Blog Post

September 9, 2016

For a typical Cantonese family, going to teahouse[1] on weekend for dim sum is like going to church for a western family. Dim sum, the quintessence of culinary intelligence, is an indispensable element for Cantonese. If you have been to a dim sum place in America, you may notice that there are dozens of different types of dim sum, ranging from salty to sweet, from meat to vegetable, from warm to cold, and from big portion to delicate small plate. Among all these diverse and exquisite culinary delicacies, “Har Gow” (also called xiajiao or shrimp dumpling) is my favorite.

Har Gow is usually considered as the most representative one in Cantonese dim sum. It always appear as the first item on a dim sum menu. Based on my experience, the quality of the Har Gow is highly correlated with the overall culinary level of a restaurant. Restaurants that can produce extraordinary Har Gow usually also offer other types of amazing dim sum and dishes. Restaurants that are bad at producing Har Gow hardly cook anything well.

So what a good Har Gow should be? First of all, a good Har Gow should have thin, soft, and translucent skin. Although called shrimp dumpling in English, Har Gow is not a deviation of traditional Chinese dumpling, and therefore, its skin is totally different from that of regular dumpling. For Har Gow, the skin should be as thin as possible, but not to the extent which it can be easily damaged by chopsticks. Translucence of the skin allows Har Gow to have a reddish appearance as we can kind of see the shrimp inside. The shrimp in the Har Gow is also very important. For a Har Gow to taste good, the shrimp must be very fresh, minced, and mixed with other seasonal ingredients. The ingredients of Har Gow usually differ by restaurants, and what determines the final quality is the overall mixed taste. An exemplar of Har Gow should taste fresh, juicy, and full-bodied.

Comparing to its complicated culinary procedures, eating Har Gow is extremely simple. Some people like to dip it in soy sauce while others prefer sweet chili sauce. For me, I like it plain, so that I can have a real taste of it, slowly chew it in my mouth, and peacefully enjoy the sense of pleasure this delicacy offers me.

I don't know why, but dim sum certainly has some kind of spiritual value in my mind. While living in Guangzhou, a week without going to teahouse for dim sum is incomplete for me. Dim sum, especially Har Gow, gives me a sense of belonging and peace which has some kind of magic power that can sweep away all my anxiety and unpleasantness.

 http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=245032119&size=l

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[1] A kind of Cantonese restaurant which serves dim sum