Dim Sum: Small Tastes, Big Flavor

Small bundles of tangy, sweet and salty, crimson, roasted pork; dumplings of flaky pastry filled with succulent shrimp and pork; lotus-leaf-wrapped sticky rice with Chinese dates and sausage; translucent, crystal-like dumplings encasing pink jewels of shrimp; and rich, multilayer scallion flatbreads, all carted around as you sip tea and chat the morning away. Ah, the pleasure of eating dim-sum-style!

Dim sum literally means delight your heart. Dim sum is as much about the style of service as it is about the foods that are eaten. This traditional ceremonial tea and dumpling style of service speaks to todays consumers and provides a solution to what they cravea closer connection to their food.

Dim sum, along with other small plates, is impacting todays menus. This trend is proven in chain concepts, such as TGI Fridays, which is increasing its appetizer section by 25% this year. Appetizers and small plates, notes Scott Randolph, senior director of culinary, TGI Fridays, Carrolton, TX, are a great way for family or friends to communicate during a meal. It makes the occasion more of an event than just a meal.

Doing research for a project at TGI Fridays, I was not surprised to find pot stickers on the menu: Chinese pork dumplings steamed, then pan-fried and served with Szechwan dipping sauce.

Dim-sum-style appetizers are also increasingly hitting the grocers frozen-food and refrigerated sections, offering convenient, fresh approaches to snacking and entertaining.

The origin of dim sum

To drink tea, yum cha in Cantonese, has been a long-standing tradition in Chinese culture. In homes across the world, dried tea leaves unfold and impart their flavor. But what may have begun as a home ritual evolved into a teahouse culture, an elegant culinary ceremony and a restaurateurs dream.

Entrepreneurial restaurateurs realized this ceremony created a platform for folks to gather and imbibe tea. This casual affair would last for hours and, as the hunger pains set in, small snacks became a necessity. Although the tea came first, its interesting that it can cut the fattiness of the fried dim sum items and the pork- and-shrimp filled dumplingsoften with high fat contentpiled in steaming towers of bamboo baskets.

Today, cavernous rooms filled with the buzz of chattering people and rolling carts filled with delicious dumplings and steaming pots of tea are easily found in most large cities. Although some places only serve dim sum on weekends, others dish up dim sum daily.

A la cart, or not

Carts, some as simple as stainless steel shelving units on wheels, roll by with small plates of food, like sweet egg tarts with seemingly endless layers of delicate tart shell encasing brilliant yellow egg custard. Other carts are fashioned with gas and griddles to cook shrimp-paste-stuffed peppers, taro cakes (crispy fried cakes of taro and rice flour) or brown dumplings. Other options include shrimp-stuffed seaweed rolls or plates of sliced duck or roasted pork. And, although roaming carts have become an iconic part of the experience, you can always order from the menu. In fact, many delectable dim sum dishes will never grace the nomadic carts.

Many of my best dim sum experiences have been in nontraditional situations. Years ago, I was attending a festival in Kuala Lumpur where I befriended Bong Jun Choi, executive chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. I was mesmerized by the hotel kitchens dim sum. I brought my family back to the hotel that weekend, and it wasnt until halfway through our meal that I realized it was a halal kitchen and no pork was useddim sum, no pork! Wow, they pulled it off! Shui mai (or shaomai), small steamed dumplings, were filled with a shrimp filling (instead of pork and shrimp); fluffy, stark-white steamed buns, usually filled with roasted pork, were packed with sweet, roasted chicken. Another unusual aspect was the complete lack of traditional dim sum service carts. Lesson learned: With some ingenuity, we can veer from the traditional style of service and ingredients and still come up with impressive recipes and authentic flavors.

Not long ago, on our last day of a one-month culinary journey around Southeast Asia, my sous chef and I were in Singapore. We headed to the Crystal Jade Palace, another renowned dim sum establishment devoid of traditional service carts. In the mood to celebrate, we splurged and ordered a bottle of champagne. The staff was happy to oblige, as it was a common occurrence. It turned out to be a fantastic pairing! We sipped bubbly and noshed on steamed dumplings, crispy fried peanuts and delicate soup dumplings with their molten centers of rich pork bouillon.

Disseminating dim sum

With advancements in meat processing and packaging, Chinese-style roasted pork, known as char sui or lacquer roasted pork, should be more readily available, ready to go. This anise-spiced, hoisin-marinated pork is slowly roasted and slathered with a final coat of maltose, soy sauce and sesame oila final stage that operators could execute, giving them the final touch.

Dumplings have become the default icon of dim sum. Thin, wheat-based wrappers are favored for steamed dumplings such as shui mai, since they cook relatively quickly. On the other end of the scale, thick wrappers encase meaty fillings so they stand up to brutal pan-frying, gaining a deep, golden crust before they are steamed for a final cooking. Delicate wrappers based on tapioca starch are the choice for har gao (or har gow). The crescent-shaped, pleated dumplings become translucent when steamed, so the filling can be seen. Hence, these jewel-like morsels are sometimes referred to as crystal dumplings.

Manufactured dumplings are made for both foodservice and retail distribution. For instance, Phillips Foods, Inc., Baltimore, MD, offers the Asian Rhythms line of frozen dim sum items to answer the demands of the professional kitchen. Kurt Kahrs, corporate executive chef, Phillips Foods Asia, Bangkok, Thailand, notes that, during the development, one of the first challenges was selecting appealing shapes and sizes, and overcoming the bland iterations already on the market, most based on surimi. One thing we aimed for is to have a real shrimp taste vs. what most commercial seafood dim sum has, which is surimi first with a bit of shrimp, he says. Phillips steams its assortment of dim sum, which includes shrimp shui mai, seafood shui mai, and shrimp har gao. Cantonese shui mai often contain ground pork and shrimp, as well as minced Chinese black mushrooms. Har gao dumplings often consist of shrimp and bamboo shoots.

We had many hard discussions between members of our management team here in Bangkok over the subtleties of more or less sesame oil, or spring onion, and whether the wrappers were too chewy or soft, etc., says Kahrs. The biggest problem with these was getting the right texture and taste using lots of shrimp and none of the traditional pork fat that Chinese chefs tend to use. We achieved that by the addition of small amounts of oil to enhance mouthfeel, and egg and starches to get the springiness.

During the evolution through the R&D development cycle, retaining the culinary integrity is most challenging during scale-up; what was a tender texture can become an inconsistent, rubbery mass. As for scale up, the biggest challenges were the changes in moisture which arise from less evaporation during the mixing, coupled with the longer mix times, which meant adjusting starches again, says Kahrs. This was a problem for both the fried and steamed dumplings, he says, although too much moisture in the fried items is more of an issue, because it promotes cracking/bursting during the freeze and fry steps.

The quality of pre-made dumplings and other dim sum staples on the market is improving. Implementation of sound culinary expertise enhanced by the skilled application of food technology has resulted in products that fit within todays tight restrictions on cost, labor, and cook times without sacrificing flavor or texture.

Robert Danhi, C.H.E., C.C.E., C.E.C., C.C.P, is principal of Chef Danhi & Co., Los Angeles, and author and photographer of Southeast Asian FlavorsAdventures in cooking the foods of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore (Mortar and Press, Oct. 2008). Chef Danhi & Co.s expertise resides in menu and product R&D, sales and marketing support, and educational and training programs. Danhi leads culinary immersion tours for anyone who seeks a better understanding of the culinary cultures of Southeast Asia, and he is a member of the Research Chefs Association. For more information, please visit southeastasianflavors.com and chefdanhi.com .

A Dim Sum Sampler

Walk into any dim sum restaurant in the United States, and as soon as you order tea, your table is set with chili sauce, mustard and soy saucethree condiments that have become staples to accentuate tastes and spice up the meal.

The Usual Suspects

Cha siu baobarbecued pork buns

Shui maisteamed pork and shrimp dumplings

Chuen guenspring rolls

Woo goktaro and pork dumplings

Har dor seeshrimp toast

Jun jui kaupearl pork balls

Dan taategg custard tarts

A wide range of concepts can work in dim sum. For instance, little orange chicken buns can result from stuffing that iconic Americanized Cantonese dish into a steamed bun. Or remove some of the cheap cabbage from spring rolls and replace it with succulent roasted pork.