SCENE 1
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First, the payload software. We have 1/2 pound of ground pork, 1/4 of a cup of chopped scallions or green onions, one egg lightly beaten, 2 tablespoons of finely chopped bell pepper ... doesn't get it all in] oops ... one and half teaspoons kosher salt, one half teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper—and I do mean freshly ground. We’ve got one teaspoon light brown sugar—you can use the dark brown if you like—1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, and finally 2 teaspoons of ketchup and one teaspoon of mustard. I’m just going to eyeball that. Now we need to mix and the best tool for this, your hand. Put on the glove for your protection. |
1/2 Pound Ground Pork 1/4 Cup Chopped Scallions 1 Egg Lightly Beaten 2 Tbs. Finally Chopped Red Bell Pepper 1 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt 1/2 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper 1 tsp. Light Brown Sugar 1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper 2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce 2 tsp. Ketuchup 1 tsp. Yellow Mustard |
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[voice over] I like to keep my wonton wrappers covered with a moist paper towel so that they don’t dry out. Place it before you and then wipe two edges with water. That’ll become glue later. And then place a mere half teaspoons in the middle. I like to use a melon baller for that. Squeeze to seal. Be sure you push out as much of the air as possible. If you don’t, it’ll expand and blow up later during the cooking process. That’s not good. Then we do the final pleat, two on each side. Aww. It’s cute. |
1/2 tsp. Filling |
One of the really cool things about wontons is how fabulously fast they can go from freezer to fry pan, usually with little or no thawing. If you want to look at a long-term storage solution, just freeze them on the pan and then move them to a zip top bag. You can store them, in the freezer at least, for at least six months.
For Chinese New Year, silver coins are placed inside wontons for good luck.
When it’s time to execute your pot stickers, heat your largest skillet or fry pan over medium heat. Now you don’t want to use a non-stick pan here because if you do, the pot stickers won’t stick and then they won’t be pot stickers. You follow? Okay.
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How do you know the pans hot enough? [he appears to throw some water onto the the hot pan] When the water jumps around like that, then you know that the pan is plenty hot. There. |
12 inch Sauté Pan |
Now brush on a very, very thin
layer of vegetable oil very quickly. Not much, we don’t want a sauté. And invite
eight to ten pot stickers to the party. Do not over crowd the pan or the heat
will drop and you won’t get enough heat to stick. Let these sit without touching
them for two full minutes, okay?. No matter what you see or hear or think is
going on in this pan just, just walk away.
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Two minutes is up. Let’s see if we’ve got stickage. Indeed we do. Cemented to the bottom. How will we release them? Chicken broth. Chicken stock, you can use either. You could even use water, but it doesn’t bring much flavor to the party. I’ve got a third of a cup here I’m going dump it on and immediately clamp on the lid. Ready? One third cup of chicken broth. Reduce the heat to low and walk away for another two minutes. [his glasses fog up due to the steam] Whoo, I’ve got to clean my glasses. |
1/3 Cup Chicken Broth |
Two minutes have passed and
look, I’ve been in crafts class. Of course we need a place to keep our pot
stickers hot while we cook the rest of the batch, so I made my own little
aluminum foil wonton which I'll stash in the oven.
So lid comes off. And see how they deflated right away. That
gives us the characteristic wrinkle of a pot sticker. If you’ve ever seen those
in a Chinese restaurant, that’s the sign that we’ve done things right. So I’m
just going to scoop them up. Be gentle, just because they’ve let go once,
doesn’t mean they won’t reapply themselves to the bottom of the pot. Do not turn
the heat off, because we’re going go with another batch right away. That one
stuck a little bit, but that’s all right. Take your time. Always approach,
approach the pot sticker from the back. Be careful how you hold your cone. There
we go. Now, I’m going to seal this and put these into the oven. And before we do
another back, I’m going quickly to deglaze or clean the pan with water so it’ll
be ready the next batch.
Mmm. Dip in a little hoisin sauce or a maybe some soy mixed
with honey and I promise you you’ll never order Chinese take out again. Well not
very often at least. Of course, who’s to say that we have to stick with Chinese
flavors here? I mean, I can think of a dozen other cuisines that would perfectly
fit in with the wonton treatment.
Empanada is the Spanish version of a wonton.
GUEST: W, Equipment Specialist
You know, steaming is an excellent way to create healthful wontons without sacrificing texture or flavor. But if we’re going to contemplate steaming, we’re going to have to contemplate steamers.
AB: W, what do you have for us?
W: A bamboo steamer. It’s been used for several millennia in China
and works quite well.
AB: Really. You know my problem with these has always been the fact that
they fall apart, you can’t put them in the dishwasher and the bamboo harbors not
only bacteria, but flavors from everything that you cook in it. Nope. Got
anything else?
W: Sure. Two thousand years of tradition just not good for you,
huh?
AB: Nope, nope.
W: All right, we have a stainless steel steamers just like the
bamboo steamer only except it’s efficient, easy to clean and cooks a lot of food
at once.
AB: Wow. The problem with these is that they’re really loud and they’re
generally pretty expensive and they take up a lot of space and you know steel
can get so hot that I’m afraid it will actually burn the outside of the wonton
and make them tough before the steam has done it’s job. Nope. Don’t like it. Got
anything else?
W: Ah, multi-tiered electric steamers. Dishwasher safe, easy to use
and comes in lots of sizes.
AB: Looks like, looks like my daughters humidifier. You know even if I
had the space on the counter for this, what if I lose one of these fifty parts?
I mean this thing is like taking a car apart. And these, these kind of timers,
these are really irritating because they’re almost always inaccurate and that
can be a really bad thing when dealing with wontons. No, I don't think so. What
else you got for me?
W: What else? No. This is it. Unless you want to make one those
stupid things that you... You do! You want to make one of those stupid
contraptions. You had me bring all this stuff ... these things ... in this
... in here ... in that. Give me that! Give me that. I’m outta here.
[someone off camera whistles]
W: Animal! You’ll hear from my lawyer!
Odds are good that everything that you need to make your own multi-layered steamer is in already in your kitchen, or at least at the grocery store. The secret? Perfectly perforated pie pans. The disposable kind. With spacers in between. You can use either pastry rings or tuna cans with both the top and bottom cut out. In the bottom the pot, a half an inch of water.
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The focal point of our next filling is firm tofu, a half-pound block of it in fact. But before we can work with it, we need to wring out some of the moisture that it was packaged in. So we first make a cut horizontally across the curd and lay it open and scoot it on to some paper towels. You can do this on a tea towel too. There we go. Now, simply layer the paper towel over thusly, folding, flip it over so that most of the paper towel will be on the bottom, add a little weight on top of something flat like a colorful platter, and leave for twenty minutes. Meanwhile we can contemplate another ingredient. |
1/2 Pound Firm Tofu |
Wontons are more than
likely China’s most
ancient type of dumpling, dating back to 206 B.C.
GUEST: Shopper
SHOPPER: [places lettuce in her cart, looks at her list and moves to find more produce]
[sneaks up to the cart and
begins pushing it around] The peppery yet slightly sweet flavor of ginger makes
it a prime time player in Asian cuisines and of course in certain traditional
English cookies. Ginger comes in many forms.
We’ve got ground, pickled,
crystallized. But our interest is in the fresh rhizome from which this popular
ornamental springs. Now when shopping you want to pick out a heavy hand,
that’s what this rhizome is called. It should have a fresh spicy fragrance and
smooth skin. Unlike certain middle aged television personalities, a wrinkly
rhizome is past it’s prime. It should be avoided.
S: [pears over produce at her cart]
Now to keep this fresh, store
it in the fridge, wrapped a paper towel inside a plastic bag. There you’ll
probably get about three weeks out of it. If you want to get three months just
seal it up tight and toss in the freezer. Oh, do not try substituting this
[rhizome] with this [ground ginger]. The ground is okay in deserts, but it will
not work like fresh in wontons. Oh, if your lucky enough to shop in a store that
has young ginger, just keep in mi
nd that, well, that’s exactly what it is,
young. So the flavor is going to be a little bit more subtle than it is in the
mature version. You can use them interchangeably you’re just going to have to
use more of this. [takes a bite of teh ginerbread man] Mmm.
S: [stands behind AB and leers]
AB: [hands the cookie to S] Here you go. Excuse me.
Crystallized ginger has
been cooked in a
sugar syrup and coated with a coarse sugar.
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Now, time to assemble the payload for out vegetarian wonton. We have one-half pound of firm tofu cubed, one-half cup grated carrot, one-half cup shredded Napa cabbage. And please buy the Napa stuff. Don’t use regular green cabbage. It won’t be the same. Two tablespoons of scallions chopped fine, two tablespoons of finely chopped red pepper, two teaspoons of fresh minced ginger, one tablespoon of fresh chopped cilantro, one tablespoon of soy sauce, and one tablespoon of hoisin sauce. This is a sauce you can find in the Asian section of your local mega mart. Two teaspoons of sesame oil which you’ll find right next to the Hoisin sauce. One teaspoon of kosher salt, one-quarter teaspoon of black pepper, again ... well you know. And one egg lightly beaten. This is just to bring the mixture together and to keep it from falling apart inside the wrapper. Now we need to bring this together, but unlike our previous filling, we don’t want to squish this one up or else the tofu will fall apart. So lightly stir. |
1/2 Pound Tofu Pressed & Cubed 1/2 Cup Grated Carrot 1/2 Cup Shredded Napa Cabbage 2 Tbs. Scallions Chopped 2 Tbs. Finely Chopped Red Bell Pepper 2 tsp. Fresh Minced Ginger 1 Tbs. Fresh Chopped Cilantro 1 Tbs. Soy Sauce 1 Tbs. Hoisin Sauce 2 tsp. Sesame Oil 1 tsp. Kosher-Salt 1/4 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper 1 Egg Lightly Beaten |
So, we’ll remove another skin
from our little safety spot. But instead of only wetting two sides, this time we
will wet all four edges of the skin. About half a teaspoon of the tofu filling
goes in the middle. Fold two of the opposing corners together then the other two
corners together squeezing out the air and creating four seams. That’s it.
Our tofu dumplings are complete, but we still have one
pre-steam maneuver to accomplish. And that is we’ve got to lube up these pie
tins or they will definitely stick to those wonton skins. I’m just going to give
them a quick blast of no stick spray and I’ll do this somewhere else.
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[places 5 wontons in each pie plate with a ring in the middle, on top of which he places another plate until he reaches the top of the pot] |
Cover & Steam For 10 to 12 Minutes |
Mmmm. I like to set my little purses afloat in chicken broth, but you can serve them however you like. Now, I know what you’re thinking, "Hey when’s he gonna fry something?" Well, I’ve been waiting for desert.
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[voice over] Combine a quarter of a cup of sugar with a quarter cup of water in a small saucepan or saucier. Bring that to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. We just want to dissolve the sugar here. |
1/4 Cup Sugar 1/4 Cup Water |
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In the meantime split and scrape one vanilla bean. Remove the newly born syrup from the heat, stir in a tablespoon of orange liqueur and the vanilla bean insides. |
1 Vanilla Bean, Scraped 1 Tbs. Orange Liqueur |
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While the syrup cools down, we will contemplate six ounces of dried pears. [holding a dried pear up] "Mr. Van Gough we found your ..." Oh, never mind. We’ve got to chop these up, but they’re pretty sticky because of the sugar content, so you might want to use a glove. And make sure you keep your fingers out of the way. I usually stack up about three. And don’t chop down, slice across them, you’ll find the going a lot easier. |
6 Ounces Dried Pears |
You can use just about any dried fruit that you got around. I’m using pears though, well, because that’s what I’ve got laying around and they taste good. Now, move these to the work bowl of your food processor. I know what you’re thinking, why not use the food processor in the first place? Well, when these pears are whole they are so sticky that they just grab hold of the blade and spin. You really don’t get anywhere. Once they’re chopped however, they’ll chop even finer. So pulse a few times, just until they get clumpy and then add the syrup. Just dump it right on top. And pulse until smooth.
Dim Sum the
original Chinese “brunch”,
consists of a variety of dumplings and wontons.
Last, but by no means least,
one and a quarter ounces of chipped walnuts, toasted first please. That’s about
a quarter of a cup. Now we’re going to put that in a bowl and add the pear
mixture. Now you’re probably wondering, well, why not chop the nuts in the food
processor? Well, because we turn them into walnut butter. Which is good, but
another show.
Now since the syrup is still a little on the warm side, stash
this in the refrigerator for at least one hour before you make your dumplings,
wontons, whatever. You could do this a day ahead but I wouldn’t go any more than
that or the mixture will dry up and get gummy. And that’s not good eats.
This time we’re going to build things just a little bit
differently. Place the wonton wrapper on the top of your fist and push the
center down into the little hole between your fingers. Dab on a little bit of
water and a little bit of filling. Then crimp around the filling being careful
to get out the excess air and flare out the edges. There.
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As soon as all your perfect little purses are stuffed and twisted, cover them with a moist paper towel and set them aside while you’re oil heats up to 360 degrees. |
360° |
And when I say oil I mean half a gallon of
either vegetable or peanut oil. Now you could certainly do this in an electric
fryer if you like, but I kind of like using this wide Dutch oven because it
allows for more circulation and more movement which means the dumplings are
going to cook a lot faster and they insure that they don’t stick together. Also
gives me an opportunity to use my favorite analog thermometer which never tells
me a lie.
Now I want these to be all done at the same time, so I’m
going to put them all in at the same time via this wire strainer or spider as
they call it. I’m going to add about eight at a time here. That will prevent the
temperature of the oil from dropping too dramatically. We’re talking about two
minutes. I’m going to set that, but I’m really going to use my eyes cause I’m
looking for golden brown and delicious and it’s hard to know exactly when that’s
going to be.
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Oh, one another thing you will need is, of course, a landing spot. And whenever I deep fry, I like to use a cooling rack turned upside down on some newspaper. I think that is a better device for wicking oil from away from the food. |
Sheet Pan Lined with Newspaper Topped With A Rack |
There we go. Poke them around
to make sure they don’t stick. As soon as the food goes in, you’ll probably
notice a bit of a temperature drop, so you’ll to boost the heat a bit recover to
360.
There’s exactly what I’m looking for: golden, brown, and
delicious. Now let them drain, there’s a good bit of oil caught on there. And
deliver them to their final resting place. Well not final, but close to final.
Sweet wontons are great
with ice cream.
All this goodness is possible because we ...
... we took the time to
explore our mega-mart. Now I hope you will all proceed in a safe and orderly
manner to your own grocery stores. If you are willing to take a little time and
to toss aside your shopping list blinders, I promise right around that next end
cap you’re going discover some new and exciting good eats.
Transcribed by Danita A.
Last Edited on 08/27/2010
You know, the word 'wonton' is
actually an Anglicized version of a Cantonese phrase "guangdong" [wàhn-tAn]
which means "cloud swallow". ...
... It’s a moniker which makes some sense when
you look into a bowl of wonton soup, a dish with which most Americans are
familiar. They do look a little bit like clouds ... kind of ... sort of ...
maybe.
[AB does the following monologue on a unicycle] The Chinese
desire to achieve balance in all things, culinary and otherwise: yin-yang,
dark-light, great taste-less filling. Now in a wonton, this is all wrapped up in
the principal of fan tsai [Hsiâo Phan?]. Fan or starches and grains need to be
balanced by the t’sai, that is the meats and the vegetables. By
definition a wonton has perfect fan tsai thanks to its balance of filling
verses wrapper, thoughtful flavor combinations and the contrasting kou gan or mouth feel. Now the perfect pot sticker, for instance, has both
a crusty golden surface and a plump moist body. Of course, the only way to
achieve this is to go against every natural instinct and actually encourage the
food to stick to the pan.
