Shaomei Steamed Dumplings 稍梅

Shaomei Steamed Dumplings (稍梅) are a well-known snack of Taiyuan (太原) and other places in Shanxi: steamed dumplings with a very thin, pleated wrapper and a generous filling. They are also known by the more common name shaomai (烧卖). Taiyuan Daily notes that CCTV's agriculture channel presented them as an intangible-heritage food of Taiyuan, and the making of shaomei has a heritage inheritor in Taiyuan's Yingze District (迎泽区).

How it is made

A Taiyuan saying holds that shaomei are good to eat but hard to make: hard to mix the dough, and hard to roll the wrapper thin and form the pleated rim. The wrapper is the most difficult part, followed by the pleats. Mutton is the favoured filling, and a little sesame oil is what gives it its character. The filling is gathered up inside the wrapper without squeezing the meat out, which the Yingze inheritor Yang Feifei (杨飞飞) says is harder than wrapping jiaozi dumplings. The dumplings then steam over high heat for 15 minutes.

Flavour and texture

A finished basket of shaomei looks like a batch of pomegranates or plum blossoms. The skin is thin and the filling plentiful, juicy and full of flavour; one Taiyuan resident compared a shaomei to a flower. CCTV called it a taste that long-time Taiyuan people remember, and another resident said they had eaten shaomei since childhood.