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Pork siu mai are one of the “Guangdong Big Three,” along with shrimp dumplings and steamed pork buns, a true staple of the original Cantonese dim sum tradition.

My brother and I and our spouses went on a Dim Sum vacation a few years ago to San Francisco, and just ate our way around the Dim Sum houses of the city.  The Siu Mai was the benchmark of each restaurant — if you can’t do that right, nothing else matters.

It’s a lot more fun to make than Har Gow, because you can buy the wrappers in almost any grocery store, and they’re just easier all around.

If you’re all-in on this, the orange garnish on the top of superior Siu Mai is tobiko (flying fish roe)  Chock Chin would have approved of going all-in.  (Just saying.)

A step down from that is finely grated carrots, or shrimp.

 

Check out this video.  This guy has a great accent.  (I wonder if Chock Chin sounded like that…)  The audio is a little sketchy but he does things the right way — including using pork belly and mincing it himself, and prepping the prawns by salting them.  So watch it and just turn up the volume a little.