Dumpling Cookoff Spectacular

Contender #1 Assi Brand
Contender #2 Wang Brand
Contender #3 Wei Chuan Brand

Contender #4 William Brand


Welcome to the Great Dumpling Cookoff Spectacular 2K7. We have 4 contenders. Each unique little doughy container will be examined, and one will win the coveted prize. What is the prize you may ask? Good question...

Moving on. Our esteemed panel of judges consists of myself, two of my roommates(Laura and Sasha), and my brother James aka Otis.

The three bagged dumplings all came from K&S World Market. It's on Charlotte Pike right by Krogers. If you haven't been there you must go! Just to give you an idea of the bizarre wonderful things that await you, they have LIVE EEL! That's right it's alive, and it's eel. Badass I know. Anyway, we have a vegetable dumpling, black mushroom, veggie, and pork dumpling, a shrimp dumpling, and a William dumpling (pork, shrimp, and veggie).

There are so many kinds of dumplings out there, but I feel like Asian cultures are the most dumpling friendly. The frozen dumplings I used in the cookoff would be considered more like traditional Japanesse Gyoza dumplings than the ones I made. Mine are influenced more by Chinese dumplings. If you notice the skins on my dumplings are quite thick compared to the pictures of the others. They also provide more of a doughy flavour of their own instead of merely existing to keep all the filling inside.

This is the base recipe I used to make my dumplings: Dumplings

I adapted ithe recipe a bit, particularly the sauce. I used chili and garlic paste instead of chili oil. I also didn't have any "Chinese Black Vinegar" cuz who the hell has Chinese black vinegar? Anyway you can substitute rice vinegar easily. In fact you can add a bit more than the recipe calls for. It's good to have some tanginess in the sauce. It offsets the wonderful, but over powering if not careful, greasiness of the dumplings. Throw in a little diced scallions for some color. A dash, but just a dash, of sesame oil adds some smokiness that I find meshs well with the sauce.

To cook the dumplings add around two table spoons of veggie oil to a 1o inch skillet. Brown the dumplings on the bottom. If you are using homemade like mine, not frozen, cook the other sides a bit. Just before the sides start to get brown pour in a third of a cup of water. This should be enough water to cover the dumplings half way. Put a top on it, so the dumplings steam. Leave it covered for about 8 minutes or until the water is mostly gone. Brown a bit more, and EAT!!!

All my little notes are not intended to make things more difficult, but merely to elaborate if you have a question the original recipe doesn't answer.

By the way, "pleating" sucks. It's hard. As long as the dumpling is fully sealed you'll be fine. Pleating takes work, aka lots of dumpling making. You should try it because it's funny to watch everyone not be able to do it properly. At some point in the dumpling formation process Sasha decided to just make them into ravioli instead. Not as pretty but tasty none the less.

Now, on to the judges reaction.

The ranking was as follows:

Sasha:
1. William Dumpling
2. Assi and Wei Chuan tie (veggie and pork and mushroom)
3. Wang (shrimp)

James:
1. William
2. Assi
3. Wei Chuan
4. Wang

the Cook:
1. William
2. Assi
3. Wei Chuan
4. Wang

Laura:
1. William and Assi tie (She said she liked mine the most, but I kept seeing her go for the extra veggie ones.)
2. Wei Chuan
3. Wang

Conclusion:
The Wang shrimp dumplings suck. They taste like an aquarium that has seen better days.

Wei Chuan were good. The mushroom taste was woodsy, but overpowered some of the lighter ingredients.

Assi were excellent. Nice dough. Not tough. Inside was scrumptious.

William dumplings were kick ass. The inside was the tastiest. The diced shrimp gave something satisfying to bite into instead of a sort of paste like the others. The skins imparted a lot of flavor of their own. Truth be told it's hard for fresh to lose to frozen. The cards were stacked in my favor from the beginning, but I'll still take the win. The Asians have more practice than I do anyway.

Note to the lazy: If you don't want to make the dough just by some wonton wrappers at Kroger. Stuff them full of tasty stuff. Close em' up. Fry and eat.

One last dinner note. It is important to polish off any good dumpling dinner with the apropriate desert. In this case, coffee ice cream wrapped in dumpling shells!!!!! They are so freakin' good. You must try them.



Well, until next time, where we will eat at a notable Nashville fried fish eatery (Sorry for the alliteration. It couldn't be helped.), may your bellies be full and be sure to bring me a doggie bag!