Guotie

Before you start

• Scald the flour to initiate the half-hot-water dough.

  Place the 600g of flour and 4g of salt in a large bowl, evenly pour the boiling water over the top, and rapidly stir with chopsticks until shaggy, translucent clumps form.

• Hydrate and knead the dough.

  Drizzle in the 90g of cold water while stirring, then use your hands to bring the shaggy dough together. Cover and rest for 20 minutes before kneading to a smooth, elastic ball, then cover again and let rest for one full hour.

• Emulsify the pork filling using the Da Shui technique.

  Combine the ground pork, 1 tsp salt, soy sauce, white pepper, ginger, and MSG in a bowl. Vigorously stir the meat in one continuous direction while slowly drizzling in the 6 tbsp of cold water or broth until the meat forms a sticky, pale paste.

• Fold in the aromatics and chill the mixture.

  Gently mix in the minced yellow chives, then stir in the sesame oil last to seal the vegetables and prevent water loss. Refrigerate the filling for at least one hour.

Ingredients

• all-purpose flour600 g
• fine sea salt4 g
• boiling water220 g
• cold water90 g
• ground pork600 g
• yellow chives300 g
• cold water or chicken broth6 tbsp
• soy sauce6 tbsp
• sesame oil3 tbsp
• fresh ginger1 tbsp
• white pepper1/2 tsp
• fine sea salt1 tsp
• MSG or chicken powder1 tsp
• cold water150 ml
• all-purpose flour1/2 tbsp
• cornstarch1/2 tbsp
• cooking oil1 tbsp
• cooking oil2 tbsp

Method

1. 01

   Portion and roll the dumpling wrappers.

   Divide the rested dough into 15-gram pieces, flattening each with your palm before using a small rolling pin to roll them out. Leave the dead center slightly thicker than the edges to support the heavy filling without tearing.

2. 02

   Fill and pleat the guotie.

   Place a generous tablespoon of chilled filling in the center of a wrapper, fold it in half like a taco, and pinch the top dead-center. Make three overlapping pleats from the right side toward the center, then repeat on the left, gently tapping the bottom flat against the counter.

3. 03

   Whisk the master slurry.

   In a small bowl, vigorously combine the 150ml cold water, 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour, 1/2 tbsp cornstarch, and 1 tbsp oil just before cooking to ensure the starches do not settle at the bottom.

4. 04

   Crisp the dumpling bottoms in shimmering oil.

   Heat the 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a heavy, flat-bottomed skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Arrange the dumplings flat-side down, leaving a tiny gap between each, and fry undisturbed for two minutes until the bottoms catch a pale golden color.

5. 05

   Steam the dumplings to gelatinize the starches.

   Give the slurry a final whisk and pour it into the hot pan so the liquid reaches a third of the way up the dumplings. Immediately cover with a tight-fitting lid and steam over medium-low heat for ten minutes.

6. 06

   Evaporate the water to forge the lacy skirt.

   Remove the lid, increase the heat slightly to medium, and allow the remaining water to boil away. Wait until the bubbling sound shifts to a sharp, high-pitched crackle and the starch web turns deeply golden brown and separates from the edges of the pan.

7. 07

   Invert and serve the masterpiece.

   Place a large flat plate over the top of the pan. Place one hand firmly on the plate, grasp the pan handle with the other, and swiftly and confidently invert the pan to reveal a unified, shattered golden crust connecting the dumplings.

Notes

• Do not substitute store-bought wrappers.

  Commercial wonton or cold-water wrappers lack the structural elasticity and specific hydration of a half-hot-water dough. When pan-fried, they dehydrate and turn unpleasantly leathery instead of delightfully chewy.

• Source the right fat content for the pork.

  Standard supermarket ground pork is often too lean for authentic dim sum. Ask your butcher to double-grind pork shoulder, aiming for a strict 30 percent fat ratio to prevent a dry, crumbly interior.