Xiaolongbao

The trick lies in one detail: gelled pork broth is worked into the filling and turns liquid again in the steamer. The dumpling therefore comes out of the basket full of scalding soup, hence the eating technique: bite a corner, drink, then eat. The recipe appeared around 1871 in Nanxiang, on the outskirts of Shanghai, with an unleavened dough thin enough to stay translucent. Purists count the pleats, eighteen at minimum, and weigh the dough to the gram.