At Helen You's Dumpling Galaxy, there are over 100 kinds of dumplings on the menu (and a few secrets off the menu). But You's favorite remains the classic, the one she learned tugging at her mom's apron strings back in Tianjin: the basic pork and chive. Which is why it's one of the first recipes in her cookbook with our own Max Falkowitz, The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook.
You's pork dumplings are built on a base of fatty ground pork—for best results, ask a butcher to grind up some pork shoulder for you—mixed with cooking sherry for sweetness, ginger for fresh bite, and just a little soy sauce and salt. That's it—this is a filling all about simplicity. The tricks, though are in the details: save your chopped garlic chives until the end so they don't lose any moisture while mixing, and steadily reduce the temperature of your cooking water as the dumplings boil so they coast gently to perfect doneness rather than sail past it.
See more tricks in the video above, and for more, read up on our full primer for the best dumplings ever.
