The Soup Dumpling Detective: This City (Not Shanghai) Started It All

Everyone tells me soup dumplings come from Shanghai. But then how to explain this far-off Chinese city, and its crazy soup dumpling culture? The investigation begins here.
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#kaifeng #xiaolongbao #soupdumplings

[@eduardochozas7411]

Quality of story and visuals 10/10. I will be eagerly awaiting the next video!

[@saintcavish]

thanks! next one on november 15th

[@linbaili]

So happy to see that you're still researching and writing about food after all these years. Such a granular video and very timely since the recent stampede to Kaifeng of university students in search of tang bao.

[@saintcavish]

thanks so much, from one veteran shanghai media person to another!

[@arklu8341]

I'm from Nanxiang, and I've always told people I'm from the home of soup dumplings. But it's true, there are so many different kinds of soup dumplings all across China with different sizes and wrappers and fillings. This is a fascinating video.

[@davidbellin2194]

Excellent video!! One of the comments alluded to moving from north to south and bringing the food with them, another mentioned Huaian having crab roe dumplings; both are true. As a student of history I have learned that history strives to be objective and definitive but is often subjective and vague. History tells us that food and customs from the Northern Song Dynasty in Kaifeng moved to the Southern Song Dynasty in Hangzhou. Along the journey there must have been countless opportunities for the food and culture to be shared, adopted and changed in cities like Huaian, Nanjing and elsewhere. History also tells us that more popular places and people often get credit for things less popular places and people invented, so it makes sense that the xiaolongbao found its way from Kaifeng to Hangzhou to Shanghai and most people now associate it as a Shanghai snack. Similarly, Shanghai is known for having a Jewish community, but historically the original Jewish community in China was...Kaifeng. To throw in another wrinkle, my Shaanxi friend told me that their guantang xiaolongbao predates Kaifeng, who knows? I just subscribed and looking forward to more videos from you in the future. Thank you for sharing and caring!! BTW, I live in Kaifeng...

[@ginawelihan7119]

This my wife’s account. Cousin this is amazing. Watching this videos makes me want to get back writing food blogs. James Lowry

[@saintcavish]

thank you james!!

[@sheilazhao]

Great story telling, beautifully shot. Who knew xiaolongbao had a predecessor! Keep up the great work.

[@saintcavish]

gracias ms zhao!

[@prob1ems]

I dont know much about the soup dumplings history. but A restaurant in Huaian, Jiangsu called WEN LOU 文楼 which opened in 1817, first to sell its soup dumplings filled with crab roe 蟹黄汤包 back then. the techniques are pretty similar to the shanghai soup dumplings. Huaian is one of the originated places for Huaiyang cuisine 淮扬菜 which has a great impact on cuisines across the Jiangsu Province and shanghai. I would logically assume that before their crab dumplings, there must have been some kind of soup dumplings existed.

[@saintcavish]

hi, thanks for the great comment! you are right, there are several cities (including changzhou) that claim they invented crab soup dumplings in the early 19th century, far before huang mingxian. this video didn't go super deep into all the research we've done, but through literature, we've traced what we think is the route from southern song dynasty era hangzhou through jiangnan (up the grand canal) and the changes in technique that ultimately became the soup dumplings we know today!

[@prob1ems]

@@saintcavish thanks for the info. I'm also a big fan of xiaolongbao, but prefer the sweet and savory vision. cheers!

[@adamwilliams9149]

Awesome to see Christopher St. Cavish popping into the kitchen porthole at 7:55!

[@Mordetify]

hope this channel will explode! amazing quality content

[@saintcavish]

thanks, so do we!

[@walkbylight]

this is really quality content! multiple cities. many days shot. well done!

[@bragibeatle]

Fun to watch, informative and strong story telling, just beautiful! Saint Cavish is one of the best content creators on serious, in-depth Chinese food culture. Congrats and thanks for the efforts!👍

[@saintcavish]

hey, thanks so much, very kind of you

[@ariannapeirano3009]

Thank you for this. I've thoroughly enjoyed it, it brought back so many memories of my time in China. Looking forward to the next.

[@saintcavish]

thanks! next one on november 15th

[@zoejing1283]

The old city Kaifeng(in Song dynasty)was ruined by war and flood.They moved the capital south,and brought the food with them.

[@saintcavish]

yep, exactly! didn't get so deep into it in this video, but the capture of kaifeng in 1127 by the jurchens forced the old song dynasty court to move south to hangzhou, bringing their food with them. from hangzhou, according to my theory and my reading of many many classical chinese sources, they moved up the grand canal to the rest of the jiangnan area (and beyond)

[@walkbylight]

@@saintcavish this is true

[@奔放的小蘑菇]

@@saintcavish 是的，宋朝迁都后，很多河南地区的食物都一并带到了南方，所以在当今的江苏、浙江地区，很多传统食物都与河南的传统食物很相似，但也因为地域原因，在口味上会有很大区别。

[@茹安-b3n]

Not really, south has way more fresher ingredients then central and northern China . Meaning they knew how to cook better since day one.

[@protopigeon]

Really interesting and well produced. More please!

[@irenebritt5115]

Just found this amazing channel! Have you heard of Cantonese gwun tong gao? I used to eat it at a small Toisan-ese dim sum restaurant in Toronto in the 70’s. The large individual dumpling was steamed in its own bowl. The name of this dumpling reminds me of that, but it’s not the same.

[@richardy3687]

I love your work dude - can you please do some investigations into Sichuan dishes? The origins of hotpot (CD vs CQ) ... tian shui mian, fu qi fei pian, etc...

[@sh6875]

Absolutely stunning work!!! Immediate subscribed, keep it coming🎉❤❤❤

[@Brian-re8mt]

Excellent video. Shots and angles were excellent. Also, loved learning a bit of the history. Looking forward to more episodes

[@saintcavish]

thank you!

[@cchoi127]

St Cavish's videos are ALL SO AMAZING! Keep it up :)👏

[@saintcavish]

Thanks! More to come!

[@MrMatheusZanella]

Really interesting!! And similar technique to khinkali from Georgia in terms of a meaty filling soaked with water to generate the soup

[@saintcavish]

ah, that's a very interesting observation, thanks for pointing that out!

[@onlywei]

This video is awesome! Deserves way more views!

[@saintcavish]

thanks! pass it on!

[@YaBoiTaeWu]

As a lover of xiaoolongbao and food history, I have officially found my favirite channel 🥲🥲🥲

[@xiongjunzheng4810]

Award winning quality filmmaking! Interesting perspective

[@thomasd4738]

been waiting for this to drop!

[@rorytell5759]

Amazing Video - Cannot Wait to see Many More!!!

[@agneslin319]

You are amazing in your research, I am in San Francisco and fascinating by your research, 8 have been to China 50 times, my son lives 小籠包

[@AdamJRowen]

lives 小笼包

[@tonysonions2860]

underrated youtuber. subbed

[@claires8654]

This is great! I miss my xiaolong bao. Subscribed!

[@saintcavish]

Thanks for the sub!

[@teriyak1terry]

Hi @saintcavish, Great series of videos! I am a Taiwanese New Zealander living in Shanghai. Have you considered doing a comparison of the soup dumplings at the Michelin Stared Din Tai Fung, Taiwanese dumplings restaurant?

[@daandesmeth6727]

Great work, really enjoyed this

[@grumblemouse]

This is important work. Thanks. Gonna have to try the Henan style.

[@thegrynne]

I’ve never had a Kaifeng style soup dumpling before. They look the same as the xiaolongbao I’m used to, it’s amazing that they would taste so different!

[@saintcavish]

big difference!

[@gabemerck]

😍🤩😍🤩 looking great...

[@rtfeng9901]

Shanghai has a kind of dumplings called Sheng Jian , maybe you can try . Tianjin baozi always taste good which is Gou Bu Li.

[@tvbf7417]

Food voice is amazing❤

[@makuszenda8874]

Actually, the origin of modern style soup dumpling is Changzhou. The way Kaifeng masters made was much older but not in this form, the Changzhou style flows back and changes the nowadays Kaifeng style.

[@reecewu9034]

OMG,开封灌汤包it is my favorite food❤❤❤❤i am hungry and miss home now😮

[@nonishadas4444]

Great video ❤

[@eycleung]

your PTH is better than mine! Respect! It does not only take a talent to learn another language, you need to put in the hard work to learn it good.In all my life i see so many kinds of ppl, some speak a few words than they claim they are fluent, some don't put it the hard work and hsve the talent than they blame that you just want a partner in the local country so you speak so well - idiots of the world! sorry going off topic, great video, learned something i did not know about china

[@FeedTheUrgeFood]

That was such a sick intro

[@saintcavish]

thanks! the scientific process...

[@thomasxuan7030]

As a Shanghainese, I should go to Kaifeng to taste it. besides, near the shanghai, there also have elder cities who has own version, like SuZhou, like HuaiAn, like NanJin、JiaXin...

[@nubeng]

you should really try to post this in chinese social media like bilibili, you'd definitely get more views

[@ianhomerpura8937]

And, just like that, Kaifeng guantangbao is now famous all over the world. If students are willing to bike 60km from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng just to get a taste of them, for sure it's that good.

[@saintcavish]

that's debatable

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@saintcavish indeed, but cheers on being able to shoot this video. Thank you for this.

[@tangcy3548]

So particular 😅😅😅

[@maxh2401]

nice one, thanks :)

[@papagen00]

my takeaway is, Shanghai may not have invented XLB, it perfected it.

[@HeatWolves]

XLB gang gang let’s goooooooo

[@saintcavish]

yeah man!

[@kevinlin4895]

And in the US, everyone thinks soup filled dumplings originated in Taiwan because they finally got their first DingTaiFung😂😂😂

[@johan8008]

Xiao long bao is my favorite, eat them once a week haha.

[@kwhatten]

Think I'll stick with the Shanghai variety (especially the ones with pork/crab mix)!

[@latiendaca1773]

Thank you.

[@ZhangQinou]

Finally！

[@whitefluff021]

You know what, I have you Book, So many years ago

[@saintcavish]

thank you!

[@byshagi]

whoopwhoop

[@antihypocrisy8978]

Mikey Chen should make a pilgrimage since his channel is called Strictly Dumpling. But I guess he is too chicken.

[@naivoj122]

He cant. He is from a cult.

[@maffiaw]

He's FLG, so China is full of demons according to his cultist beliefs

[@DennisZIyanChen]

did you really use a caliper to measure dumpling skin. The skin is way too soft for caliper to be a reproducible measurement. Haha

[@Koenigg99]

The moment I saw him measuring the thickness of the skin of the soup dumpling was the moment I knew that this dude had never been with a woman in his life before.

[@saintcavish]

thank you!

[@sammi.in.shanghai]

I beg to differ. His close scrutiny of that soup dumpling makes me think that he is probably an attentive and profound lover.

[@sheilazhao]

The way his fingers handle those dumpling skins...