughout the year,
sometimes you get different flavors.
Sometimes they'll put some bamboo shoots in the spring.
Sometimes you'll get hairy crab in the autumn.
We thought a little bit of prawn in this is quite nice.
- I think we blitz-
- Everything together.
- Everything up, create the paste with everything,
form it into balls,
and that's what goes inside of the dumpling.
- My only concern of that is it sounds too easy.
- So whilst you think of Chinese cuisine
as being centuries or millennia old,
Xiao Long Bao is actually quite a new thing.
It's only been around for a few generations
and it originated just outside of Shanghai
and is now very popular in Shanghai and the world over.
Even though Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese restaurant chain,
they are the ones that kind of taken it internationally.
But because it's relatively new,
there are lots of people doing lots of different versions
and twists and flavors on it,
and the fillings can change throughout the year.
- [Jamie] Garlic.
Sugar.
Sesame oil. - Oh that would make sense.
- [Jamie] That would make sense wouldn't it.
- Right, get some of those.
- Some of this.
(laughter)
- Ginger.
- Ah yep.
Soy sauce?
- It's rice wine-y.
(upbeat jazzy music)
- One of those is your instructions.
One of those is my shopping list from last night.
- Extra large- ooh.
(laughter)
Now roll the dough and then make and form the dumplings.
- So for dumpling skin dough.
- Yep.
- Not yet seasoned.
Filling made.
A little glue-like.
And you've got your broth.
I've never made them before, but I have seen them made.
Each person makes hundreds per hour.
That's how quickly they're shaping them.
- It should be rolling each one out individually
rather than the whole lot out.
- Let's do that.
(funky upbeat music)
Is yours still a circle?
- Do you put the soup in now
or do you put the soup halfway through steaming?
- Baz, I've just had a thought.
- Go on.
- Look at the soup.
- It's quite hard, innit?
- We don't need to inject anything.
I reckon we put- holy wa-!
we put some of that jelly on the bottom,
little pork ball on top 18 pleats, job done.
Put it in the steamer. What happens?
Jelly melts, soup.
We've nailed it. Look at my elbow.
(laughter)
Surely that's gotta be right.
- That's how bad Jamie was at sports,
had to be taught how to do high fives.
(laughter)
- Look at my elbow!
- Should I fill...
and you wrap?
- Alright.
- [Ben] For the top layer and then
for the bottom layer of the steam basket, swap.
(upbeat music)
- I do have one idea though, guys.
- What are you doing?
How's that going?
(laughter)
- Let's create one ball rather than trying to get two balls.
- Fiddly, aren't they?
(upbeat music)
- Would you like to see a video
of how it's done in Din Tai Fung?
- Yes.
- [Ben] Granted, they're doing it very quickly.
- [Jamie] Twist and a crimp,
and a twist and a crimp, and a dump.
- [Ben] Round two?
- Let's try again. Okay.
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- We're placing up our V1 attempts,
which I think have held together.
They don't have 18 pleats.
- By our standards, they're not horrific
- No.
(indistinct)
- They are soup dumplings.
- They are tasty.
- I think we can afford to go a bit thinner on the dough,
but you know, that's a good, that's a good effort.
A couple of things people at home
might observe on our second round.
Starting with little balls of dough
rather than rolling out them out and cutting it,
and keeping those under a bowl so they don't dry out.
This time around we've added some salt into the dough
because not only is that a seasoning thing,
but it also helps to soften the dough
in terms of gluten structure.
- I've gone to the edge which is probably silly of me.
Damn it. Damn it!
- It feels like a lot,
but then you can push down with one thumb
and pull against it on the skin with the other.
- That is better the ones earlier.
- Better.
- But I'm talking about 5% better.
(laughter)
- [Ben] Bear in mind. Once you've done a hundred or two,
you'll probably get the knack.
Bear in mind, they do a hundred or two every hour.
Then across at working shifts,
they're working week, they're working year.
They're making thousands.
- What this kind of thing makes you realize is
people spend years crafting away and gaining knowledge
and expertise on how to create dishes, just like these.
- [Barry] I really thought watching a video for 30 seconds
I'd nail it, but it turns out...
- [Jamie] No.
(funky upbeat music)
- It's better, but it's not...
It's not right. Is it?
This is what happens when you get amateurs
to do an expert's job.
- [Ben] On their own or with a little black vinegar.
- I haven't done any of the black vinegar yet.
Still really delicious.
But then again, we still didn't really have anything
but the flavor.
- That is really good, definitely a better dough.
A lot lighter.
- You know what, I think they taste great.
The second batch was definitely better than the first,
nowhere near what you'd expect from someone
who's been making them for years and years.
But then I don't think we were expecting that.
- It says at the end bit of this description,
"...the success of Din Tai Fung's buns,
stems from rigorous standardization..."
Nope.
(laughter)
But unlike many global chains, it still allows for magic.
And I feel like we've got a bit of the magic in there,
but it's our magic and no one really wants our magic.
- Yeah, no, it's a slightly backwards.
- [Jamie] Yeah.
- Wonky magic.
- [Jamie] Yeah.
- [Barry] And I don't have the confidence
to try that at home where of course
I wouldn't have even dared.
- Not a midweek meal,
but absolutely a weekend project worth trying.
Well we've given it our best shot,
but I feel like this is the perfect invitation
to see if we can get an actual expert into the studio
to teach us properly.
If you know who we should be inviting in comment down below.
- We need help.
- Can I have one?
- Oh yeah. First batch.
- Yeah.
- Have you ever got to the end of a long day
with no ideas, ingredients, or energy to cook?
Takeaway? Hmm, it'd be the fourth this week.
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(jazzy music)
- And now for the blooper.
- Right? Oh, Barry.
- Really, It couldn't have gone worse that one.
Couldn't have gone worse.
Have to go again.