Could someone please explain XLB?

[aching]

What is it? I'm dying to know!

[aching]

Ohhhhhhh - I know soup dumplings! I just didn't know "XLB". Thank you for educating! =)

[kingkong5]

mmmmmmm soup dumplings!

I believe they originated from Taiwan. They are like little dough type dumplings like you get at Dim Sum, filled with a pork or pork/crab mixture. In addition, they take some soup broth and chill it until it becomes an aspic, dice it finely, and add it to the stuffing mix. When steamed, the aspic turns back into a broth, so the inside of the dumpling is filled with this wonderful soup, which is really flavorful with all of the pork and pork/crab mixture cooked in it.

[ipsedixit]

No one gets XLB at dim sum.

[kingkong5]

That's true! Well, I have ordered it at dim sum places and it is terrible. Most of the time, they have no soup because they exploded. I meant to say they're little, like the small baos at dim sum.

[wilafur]

actually xlb originated in northern china.....maybe shanghai?

[ipsedixit]

Err, Shanghai is in the eastern part of China.

[wilafur]

haha, shows you how well i know the motherland. =)

beijing? lol.

[ipsedixit]

No, no. I think you are right that XLB originated (at least partially) in Shanghai.

Just sort of curious why you would consider Shanghai "northern" thats all.

Beijing is more famed for dumplings and boas.

[raytamsgv]

Anything north of Guangdong is probably considered "Northern" food by Cantonese-centric folks. :-)

[wilafur]

no no, i stand by my comment that xlb prob originated from shanghai.....and since my geography sucks, i thought shanghai was in northern china. well, anything north of taiwan is northern to me. =)

my beijing comment was more of a...."is bejiing located in northern china?" i figured it is cause bei (north) + jing (city) = north city.

[PeterL]

Cantonese think everything aside from Cantonese is northern.

[limster]

They're from Shanghai area.

[David Kahn]

It's an abbreviation for xiao long bao, a type of Chinese dumpling, that has both soup and forcemeat sealed within the dumpling skin.