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Tangbao (Soup Buns)

5/7/2018

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Picture
Puncture BEFORE taking a bite!
PicturePlace the 汤包 on a Chinese soup spoon, puncture, wait to cool, enjoy!
The first time I bit into a 汤包 "tangbao", like thousands before me, I scalded my lips and the inside of my mouth.  Back up.  I had heard that you haven't eaten in Shanghai until you try 汤包.  My first mistake was not asking what tangbao was.  The first character 汤 "tang" means "soup" and 包 "bao" means "package".  I thought I would be getting a bowl of 汤 with some little 包 in it.  When the little buns arrived in a steamer, I was confused, but figured I ordered the wrong thing.  Anyone who speaks Chinese as a second language knows that ordering the wrong thing is more common than one might think.  Many words sound similar.  At any rate, the contents of the steamer looked delicious so I grabbed my chopsticks and dug right in.

What I did not know is that the 汤 is inside the 包.  To eat the 汤包, one must place the little dumpling on a soup spoon and puncture it with the chopstick.  The steam seeps out of the hole, as does some of the soup, onto the spoon.  Blow on it and take a bite; drink the half teaspoon of soup.  In my excitement and hunger, I just bit into it.  The steam burned my lips as it escaped from the 包.  Rookie mistake, but hardly uncommon.  It didn't matter that I my lips were sizzling, I was hooked.

I now know the secret to the 汤包.  For a long time, I was puzzled.  How did they get the soup into the dumpling?  Apparently, the meat and/or vegetable filling is mixed with a gelatinous broth that melts inside the dumpling when steamed.  Brilliant.  Decadent.  Addictive.

Join me in Shanghai for a Chow Fun tour and try truly authentic 汤包.  I promise to remind you to puncture the dumplings first.

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    Lauren Drazen

    I have traveled all over the world, including adventures in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, England, Denmark, Russia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Dominican Republic, Canada and Mexico.  My greatest love is introducing Americans to the sites, traditions and people of China.  My hope is to give travelers a new lens through which to see the world.

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Lauren Drazen
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