Xiao Long Bao

Nani: So which xiao long bao do you like better?

Me: You mean do i prefer 鼎泰丰's or some other places one huh?

Nani: Yup:)

Me: [PAUSES] * i was in a deeep thought *

Nani: *Giving meng ni the "what is taking her so long? Is she okay?" look*

Me: I prefer Crystal Jade ones

Nani: huh?! *Giving meng ni that look again*

Yesh i agree that 鼎泰丰 is famous for their 'xiao long bao'. And double yesh.. their xiao long bao is delicious. But having first tried the ORIGINAL 鼎泰丰(and i do mean the very first store) in Taiwan, it was sooooooo much better than the ones in Singapore .. I can't really point out what the problem is.. i always see the chefs weighing every single dough pieces so there must definitely be some kind of QC going on. Probably it's the stock, you know how most of the old restaurants have pots of broth/stock that has been cooking for the past 20 years? And since 鼎泰丰 is relatively young in Singapore, so maybe their broth/stock hasn't age enough yet?!? hmmm..

Anyways, Crystal jade ones are definitely delicious too:) I don't know if they are better than 鼎泰丰's (i'm biased in some sense)

So, i tried making my own xiao long bao. I shall call it "Hii Inc's Xiao Long Bao"-HIXLB in short. The whole process took 2 days! Day 1 is to prepare the aspic, which is the jelly-like thing that gives the " soup oozing out " effect. *SLURPS*. It took freaking 5 hours to get the concentrated stock from constant simmering Pig's skin, chicken bones and chicken feet in water. (I need to check my cholesterol level after this)

The jelly-like aspic

2nd day;today, is the mixing of all the fillings and making the dough, it's definitely less hassle than making the aspic except for the part when i really have no idea how to make pretty xiao long baos like the ones i see in the restaurants, probably a year of training in shao ling temple's kitchen might help. oh wait do they accept females?

HIXLB may look ugly and uh.. 70% of the xiao long bao actually broke after steaming.. but it still taste good.. especially the ones where the soup is "retained". heehee:)

Stats:

number of xiao long baos: 50

money spent: definitely less than $50 but i'm not sure how much

number of days spent: 2

Conclusion: I think i'll go crystal jade when i wanna have my dose of XLB. Unless i want to gobble all 50 XLB all at once.