My grandma was from Hebei. She used to say that it is better to eat than dumplings, and it is better to be comfortable than to lie on your back (which means to lie down). This saying, which has much the same different versions everywhere, should be the **** knowledge of the northern farmers. The climate and produce in the north are not as good as in the south, and life is hard, with a particularly inadequate supply of meat. Especially for farmers, they can only kill pigs and eat meat during the New Year. Eating dumplings stuffed with meat and then lying on the kang to take a rest was the best enjoyment for the farmers who had worked hard all year. Modern city dwellers don't have these feelings, but tradition still plays a role. The reason dumplings are so delicious is that, as with all stuffed foods, the flavor of the filling is enclosed in the skin and does not dissipate. So when you eat a gyoza, the flavor of the filling comes out in a flash, and the effect is earth-shattering. Both the skin and the filling play an integral role here. As the old saying goes, a dumpling should be eaten with a thin skin and a large filling. There are two types of dumplings according to the way they are cooked: water dumplings and steamed dumplings, of which water dumplings are the dominant home cooking method because they are cooked in water, hence the name. Dumplings are often referred to as "water dumplings". Steamed dumplings are not a common practice in the North, which has historically lacked fuel. Steamed dumplings do not come into contact with water, so the flavor alone is superior to water dumplings. However, the skin of the dumpling is soft and creamy, which steamed dumplings cannot provide. Dumpling skins are made from cold water dough. The main quality indicator of the flour, i.e. the gluten content, plays an important role here. Dumpling skins made with high-gluten flour are smooth and tough, and very thin skins don't cook easily in the pot. In the old days, when there was no high-gluten flour, everyone used white flour or semolina to make dumplings. Dumplings made with black flour or whole wheat flour have a sticky texture. Steamed dumplings are made with hot flour. It may be more cost effective to use low gluten flour for steamed dumplings.
Any meat or vegetable ingredient can be used to make dumpling fillings, but there is a difference in serving results, just as there is a difference in the cost of the ingredients. Tender ingredients are more expensive and have a better texture and flavor. Meat ingredients include pork, beef and mutton. Shandong coast has fish meat filling, which is a local specialty. Vegetable ingredients are numerous, the more unique vegetable fillings are tomato, cucumber, eggplant, garlic shoots. Vegetables have to be pre-treated to make the filling, for example, squash has to be squeezed out of the water, and eggplant has to be fried in oil. Dumplings in the North are seldom filled with pure meat, which is a big difference from dumplings and other stuffed foods imitated in the South. The reason for this is a tendency to consume meat due to the historical shortage of meat supply in the North. While northern dumplings are stuffed with a mix of meat and vegetables, one of the criteria for a good dumpling remains the same: a meatball filling that clutches into a ball.
Kneading dumplings
Dumplings may be a family affair, but they're not easy to make well. There is something to be said for mixing the dough in the first place. There is an old saying among Hebei people: "Soft noodle dumplings, hard noodle soup," which means that the noodle for dumplings should be soft, and the noodle for noodles should be hard. If the noodles are hard, it will be difficult to roll out the dumpling skin. When you wrap the dumplings, it will not be easy to knead them together. When you eat them, they won't be strong either. When you make the dosage from the dough, you want it to be uniform in size. Some people like to use their hands to pull out the dumplings, but my family cuts them with a knife. The size of the dumplings is up to you, but if the dumplings are too big, they won't cook well. Rolling out the dumplings requires dexterity. You have to turn the dumplings as you roll them out, and if you are slow, you will hit your hands. I remember when I was in college, my classmates were making dumplings in the dormitory, and I was in charge of rolling them out. I was only able to roll out a few dumplings and was laughed at by some of my Xi'an classmates, so I had to give way. My Xi'an classmates' dumpling skins were indeed much smaller than mine. I was very impressed. Xi'an has a dumpling banquet, which seems to have a solid mass base. The way to make dumplings varies from place to place, some are pinched, some are squeezed. The kneading method involves holding the skin and filling in one hand and squeezing the sides of the dumpling together with the other. Dumplings made by the pinching method look flat, much like the flat food of their ancestors. The squeezing method involves using the thumb and forefinger of both hands to hold the two ends of the dumpling skin, closing them together in the center as they are pinched, resulting in the dumplings being squeezed into a big belly shape that can stand up. Lastly, boil the dumplings. Make sure the water is boiling before you drop the dumplings. The water is warm enough to allow the dumpling skin to mature quickly and keep its shape. When the water in the pot comes to a boil again, you can add a small amount of cool water with the purpose of lowering the temperature of the water so that it stays at a light boil because too much splashing will stir up the dumpling skins and the dumpling filling may not be cooked yet. This is not the case if you are using really high gluten flour and you want the dumpling filling to be tender and do not want the cooking time to be too long. Squeezing Dumplings
Dumplings are usually eaten with seasoning. It has become almost a mandatory program for eating dumplings. The most common seasoning is garlic paste with soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar. For those with light tastes, a dish of vinegar is sufficient. For those with heavy tastes, chili sauce is added. The most horrible thing I saw was an old man from Shandong, who added all kinds of seasonings to the flavor plate and then poured a spoonful of Lao Gan Ma hot sauce on top. I was all upset in my mind for the dumplings I made. After he left, my wife and I told him that we would never invite him to eat three fresh dumplings again! But think of the Sichuanese dumplings in red oil, no? So just saying. Once I invited a European ghost to eat dumplings. I didn't expect the guy to smile and ask me: what kind of sauce do you need to eat dumplings because he had Chinese dumplings with someone else. Eating with sauce is a common practice among Europeans. He memorized it. I had to bring him a bottle of Zhenjiang vinegar. The most common dumpling filling in Shandong and Hebei is pork and cabbage. Pork and cabbage are minced, mixed with sesame oil, green onion and ginger, so the filling made from such ordinary ingredients will bring incredible good taste, no wonder the dumplings are popular. The zucchini and lamb dumplings that old Beijing loved in the summer are, I'm afraid, extinct. The people of Hebei have a unique dumpling stuffed with fennel and pork, which has a strong and distinctive flavor. The corresponding vegetarian filling is fennel egg, which I used to eat every time I traveled to Hebei on business, and it was deliciously clean. Fennel is the plant form of the spice cumin, which may be off-putting to those who are not accustomed to eating it. Originating from the coast of Shandong and spreading to Liaoning, the three-food filling is made from peeled shrimp from the Bohai Sea, with pork and chives. The freshness of the shrimp, the fat and flavor of the pork, and the boldness of the chives are perfectly balanced. The corresponding dumpling filling is a vegetarian trio of egg, shrimp skin and chives, which is a little less flavorful, but definitely more affordable. The most distinctive dumpling on the Shandong coast is the Spanish mackerel dumpling. This is the Yellow Sea produced by the Spanish mackerel, scrape off the fish meat, smashed into a meat sauce, slowly add water and seasonings stirred until sticky, add chives can be wrapped. This kind of Spanish mackerel dumplings filled with soft soup fresh, bold chives neutralize the flavor of the fish. Spanish mackerel dumplings require the use of fresh Spanish mackerel, otherwise the fish meat absorbs less water and the taste will not be that tender. This is the same reasoning behind the production of fish balls in the southern provinces. Therefore, to eat real Spanish mackerel dumplings, it is best to go to the Jiaodong area and Dalian. Laobian Dumplings The Northeasterners have what they call sauerkraut dumplings. This is a way to get local ingredients. Traditionally, in the freezing cold of the Northeast, there are no fresh vegetables, only sauerkraut is available, so the dietary style is based on sauerkraut. In fact, sauerkraut is so tough that it has to be chopped very finely and served with meat oil to make it palatable. I personally believe that the most unique dumplings in the Northeast are Shenyang's Laobian dumplings. This Laobian, a native of Renqiu in Hebei province, came to the Northeast to make a living and stopped in Shenyang to create the specialty Laobian Dumplings. The style of Laobian Dumplings comes from stirring the filling and steaming the dumplings with hot noodles. The filling of his dumplings is stir-fried. Plus the steaming preserves the flavor even more, so the Laobian dumplings are oily and tasty, completely different from ordinary dumplings. Now it seems that this specialty is not hard to do, the hard part is to be the first. Although dumplings are a specialty of the northern people, they have now become the common food of the world. This is the result of social change, population mobility and economic development. When I heard my friend from Liuzhou in Guangxi say that they also eat dumplings at Chinese New Year, it was unbelievable. It is said that there is a legendary woman in Hong Kong who won a place in the Hong Kong business community by selling northern dumplings on her own, and her own brand of frozen dumplings from Wanchai Ferry Terminal is sold nationwide. This can be considered an example of the power of modern business. Of course, I believe that the significance of dumplings for people in rice-producing areas is not comparable to that for people in wheat-producing areas.
Dumplings are by their very nature homemade. In the past, few people went to restaurants to buy dumplings. Everyone knew that the best dumplings were the ones they made at home, and that they could make them as big or as small as they wanted. More importantly, making dumplings was a family reunion, especially on New Year's Eve. Dumplings on New Year's Eve are the original meaning of dumplings as recorded by the Qing Dynasty. Some families adhere to the tradition of waiting until 12 midnight to cook and eat their dumplings. I remember once making New Year's Eve dumplings at home for New Year's Eve. I was in charge of rolling out the dumplings, while my wife and my parents were in charge of making them. My daughter, who was still young, carried the dumpling skins between the two tables. Children have a sense of honor and are happy to do their duty. Every time I rolled out a dumpling skin, she ran upside down and brought it to her grandparents' table. The grandparents laughed and said, "Take a break. I'll save up some more before I bring them to the table. She didn't listen. We made the usual pork, leek and shrimp dumplings that time, and they tasted really good.