The secret to making soup dumplings

As Helen's owner Guang Jiao tells it, making soup dumplings-broth-filled bites disguised as regular dumplings-is super easy. Here's a primer.

Step 1: Boil, boil, boil

As with many things, it all comes down to the ingredients. In this case, pork skin makes the natural gelatin that will eventually melt into soup when the dumpling is steamed. Helen boils pork skin, then lets it cool until it congeals.

Step 2: Chop, chop, chop

Next, she chops the skin into small pieces and mixes it into the dumpling meat mixture, rolling the filling into dime-sized balls.

Step 3: Roll, pinch, steam

She rolls the dough by hand, puts the cold filling in the center and pinches the dumplings closed. They then get placed on the steamer for 15 minutes to become bite-size pockets of savory soup.

When asked if there's a trick to biting into the liquid-filled dumplings, Jiao says no: "Just eat them."

Want to see it first hand? Jiao teaches occasional classes at The Commissary in Marble Cliff, so keep an eye on their schedule.