Jingjiang Crab Roe Soup Dumplings 靖江蟹黄汤包
Jingjiang Crab Roe Soup Dumplings is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
Jingjiang Crab Roe Soup Dumplings (靖江蟹黄汤包) enclose crab meat, roe and rich broth in a wrapper so thin that the liquid shows through. The Jingjiang (靖江) municipal government describes a process of more than thirty steps, with the soup filling requiring particularly careful preparation.
Jelly that becomes broth
Thick skin from pork hocks is finely cut and simmered gently in chicken stock for almost three hours. Once cooled, the liquid forms a transparent jelly. Hand-picked seasonal crab meat and roe are mixed with chicken stock, minced ginger and garlic, and this jelly. During steaming, the jelly melts back into soup.
The wrapper is closed with twenty-eight to thirty-five pleats. Too few can let the broth escape; too many leave a thick knot of dough at the top. The finished dumpling is white and translucent, with broth that moves visibly beneath its fragile skin.
Broth first, wrapper afterwards
The local eating sequence begins by lifting and moving the dumpling gently, then opening a small hole in the skin. After steam has escaped, the broth is sipped through the opening. The remaining wrapper, still coated inside with soup and pieces of crab, is eaten with rice vinegar and shredded ginger.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.