Xiao Long Bao

Delicate steamed soup dumplings filled with pork and rich gelatinous broth — Shanghai's greatest contribution to world cuisine.

Xiao long bao — Shanghai soup dumplings — were invented in the 1870s at Ri Hua Xuan restaurant in Nanxiang, a suburb of Shanghai. The innovation was incorporating aspic — solid jellied pork stock — into the filling, which melts during steaming to create the soup inside the dumpling. Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese chain founded in 1972, is now the most famous XLB restaurant in the world with Michelin stars in multiple countries. Their quality control is so precise that each dumpling must weigh exactly 21 grams and have exactly 18 pleats. The correct way to eat XLB: place on a spoon, bite a small hole in the side, sip the soup slowly, add black vinegar and ginger, then eat.

The soup inside is made from pork aspic that melts when steamed. The wrapper must be paper-thin. Aim for 18 pleats. Always drink the soup first before eating.