The Soup Dumpling Explodes!

I can't help but be a glutton for punishment.... and regardless of the hazards that come with eating it, the Shanghai Soup Dumpling is one specialty that I don't mind eating waaaaaaay too many of... no matter how dangerous a proposition it is.

Not even the cheek-burning juicy explosions of hot liquid gold that seem to splatter their way onto other people's clothing, and the cumbersome use of both chopsticks and a soup spoon would deter me... but don't think that I am in any way embarrassed to eat these little purses of joy. Filled with crabmeat, swine, and reduced meat juices, how could this Dim Sum specialty be bad?

(I am obviously not speaking to you vegetarians and vegans... obviously).

This type of Dim Sum, the "xiao long bao" or "little dumplings from basket", may have first appeared in northwest of Shanghai about 100 years ago. But the origins of Dim Sum go back much further, stemming from the hospitality that Chinese households would extend to travellers finding riches along the silk road. Really, Dim Sum originated because Chinese households would offer tea to wary travellers. When hunger could not be satiated, little snacks would be offered.

(Think of it as the ancient version of "Free Coffee and Donuts" offered to wary travellers driving Model T Fords across the country in the the early days of car road trips).

So the Mecca for these sinful delights is Joe's Shanghai in New York City (Of Course... leave it to my hometown to be the mecca of yet another amazing foodstuff ). Joe's Shanghai is located on an alley street of Chinatown called Pell Street. This place is So unasuming that if it weren't for the crowd of people lingering around the doorway, you might think it was a Chinese herbalist, a storefront to buy deer penises to cure your ailments.

This place gives a whole new meaning to "Eat at Joe's" .

Want to wait in a long line to sit at a table with other people you don"t know? Eat at Joe's.

Want to be rushed in and out of your dinner by rude waiters? Eat at Joe's.

Want to make a complete fool of yourself while you eat slurping your way through the meal?

Eat at Joe's.

Once, I sat at a table complete with Lazy Susan, amongst a family of 5 from Oklahoma. this was their first trip to NYC and what a crazy place to come to for people who, I don't think, had ever seen a Chinese person in their life except on TV. After our food came, they stared in awe at how nimble I was juggling chopsticks in one hand, soup spoon in the other. After their food came, they paused, picked up their chopsticks as if they were weapons ready to attack and started stabbing their dumplings with them, trying to thread the chopsticks through like a needle, hoping the dumpling wouldn't fall off. The true shame of this was that all the soup spilled out into the bamboo steamer. I cringed at the sight of that happening and offered to help them learn how to use their new cutlery (actually, the chopstick is the most civilized of utensils to use, as the Chinese believe that after taking such care in preparation of the food, it would be barbaric to stab it with a fork and cut it with a knife). After about 10 minutes, they all got the hang of it, though I couldn't help but laugh a little inside as it still looked like they had read the directions off the paper wrapper that chopsticks arrive in (you know "Welcome to Beutiful Chinese Restrant. Hold Tirst Chocstick with Thurmb and Held Firmly. Add Second Chocstik as a pencile. Now You Can Pick Up Anything!)

So. Anyway. How the hell did they get soup IN the dumpling? Think meat jello and seasoned crab and pork balls wrapped in a delicate, yet slightly chewy flour dough blanket. Well, "Meat Jello" may not sound delicious to some of you... but for me, it is the essence of yumminess... After being steamed on cabbage leaves on a bamboo steamer, the dumplings are swiftly brought to the table with a pair of tongs to lift them from the cabbage to your soup spoon. Black malt vinegar infused with ginger threads is set on the side for you to combat the lip smacking richness of the broth you are about to indulge in. The Chinese believe in harmony for all aspects of life, and in cooking food there is no exception. The salty is there to balance sweet, the sweet to balance bitter, and as in this case, acid to balance richness.

I have made these little pains-in-the-asses before and can say the work is well worth it...

And, after having tried them at several other restaurants, I can honestly say that none are quite as delectable, sinful, beautiful, and worth the treck into the fishgut-laden streets of NYC Chinatown, as Jo's Shanghai.

I dare you... double dare you.... try one (or 8)...

I'll bring a bib and a goggles, you just bring the money!